About a month ago, I read an article in the New York Times Magazine about fabulously successful Gerard de Villers who writes a series of spy novels (you can find it here). I remembered that in the 1970s and early 1980s, Pinnacle Books published English translations of some of de Villers’ books but then dropped the series. I dug around in my basement and found Checkpoint Charlie, Number Nine in the series (de Villiers’ spy series is now over 200 novels). Malko is a contract agent with the CIA. His assignment in Checkpoint Charlie is to get a Nobel Prize winning scientist past the East German guards into free West Berlin. The Berlin Wall, with all its minefields and obstacles, presents a bit of a challenge, but Malko is up for the job. The New York Times Magazine article stresses that de Villiers does intense research before he writes a book. It’s obvious in Checkpoint Charlie, especially East German border procedures. I’ll be looking for more of these Malko adventures.
Really, 200? Wow – don’t think i’ve read one yet though I remember them being popular in Italy too when i was growing up and definitely had some lurking on the shelves in distinctive black covers – hmm …
Sergio, only a couple of dozen MALKOs were published in the U.S. According to the NY TIMES article, the more recent books have more sex and state secrets!
I remember picking up those Pinnacle editions back then too, George. Haven’t read one since then either. I’m glad that article got you to read it for us.
The NY TIMES article says de Villiers makes millions of dollars each year from his spy novels, Jeff. And the more recent MALKOs contain high-octane sex. Maybe some U.S. publisher will translate the MALKOs and offer them as ebooks.
E-books, bah. Why not cheap mass-market type paperbacks (instead of the expensive trade paperbacks they favor these days…), and start with the first dozen or so, with real – as in that first example – art on the covers.
Rick, it’s just publishing economics. Ebooks are cheaper and have bigger profit margins.