Malko (novels)

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Malko is a German pocket booklet series that was published from 1977 to 2001 by Cora Verlag in Berlin in over 150 volumes. It is a translation of the French series SAS by Gérard de Villiers, which was published continuously from 1965 to 2013 . Hero of the series is the Austrian citizen and Prince Malko Linge, who as a contract - a secret agent for the CIA assumes global orders.

Character, plot structure

SAS is the abbreviation of Son Altesse Sérénissíme (French: His Highness ) and Special Air Service . Malko Linge is an Austrian prince who is forced to work temporarily for the CIA to maintain his castle near Liezen . The agency always calls on him for delicate assignments where diplomatic sensitivity is required and Americans cannot be deployed for political reasons.

In contrast to James Bond , Malko does not use any specially prepared weapons or vehicles, with the exception of an extra-flat, never exactly typed pistol. His strength lies in investigating and establishing contacts to defuse conflicts. If necessary, the CIA provides him with bodyguards Chris Jones and Milton Brabeck, former US marines, in the dramaturgical role of the sidekick . Both are not particularly intelligent, but efficient and loyal and often save Malko's life in seemingly hopeless situations. Malko rejects violence as a matter of principle, but is often forced by the circumstances to use force for self-defense or the defense of third parties up to the killing of his opponents. During his operations, conflicts often arise due to different attitudes within the CIA itself or other American authorities.

Examples of the plot's contemporary background in Latin America and the Seychelles

As far as can be proven, the novel is usually set against a real political background, mostly civil wars, areas of conflict from the Cold War , terrorism or drug trafficking milieu.

Nicaragua

Weapons for Nicaragua takes place in the Nicaraguan Revolution 1978/79. The CIA leadership in Langley recognizes that the Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle is not ready for political reforms and that this means that left-wing extremists are threatening to outstrip the bourgeois reform politicians in their resistance to the system. Although Malko initially rejects the Sandinista de Liberación Nacional ( Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional ) because they themselves operate with brutal means, he finally takes their side. He gets caught between the fronts of Somoza's secret service and the CIA resident in Managua , where he meets Somoza himself at a party.

El Salvador

This pattern is repeated in Terror in Salvador (vol. 45, 1981, original title Terreur à San Salvador ), which is set in the Salvadoran civil war . The exiled Cuban Enrico Chacon, called El Carnicero ( Spanish : The Butcher ) is the founder of the death squad Mano blanco ( White Hand ) in El Salvador and is supported by the army, police, the oligarchy and the CIA resident Walter Dallas in the capital San Salvador covered. Chacon has done assignments for the CIA across Latin America. Since he is now murdering at random, the agency has asked him to return to the USA, but he refuses because he wants to continue fighting communism in the country on his own. After Chacon orders the murder of Archbishop Óscar Romero , Malko is hired by CIA division chief David Wise. He should persuade Chacon to leave El Salvador to defuse the political situation and to give the bourgeois forces a chance.

With the help of the Jesuits - priest Batista succeeds Malko to make the town Chacon identified. However, he is betrayed by the cameraman Peter Reynolds, who is an agent provocateur of the CIA and a friend of Chacon and who has long tried to infiltrate the left-wing guerrilla movement of Salvador. Malko kills Chacon in a sniper duel . It turns out that Malko's investigation results were always passed on to Dallas by Reynolds, who in turn notified Chacon. Malko informs the guerrillas about Reynolds' role, who is then killed by them. In self-defense , Malko kills Dallas, who fears his shady role in Langley will be revealed.

When Malko left El Salvador, he learned from the press that Dallas was shot with the same gun as the archbishop. Both dead are presented to the public as victims of the subversivos , the left-wing guerrillas. Malko suspects that his killing of Dallas will enable the military junta to crack down on the left even more ruthlessly. Major Roberto D'Aubuisson Arrieta of the ARENA party can easily be recognized in Chacon , who also appears in Oliver Stone's Salvador (1986) .

