The six I Spy novels written by Walter Wager under the pen name John Tiger, are considered by fans to be even better than most episodes of the series. On the other hand, many TV Tie-In novels feature excellent writing, by prominent authors.

In some instances, this may have been with good reason - a large number of TV Tie-Ins were produced rapidly, by “house” authors under a pseudonym, to get them on the market as rapidly as possible. The quality of TV Tie-Ins has varied noticeably - they have often been looked upon with disdain by traditional readers. The popular trend in recent years to revive older shows ( Mission Impossible, I Spy, Starsky and Hutch, Miami Vice) as new movies has lead to increased interest in Tie-In novels based on those original series. Increased publishing costs (and therefore higher costs for purchasing the books) led to decreased numbers of Tie-In novels during the 1990s and beyond, with a few major exceptions (the Star Trek series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, etc.). In the 1970s and 1980s, Tie-Ins were published with some regularity. Published cheaply (they were considered a disposable item), and most often in paperback form, TV Tie-Ins first appeared in the 1950s and then enjoyed a boom period associated with the television series of the 1960s. From the earliest days of televised dramas and situation comedies, publishers have realized that they had a built in audience for original novels based on popular television series. The history of the TV Tie-In novel is long and illustrious.

Resistance by Bill McCay