Comments on: The Spy Novelist Who Knows Too Much

The Spy Novelist Who Knows Too Much

Rustic Etruscan — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 09:33:51 -0800

"De Villiers has spent most of his life cultivating spies and diplomats, who seem to enjoy seeing themselves and their secrets transfigured into pop fiction (with their own names carefully disguised), and his books regularly contain information about terror plots, espionage and wars that has never appeared elsewhere. Other pop novelists, like John le Carré and Tom Clancy, may flavor their work with a few real-world scenarios and some spy lingo, but de Villiers's books are ahead of the news and sometimes even ahead of events themselves." (SLNYT)

By: Conductor71

Conductor71 — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 09:41:23 -0800

He definitely has the spy's knack of blending in sartorially.

By: quarsan

quarsan — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 09:44:27 -0800

I see he's gone for the Kim Philby look.

By: KokuRyu

KokuRyu — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 10:20:09 -0800

This looks totally awesome. Are his books in English? You may laugh at the hat, but you cannot laugh at this.

By: theodolite

theodolite — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 10:26:42 -0800

"We are all strangled by political correctness," he told me, and he used the word "fags" several times in our conversations. totally awesome

By: DirtyOldTown

DirtyOldTown — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 10:38:04 -0800

Brutal rapes are described in excruciating physiological detail. In another recent novel, the girlfriend of a notorious Syrian general is submitting to his Viagra-fueled brutality when she recalls that this is the man who has terrorized the people of Lebanon for years. "And it was that idea that set off her orgasm," de Villiers writes. Yeah... I think I'd have some interest in a film about de Villiers, but not so much his actual books.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 10:39:20 -0800

Are his books in English? some

By: Kabanos

Kabanos — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 10:40:22 -0800

A bunch of his books were translated into English in the '70s: (English-language publication dates) Angel of Vengeance (1974); Belfast Connection, The (1976); Checkpoint Charlie (1975); Countess and the Spy, The (1974); Death in Santiago (1976); Death on the River Kwai (1975); Hostage in Tokyo (1976); Malko: Kill Kissinger (1974); Malko: Man from Kabul (1973); Malko versus the CIA (1974); Malko: West of Jerusalem (1974); Operation New York (1973); Portuguese Defection (1976); Que Viva Guevara (1975)

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 10:45:11 -0800

For the "some" link above you can find English editions by clicking on a title then on "Editions" (left column) and look for an English title. What's interesting though is how few copies of his books are owned (at least on LibraryThing), the most popular book only has 7 copies. Compare with how many people own Ian Flemming books (3000 copies of Casino Royale). And it's not like LibraryThing is restricted to English users, it has an international user base.

By: seanmpuckett

seanmpuckett — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 10:53:00 -0800

Admitted to, perhaps?

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 11:03:27 -0800

You're probably right seanmpuckett. Take a look the cover of La Liste Hariri mentioned in the article. Others similar and NSFW.

By: zarq

zarq — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 11:06:54 -0800

This is fascinating. And the revelation about Lockerbie is interesting.

By: KokuRyu

KokuRyu — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 11:09:38 -0800

Whoops, didn't see the misogyny, homophobia, or rape fantasies. Not so awesome.

By: MartinWisse

MartinWisse — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 11:34:46 -0800

. S.A.S. may be the longest-running fiction series ever written by a single author. Bah. Bob Morane has 200 novels, all written by Henri Vernes, from 1953 onwards. As always a Frenchman gets the credit for something a Belgian does better.

By: Rustic Etruscan

Rustic Etruscan — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 11:45:46 -0800

As always a Frenchman gets the credit for something a Belgian does better. Which reminds me: I really have to start looking for material for that Franz Hellens FPP I want to do, if there even is any.

By: yoink

yoink — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 11:55:21 -0800

In one recent novel, he meets a Saudi princess (based on a real person who made Beirut her sexual playground) who is both a dominatrix and a nymphomaniac; their first sexual encounter begins with her watching gay porn until Malko distracts her with a medley of acrobatic sex positions. It's hard to picture this in any way that doesn't make it seem like a skit from Monty Python's Flying Circus: After Dark.

By: BWA

BWA — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:02:08 -0800

Some links to Alexandre de Marenches and Dieter von Malsen-Ponickau.

By: Devonian

Devonian — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:12:56 -0800

I have heard that Mossad has bred a giant tribble with the sole intention of having it eat him.

By: SageLeVoid

SageLeVoid — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:41:50 -0800

He also said on a french tv show "I will always feel closer to a stupid white man than to an inteligent black man." He's a racist, homophobic, reactionary writer.

By: MartinWisse

MartinWisse — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:55:34 -0800

You do have to wonder how much truth there really is in how amazing his insights are and how awesome his sources. For example, the writer of the piece was really amazed that Villiers would make Iran the villain behind the Lockerbie bombing and that some intelligence services people agreed. Yeah, that's not really news isn't it to anybody who paid attention to the bombings and the resulting court cases; there's a very large chance the official perpetrator was railroaded and it has been an open secret for years the Scottish government has had its doubts about the official verdict. The NYT meanwhile has always been somewhat of a court stenographer for the US intelligence services, like the Times is in the UK, so how much of this is being deliberately exaggerated?

By: RedOrGreen

RedOrGreen — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 13:31:56 -0800

Yeah maybe I'm just getting paranoid, but this whole long article feels like an elaborate setup to deliver a nudge nudge wink wink did you know that actually the Lockerbie bombing was done by *Iran*? Shouldn't we be bombing them, ya'think? Now that "fact" is back in the popular consciousness - those Iranians really are eeevil, aren't they? And how much is gas these days? Shame on me. I know. (Yes, at least for me, Judith Miller really did hurt the NYT's credibility about these things.)

By: yoink

yoink — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 13:51:39 -0800

Yeah maybe I'm just getting paranoid, but this whole long article feels like an elaborate setup to deliver a nudge nudge wink wink did you know that actually the Lockerbie bombing was done by *Iran*? Shouldn't we be bombing them, ya'think? Now that "fact" is back in the popular consciousness - those Iranians really are eeevil, aren't they? So we're being softened up for a war with Iran by the deliberate planting of an article on an unpleasant French spy novelist that almost nobody in the English speaking world has heard of. Yes, you may well be getting paranoid.

By: elgilito

elgilito — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:14:22 -0800

Don't bother reading the guy's books. They're a bland mix of reporting (de Villiers does his homework), thrill-free action scenes and Bulwer-Lytton porn, wrapped in old-fashioned sexism and ethnic stereotyping.

By: KokuRyu

KokuRyu — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:23:58 -0800

In other words, UN Security Council slashfic?

By: yoink

yoink — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:26:53 -0800

Bulwer-Lytton porn It was a dark and horny night...

By: Sticherbeast

Sticherbeast — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:25:33 -0800

John Le Carré can be prescient, but in a way which shows understanding of how things work in general, and not necessarily having to do with any specific intelligence. Like how The Looking-Glass War is a quasi-prediction of how the Iraq War would unfold, or how The Tailor of Panama is eerily like the Curveball fiasco from the Afghanistan War.

By: The Illiterate Pundit

The Illiterate Pundit — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 19:17:29 -0800

As always a Frenchman gets the credit for something a Belgian does better. um, French fries?