MacGyver on Ice was written by Mark Daniel in 1986. It was published by Armada in the United Kingdom. To the best of my knowledge, it is the only original MacGyver book that has been written. Though this story was written in 1986, it could possibly be set long after the 7th. season and the tv-movies. It's more likely that it took place between the first and second seasons, during the time that Pete moved from the DXS to the Phoenix Foundation. MacGyver might have retired from the DXS and Pete gets him to join with the Phoenix Foundation or maybe back with the DXS. Anyway, the book has MacGyver living by himself in Alaska, retired from working for the government. Pete Thornton comes to visit him to talk him into helping them stop a deadly threat- Abe Roscow. In the Alaskan wastelands, Roscow, a crazy general, has developed a bacterial time-bomb which threatens to wipe out the neighbouring Russian population. Only one man can break through Roscow's ingenious security defences and abort his deadly plan- MacGyver, the fast thinking loner who combines a brilliant mind with formidable physical strength.
(Some of the above is taken from the back cover of the book) The book is pretty good. It is reminiscent of a first season episode. It is packed with action and MacGyverisms. MacGyver does curse more than usual, but since the author had probably only seen the first season of the show, he probably based this on that and we know that MacGyver did curse occassionally in the first season. And of course, he almost never curses after that. We also find out a lot about MacGyver's history and his background. The book does not have any chapters but has 126 pages. MacGyver seems more like the MacGyver of the first season. He's younger with a shorter haircut and he's more brash. He's still the same loving and caring MacGyver but also a little more stubborn. I totally enjoyed the book and it's definitely worth searching used bookstores to find. I found my copy at www.abebooks.com
Interesting facts from the book-
MacGyver knows how to knit and occassionally knits socks
MacGyver has somewhat of a recurring nightmare about experiences defusing bombs in the Army.
MacGyver's official title is Doctor MacGyver.
Pete says on page 10 that MacGyver got his doctorate when he was 24.
MacGyver went to Stanford and got a Ph.D. in Chemistry
MacGyver was not a full time professional chemist like Catherine Silva and went to work for the Army when the war (presumably Vietnam) came up
The use of MacGyver's Swiss Army Knife is mentioned
MacGyver mentions, "If the service were to find me a nice little place to live", suggesting the Army or government is still who he's working for or was working for.
We get a look at MacGyver's file-
Army rank: Major....bomb-disposal....acting service rank: Colonel....distinguishing marks: .22 bullet scar left shoulder, boar-tusk scar left side, clavicle to point of hip. Interests- military history, natural history, bebop, blue grass, horse-breeding, baseball, North American folklore, philosophy....
It's interesting that baseball was mentioned, though it has been shown Mac has an interest for the sport, in episodes like "The Eraser", "Back From the Dead" and "Squeeze Play". You'd think ice hockey would have been mentioned, but maybe it was further down the list.
Here's a list of some of the books MacGyver owns, taken from a description of his place.
The Bible
Livy
Much-fingered copy of Vegetius on "Preparations for a General Engagement" on a table with cup and saucer and coffeepot
Thurber
Elizabeth David on baking bread
a history of the movies
an assortment of nineteenth century travel books
five or six big files with incomprehensible titles, presumably about chemistry.
(Pages 83 and 84) Talks about MacGyver's recurring nightmare from Vietnam days. He had done 43 missions in all, cleaning corpse-covered villages of booby-traps, defusing terrorist bombs and mines. For 39 of these missions, he had maintained his cool. Mission number 40 had killed Jack Croft, his best friend, and 14 others.
Here's some cool quotes from the book:
"I'm a sucker for your hard luck stories. I'll listen, maybe even lend a hand..."-MacGyver
"Mind, I'm not joining up. That's something I'll never do again, joining things..."-MacGyver
"Man's got to keep occupied."- MacGyver's defense of knitting
"A mine of useful information, you."- Catherine Silva said that about MacGyver
"As a sergeant I knew in Vietnam used to say, 'How sad, too bad, never mind, get on!'"- MacGyver (more clear cut evidence that MacGyver served in the Vietnam War)
Mac- "You want to have a look in the lab before we head for the centre?" Silva- "Might learn something, but what if they come back?" "Oh," MacGyver stretched,"I guess we'll have to think of something."
Callender- "I'm trained, man. I'm a trained agent. You know what that means?" Mac- "I'm learning all the time."
Callender- "So now we go off through the Artic Circle to defuse a deadly culture, but the only trouble is, we got nothing to defuse it with..." Mac- "Oh, I'm sure we'll think of something." Callender- "Oh, sure. Oh, sure, you're just gonna knit up an antidote on the spot, right?" Mac- "Something like that. Let's wait and see what we're dealing with."
Mac- "What is it?" Silva- "I've been doing some MacGyvering."