Madame Terror

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The novel Madame Terror: Special order for Hamilton (Swedish: Madame Terror ), by the Swedish writer Jan Oscar Sverre Lucien Henri Guillou , was first published in 2009 in a German translation. The book is the eleventh volume in the Coq Rouge series, which has so far comprised twelve volumes .

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The book describes a fictional, extremely explosive global political scenario against the background of the long-ended Cold War and the technical innovations in submarine warfare (and reminds a little of Red October ). Palestinians buy an Alfa-class submarine in Putin's Russia to attack Haifa and the Israeli Navy. The Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas appears as a good-natured rascal who outsmarts Hamas. The mentalities of the Russian and Arab crew members collide so much on the ultra-modern vehicle that the project threatens to overturn. As a solution, the Swedish agent of the Guillous series, Carl Hamilton, is activated by the PLO's intelligence chief, Mouna al Husseini, (hence the title: Madame Terror) from his somewhat dusty retirement on the US west coast. Previous common actions are recalled and used as a backdrop for sentimental dinners.

The surprise attack and the subsequent escape around Africa succeeded the boat thanks to its advanced technology and the tricks of old fur seals on the one hand and the use of " embedded journalists " under the eyes of the world public on the other. There are even performances by Condoleezza Rice and Nelson Mandela . The novel manages almost entirely without personal cruelty, if one disregards the mention of the (relatively low) number of victims of military acts.

Politically, dance scenes are performed in the British agent milieu after the London underground attack, in the warrooms of the US administration under George W. Bush and on the UN floor. In the end, Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld are embarrassed in front of the world public and Condi is running for “president”. And the two protagonists are ready for new heroic deeds.

Places of action

u. a. - a mosque in London - Murmansk - a money laundering facility in Tunis - a basement under an airport as a British torture center - various US bases, the White House and Bush's ranch - the Red Sea - the US Congress and various television channels

People, characters

- Carl Hamilton - Mouna al Husseini - the fourth generation of immigrants in London - discarded Soviet military

Title information

  • Jan Guillou : Madame Terror: Special order for Hamilton. translated by Katrin Frey. Verlag Piper, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-492-25416-8 . (Original Swedish, also Danish, English)