William Wingate

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William Wingate , actually Ronald Ivan Grbich , (* 1939 near Johannesburg , South Africa ; † August 28, 2012 in Las Vegas , Nevada , United States ) was a South African lawyer and writer .

Life

William Wingate is the pseudonym of the South African Ronald Ivan Grbich, who revealed little about himself. After all, it is known that he studied both mechanical engineering and law at the University of the Witwatersrand . He then worked as a mine engineer, then as a journalist and finally as a lawyer in Johannesburg. Parallel to his legal work, he wrote political thrillers , five of which were published between 1977 and 1989. The first four initially in the Anglo-American language area, before they - sometimes shortly afterwards, sometimes years later - translated into German, were also published by us. The fifth novel, Hong Kong , which ended in 1986, was rejected by publishers because they did not like ethnic and sexual-practical classifications, and was therefore only published under the title Verschollen in Hong Kong in the German-speaking area, where all five thrillers saw several paperback editions. It wasn't until 2011 that the now with Hong Kong, Let Candice Go! The last novel with the title is also available as an e-book in his mother tongue .

His in-depth research into secret organizations, be it state intelligence agencies or organized crime , and the insights he gained not only benefited his thrillers, but were also translated into a non-fiction book called The Don. How to Run a Mafia Family presented in a humorous way. He was also a passionate poker player and wrote a textbook available as an e-book.

Hollywood secured the rights to the film adaptation of Wingate's third novel Shotgun . Wingate was not happy with the modified ending of the 1987 film called Malone (starring Burt Reynolds ), but he was satisfied with the compensation with which he speculated and made a profit that enabled him to do his job to terminate. Shortly afterwards, however, the frustration at the non-placement of his Hong Kong manuscript with publishers intent on political correctness made him distance himself from being a writer. So he - as connoisseurs believe - "in an incomprehensible way never made the well-deserved breakthrough as an international bestselling author". He last lived in Las Vegas, where he was a highly respected member of the famous Bellagio Poker Room gaming club for many years .

style

The same killer appears in all five books, but he names himself differently. His real name is Iwan Yazov, a colonel in the Bulgarian secret service and KGB murder contractor who defected to the Americans. "He knows neither love nor loyalty and is only interested in his survival and wages," said Wingates Ullstein - lecturer . He, the unscrupulous killer, wasn't interested in the effects of what he was doing, just in getting the job done. "An interesting figure who defines alienation as self-sufficiency ," said the editor.

The narration is fast-paced and contains extreme and embellished depictions of violence and sex, the tone is occasionally cynical or sometimes black- humored .

Wingate was the "cold-blooded" of the political thriller writers of his time, wrote Michael Althen in the Süddeutsche Zeitung , "not quite as meticulous in planning as Frederick Forsyth , but just as effective in execution". He summed up : “The books draw their tension from the mechanical processes and the mindfulness that they demand from their staff every second. They derive their perfidious fascination from the fact that someone, somewhere, indulges in some illusions at the wrong moment. These all too human errors expose the soft tissues of the construction. That's what creates the contrast that takes your breath away at Wingate. "

The novels are inspired by reality, either from specific incidents such as a Soviet submarine accident ( fire game ) and the 1976 RAF / PLO terrorist act and its suppression by Operation Entebbe ( bloodbath ) or from general criminal dark areas such as this Mafia family ( Retribution of the Stranger ) and the drug distribution channels ( Crystal ), for which Wingate carried out exact research in original locations.

Works

Novels

  • Fire game. Roman (Original title: Fireplay , 1977). Piper, Munich / Zurich 1978, ISBN 3-492-02345-2 . (Also: Droemer Knaur, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-426-00670-7 .)
  • Bloodbath. A political thriller (original title: Bloodbath , 1978) (= Ullstein Taschenbuch ; No. 10307; Ullstein-Krimi ). Ullstein, Frankfurt / M. / Berlin / Vienna 1985, ISBN 3-548-10307-3 .
  • The retribution of the stranger (British title: Hardacre's Way , US title: Shotgun , 1980) (= Ullstein paperback ; No. 10166; Ullstein crime thriller ). Ullstein, Berlin 1982, ISBN 3-548-10166-6 . (Later udT Malone. Roman as Ullstein Taschenbuch ; No. 23863. Ullstein, Frankfurt / M. / Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-548-23863-7 ).
  • Crystal (Original title: Crystal , 1983) (= Ullstein Taschenbuch ; No. 10274; Ullstein-Krimi ). Ullstein, Frankfurt / M. / Berlin / Vienna 1984, ISBN 3-548-10274-3 .
  • Lost in Hong Kong. Roman (original title: Hong Kong , 1986 [initially unpublished], also: Hong Kong, Let Candice Go! ) (= Ullstein paperback ; No. 22069; Ullstein thriller ). Ullstein, Frankfurt / M. / Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-548-22069-X .

Non-fiction

  • The Don. How to Run a Mafia Family . Princely Publishers, [before 2011] (2011 also as an e-book).
  • Wake up late, read This… Play Winning Poker before Noon , Kindle, 2011 (e-book).

Filmography

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Martin Compart: Thrillers that you have to read: William Wingate, Don the professional killer. In: wordpress.com. June 20, 2013, accessed on February 27, 2019 (both text: http://www.evolver.at/stories/William_Wingate/ , https://faustkultur.de/1652-0-DARK-ZONE-I-von- Martin-Compart.html ).
  2. ↑ a b c d e krimiautorenaz: Wingate, William. In: krimiautorena-z.blog. January 8, 2017, accessed February 27, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Michael Althen: Cold-blooded execution . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . August 19, 1989, On the Edge.

literature

  • John M. Reilly: Twentieth-century crime and mystery writers . St. James Books, London 1985, ISBN 0-912289-17-1 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Wingate, William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Grbich, Ronald Ivan (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African lawyer and writer
DATE OF BIRTH 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH near Johannesburg , South Africa
DATE OF DEATH August 28, 2012
Place of death Las Vegas , Nevada , United States