Venezuela

In The Heirs of Terror ( Que viva Guevara , Vol. 7, 1977) Malko is apparently installed in Venezuela at the end of 1968 . The CIA has intercepted the Cuban fishing boat Maracay off the Guatemalan coast, which is supposed to land weapons, fighters and propaganda material in support of left-wing guerrilla groups in Guatemala, Colombia and Venezuela. With the exception of two crew members, the agency liquidated the Maracay's crew . The boat was transferred to Bridgetown , Barbados , where the Cuban secret service has no contacts. The CIA plans to smuggle two "moles" into Venezuela from here, which are supposed to infiltrate the urban guerrillas there . The Venezuelan authorities have not been informed for security reasons.

One of the two surviving Cubans from the Maracay is the young Czech Janos Plana, who worked as a harvest worker in Cuba and who volunteered to join the Cuban company. It remains unclear whether he is simply politically naive or an employee of the Czechoslovak secret service. He is replaced by the Czech-speaking Malko, who also resembles him outwardly. The surviving Cuban is replaced by the Cuban exile Carlos, who hates communists.

When landing in Venezuela, Carlos is killed in a marine accident. In Caracas, Malko succeeds in making contact with the urban guerrilla who, however, distrusts him and demands the murder of General Orlando Léal Gomez, chief of the special troops, as proof of his loyalty , which causes remorse in Malko. But Malko witnesses how the general shoots two street boys in front of his eyes on Christmas night after going to a nightclub, just because they begged him. Malko kills Léal with a clear conscience, thus proving his loyalty to the guerrillas.

During his research, Malko learns that the guerrillas, fanatical supporters of the dead Che Guevara , want to kill the American Vice President during a visit to Caracas. Malko gets caught between the fronts of the Venezuelan secret police Digepol, the urban guerrilla and, to his surprise, the Venezuelan Communist Party, which in turn has infiltrated the guerrilla. The CP also wants to prevent the assassination attempt, since it sees the urban guerrilla as only a group of ideological extremists who endanger the legal political work of their party. At the last moment Malko discovers the plot of the assassination attempt, but cannot prevent it: the guerrillas have given a little girl who is supposed to appear at the ceremony for the president, a camouflaged time bomb. The Vice President can still be warned and saved, but the detonation of the bomb cannot be prevented. The girl and numerous visitors to the event were killed.

A special role is played by Pepe Rodriguez, former head of the secret service of the dictator Trujillo , who runs a torture center in his villa in cooperation with Digepol. Malko is also tortured here, but is freed by his two CIA bodyguards, Chris and Milton, who have since flown in. In the character of Rodriguez it is easy to recognize Johnny Abbes García , who is said to have died in a fire in Haiti as early as 1964 .

Seychelles

In Operation Seychelles (vol. 55, undated , original title Naufrage aux Seychelles ) de Villiers processed Operation Plumbat of the Israeli secret service Mossad .

The motor ship “Laconia B” hit a reef near the Seychelles island Denise and immediately sank. It was on the way from South Africa to Eilath and loaded with 200 tons of uranium oxide , where the material is to be used to build Israeli atomic bombs . The CIA wants to prevent the Mossad from recovering the uranium while Iraqi secret agents are trying to remove the material from the wreck . Since the USA cannot intervene in the Seychelles for political reasons, as the government sympathizes with Iraq, Malko is hired. He realizes that a recovery from the American side is out of the question, and detonates a bomb on the wreck of the Laconia B , which causes it to slide into deeper waters, where it cannot be retrieved by either the Israelis or the Iraqis.

Surinam

In Countdown of Death in Suriname (vol. 66, no year, original title Aventure au Suriname ), the so-called December murders in Suriname in December 1982 are discussed, which Dési Bouterse is still charged with today.

Style, dramaturgy

De Villier's style, which as an author positions itself between John le Carré and Robert Ludlum , is rather homely. His novels live from a detailed local color ; many of the novels contain city maps or maps of the plot, which the reader can use to follow the plot. Allegedly, de Villiers had previously visited most of the locations of his novels for the purpose of extensive research.

reception

Although Malko has been published continuously in Germany for almost a quarter of a century and, apart from Mister Dynamit, is apparently the only German paperback series that fictitiously deals with the global scenes of the Cold War, international terrorism and drug trafficking, no literary or political science study has yet been conducted. In the year of its publication, the Spiegel judged it as an example of the increasing brutalization of the trivial literature scene in the Federal Republic:

