Last week, the prolific French author of spy thrillers, Gérard de Villiers, passed away of cancer. According to the New York Times obit, de Villiers was something like the Ian Fleming of France. He invented a hero who, just as James Bond goes by his official designation 007, is identified primarily by the sobriquet Son Altesse Sérénissime (His Serene Highness), or SAS. De Villiers himself called his novels, of which he wrote two hundred (!), “fairy tales for adults,” but they apparently had a second distinguishing feature—they frequently displayed an uncanny knowledge of actual high-stakes geopolitical affairs. Many actual events occurred in fictional guise in his novels, and his high-powered friends were often delighted to see themselves appear in his pages under different names. On a couple of occasions, actual events were closely prefigured in his novels, such as the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat. The books may be pure escapism, but they seem to be a trifle more true to life than Fleming.

The Times also mentioned that “generations of readers have become familiar with the lurid covers of his SAS books—always a scantily clad woman clutching a gun—at supermarkets and railway stations across France.” That description intrigued me, so I decided to hunt down a few for your perusal. They’re pretty silly, but my interest is primarily sociological—it’s fun to see an authentic part of everyday French life in this way. I’ve never read any of de Villiers’ books, but I do enjoy spy fiction, especially John Le Carré, but it seems that very few of his books have been translated into English. Amazon offers only Malko versus the CIA—used copies of which start at $199. I’m not willing to pay that, but maybe a library somewhere can help me out.
 

 

 

 

 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
‘Danger 5’: a groovy new Nazi dinosaur espionage spoof serial