“That the CIA agent Malko, a 'merciless fighter' for the free world, goes to work with 'unbelievable severity' is - like everything with Springer - legitimized from the start: by 'the just cause' (according to the Malko advertisement in Springer leaves). Regardless of whether the Harvard graduate and native Austrian Prince Malko Linge, 38 ('No homosexual inclinations'; 'Its effect on women has often been very useful to the agent'), a treasure trove of gold from the dead Emperor Haile Selassie, or an assassination attempt thwarted on Henry Kissinger - pardon will not be given. "

- Bloody foam burst in front of his nose. The business with violence: horror books achieve circulation records , in: Der Spiegel No. 47 of October 10, 1977, pp. 122-131

List of novels

The series of novels was published from 1965 to 1987 by Plon / Presses de la Cité, from 1988 to 1997 by Éditions Gérard de Villiers, from 1998 to 2000 by Éditions Malko productions, and since 2001 again by Éditions Gérard de Villiers.

  1. SAS à Istanbul , 1965 ( Hellfreight to Istanbul , 1978)
  2. SAS contre CIA , 1965 ('' Putsch in Persia '', 1981)
  3. Opération Apocalypse , 1965
  4. Samba pour SAS , 1966 ('' The Death Samba of Rio '', 1981)
  5. Rendez-vous à San Francisco , 1966
  6. Le Dossier Kennedy , 1967 ('' The trail leads into the White House '', 1978)
  7. SAS broie du noir , 1967 ( Safari des horror , 1978)
  8. SAS aux Caraïbes , 1967 ( hurricane over the Caribbean , 1978)
  9. SAS à l'ouest de Jérusalem , 1967 ('' Abduction to Sardinia '', 1979)
  10. L'Or de la rivière Kwaï , 1968 ( Death on the River Kwai , 1977)
  11. Magic noire à New York , 1968
  12. Les Trois Veuves de Hong Kong , 1968
  13. L'Abominable Sirène , 1969
  14. Les Pendus de Bagdad , 1969 ('' The Rebel of Baghdad '', 1979)
  15. La Panthère d'Hollywood , 1969
  16. Escale à Pago-Pago , 1969 ('' Hunting on Samoa '', 1979)
  17. Amok à Bali , 1970 ('' Hot plaster Djakarta '', 1978)
  18. Que viva Guevara , 1970 ( The Heirs of Terror , 1977)
  19. Cyclone à l'ONU , 1970
  20. Mission à Saïgon , 1970
  21. Le Bal de la comtesse Adler , 1971 ( Countess Adler's Ball , 1978)
  22. Les Parias de Ceylan , 1971
  23. Massacre à Amman , 1971 ('' The Lioness of Amman '', 1981)
  24. Requiem pour Tontons Macoutes , 1971
  25. L'Homme de Kabul , 1972 ( The man from Kabul , 1978)
  26. Mort à Beyrouth , 1972 ('' Focal Point Beirut '', 1981)
  27. Safari à La Paz , 1972
  28. L'Héroïne de Vientiane , 1972 ('' Heroin from Laos '', 1981)
  29. Berlin: Check-point Charlie , 1973
  30. Mourir pour Zanzibar , 1973 ('' Die für Zanzibar '', 1981)
  31. L'Ange de Montevideo , 1973 ('' The Angel of Montevideo '', 1979)
  32. Murder Inc., Las Vegas , 1973 ( Mord-GmbH Las Vegas , 1978)
  33. Rendez-vous à Boris Gleb , 1974 ('' Agent duel at the Arctic Circle '', 1979)
  34. Kill Henry Kissinger! , 1974 ( assassination attempt on Kissinger , 1977)
  35. Roulette cambodgienne , 1974 ('' Death Roulette of the Khmer Rouge '', 1980)
  36. Furie à Belfast , 1974 ( Terror in Belfast , 1977)
  37. Guêpier en Angola , 1975
  38. Les Otages de Tokyo , 1975 ( The Hostages of Tokyo , 1978)
  39. L'ordre règne à Santiago , 1975
  40. Les Sorciers du Tage , 1975 ('' The Sorcerers of Lisbon ''. 1978)
  41. Embargo , 1976 ('' Deadly Darkness Over New York '', 1979)
  42. Le Disparu de Singapour , 1976 ('' Lost in Singapore '', 1979)
  43. Compte à rebors en Rhodésie , 1976 ( accounting in Rhodesia , 1977)
  44. Meurtre à Athènes , 1976 ( murder trap in Athens , 1977)
  45. Le Trésor du Négus , 1977 ( The gold treasure of the Negus , 1977)
  46. Protection pour Teddy Bear , 1977 ('' Death on the Thames '', 1979)
  47. Mission impossible en Somalie , 1977 ('' Hellish Mission in Somalia '', 1979)
  48. Marathon à Spanish Harlem , 1977 ( The fatal trail to "Carlos" , 1977)
  49. Naufrage aux Seychelles , 1978
  50. Le Printemps de Varsovie , 1978 ( Agent Roulette in Warsaw , 1978)
  51. Le Gardien d'Israël , 1978
  52. Panique au Zaïre , 1978 ('' Conspiracy on the Congo '', 1979)
  53. Croisade à Managua , 1979 ( Arms for Nicaragua , 1980)
  54. Voir Malte et mourir , 1979 ('' Killer Command in Malta '', 1979)
  55. Shangaï Express , 1979 ('' Stop on the Shanghai Express '', 1979)
  56. Opération Matador , 1979
  57. Duel à Barranquilla , 1980 ('' The Guerrillas of Barranquilla '', 1980)
  58. Piège à Budapest , 1980
  59. Carnage à Abu Dhabi , 1980
  60. Terreur à San Salvador , 1980
  61. Le Complot du Caïre , 1981 ('' The Cairo Plot '', 1981)
  62. Vengeance romaine , 1981 ('' Finale in the Eternal City '', 1982)
  63. Des armes pour Khartoum , 1981 ('' Guerrillas against Gaddafi '', 1982)
  64. Tornade sur Manille , 1981
  65. Le Fugitif de Hambourg , 1982
  66. Objectif Reagan , 1982
  67. Rouge grenade , 1982
  68. Commando sur Tunis , 1982
  69. Le Tueur de Miami , 1983
  70. La Filière bulgare , 1983
  71. Aventure au Surinam , 1983
  72. Embuscade à la Khyber Pass , 1983
  73. Le Vol 007 ne répond plus , 1984
  74. Les Fous de Baalbek , 1984
  75. Les Enragés d'Amsterdam , 1984
  76. Putsch à Ouagadougou , 1984
  77. La Blonde de Pretoria , 1985
  78. La Veuve de l'Ayatollah , 1985
  79. Chasse à l'homme au Pérou , 1985
  80. L'affaire Kirsanov , 1985
  81. Mort à Gandhi , 1986
  82. Danse macabre à Belgrade , 1986
  83. Coup d'État au Yémen , 1986
  84. Le Plan Nasser , 1986
  85. Embrouilles à Panama , 1987
  86. La Madone de Stockholm , 1987
  87. L'Otage d'Oman , 1987
  88. Escale à Gibraltar , 1987
  89. Aventure in Sierra Leone , 1988
  90. La Taupe de Langley , 1988
  91. Les Amazones de Pyongyang , 1988
  92. Les Tueurs de Bruxelles , 1988
  93. Visa pour Cuba , 1989
  94. Arnaque à Brunei , 1989
  95. Loi martiale à Kaboul , 1989
  96. L'Inconnu de Leningrad , 1989
  97. Cauchemar en Colombie , 1989
  98. Croisade en Birmanie , 1990
  99. Mission à Moscou , 1990
  100. Les Canons de Baghdad , 1990
  101. La Piste de Brazzaville , 1991
  102. La Solution rouge , 1991
  103. La Vengeance de Saddam Hussein , 1991
  104. Manip à Zagreb , 1992
  105. KGB versus KGB , 1992
  106. Le Disparu des Canaries , 1992
  107. Alerte Plutonium , 1992
  108. Coup d'État à Tripoli , 1992
  109. Sarajevo Mission , 1993
  110. Tuez Rigoberta Menchu , 1993
  111. Au nom d'Allah , 1993
  112. Vengeance à Beyrouth , 1993
  113. Les Trompettes de Jéricho , 1994
  114. L'Or de Moscou , 1994
  115. Les Croisés de l'Apartheid , 1994
  116. La Traque Carlos , 1994
  117. Tuerie à Marrakech , 1995
  118. L'Otage du triangle d'or , 1995
  119. Le Cartel de Sébastopol , 1995
  120. Ramenez-moi la tete d'El Coyote , 1995
  121. La Résolution 687 , 1996
  122. Opération Lucifer , 1996
  123. Vengeance tchétchène , 1996
  124. Tu tueras ton prochain , 1996
  125. Vengez le vol 800 , 1997
  126. Une lettre pour la Maison-Blanche , 1997
  127. Hong Kong express , 1997
  128. Farewell to Zaire , 1997
  129. La Manipulation Yggdrasil , 1998
  130. Mortelle Jamaïque , 1998
  131. La Peste noire de Baghdad , 1998
  132. L'Espion du Vatican , 1998
  133. Albanie, mission impossible , 1999
  134. La Source Yahalom , 1999
  135. Contre PKK , 1999
  136. Bombes sur Belgrade , 1999
  137. La Piste du Kremlin , 2000
  138. L'Amour fou du Colonel Chang , 2000
  139. Jihad , 2000
  140. Enquête sur un génocide , 2000
  141. L'Otage de Jolo , 2001
  142. Tuez le Pape , 2001
  143. Armageddon , 2001
  144. Li Sha-Tin doit mourir , 2001
  145. Le Roi fou du Népal , 2002
  146. Le Saber de Bin Laden , 2002
  147. La Manip du Karin A , 2002
  148. Bin Laden, la traque , 2002
  149. Le Parrain on November 17th , 2003
  150. Baghdad Express , 2003
  151. L'Or d'Al-Qaida , 2003
  152. Pacte avec le diable , 2003
  153. Ramenez les vivants , 2004
  154. Le Réseau Istanbul , 2004
  155. Le Jour de la Tcheka , 2004
  156. La Connexion saoudienne , 2004
  157. Otages en Iraq , 2005
  158. Tuez Iouchtchenko , 2005
  159. Mission: Cuba , 2005
  160. Aurore noire , 2005
  161. Le Program 111 , 2006
  162. Que la bete meure , 2006
  163. Le Trésor de Saddam: 1 , 2006
  164. Le Trésor de Saddam: 2 , 2006
  165. Le Dossier K , 2006
  166. Rouge Liban , 2007
  167. Polonium 210 , 2007
  168. Le Défecteur de Pyongyang: 1 , 2007
  169. Le Défecteur de Pyongyang: 2 , 2007
  170. Taliban Otage , 2007
  171. L'Agenda Kosovo , 2008
  172. Return to Shangri-La , 2008
  173. Al-Qaida attaque: 1 , 2008
  174. Al-Qaida attaque: 2 , 2008
  175. Tuez le Dalaï-Lama , 2008
  176. Le Printemps de Tbilisi , 2009
  177. Pirates , 2009
  178. La Bataille des S-300: 1 , 2009
  179. La Bataille des S-300: 2 , 2009
  180. Le Piège de Bangkok , 2009
  181. La List Hariri , 2010
  182. La Filière suisse , 2010
  183. Renegade: 1 , 2010
  184. Renegade: 2 , 2010
  185. Féroce Guinée , 2010
  186. Le Maître des hirondelles , 2011
  187. Bienvenue à Nouakchott , 2011
  188. Rouge Dragon: 1 , 2011
  189. Rouge Dragon: 2 , 2011
  190. Ciudad Juarez , 2011
  191. Les Fous de Benghazi , 2012
  192. Igla S , 2012
  193. Le Chemin de Damas: 1 , 2012
  194. Le Chemin de Damas: 2 , 2012
  195. Panique à Bamako , 2012
  196. Le Beau Danube rouge , 2013
  197. Les fantômes de Lockerbie , 2013
  198. Sauve-qui-peut à Kaboul: 1 , 2013
  199. Sauve-qui-peut à Kaboul: 2 , 2013
  200. La Vengeance du Kremlin , 2013

Film adaptations

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