M.G. Braun (Maurice Gabriel Edouard Brault) was an author of detective and spy novels, publishing 171 stories from 1954 to 1984. He published a whopping 75 entries in his Al Glenne spy series including a 1965 novel titled, License to Kill. It seems the James Bond influence went both ways. Operation Atlantis was originally titled Action de force and was published in 1964.
It looks like there were four of the series translated to English and published by Berkely Books in the 60s. The artwork was similar for each cover with an arrow coming in from the top and bottom and meeting in the middle with the title of the book. A small painted scene from the book placed in the bottom arrow. Each cover shamelessly states, “Meet the FRENCH James Bond!”
The others in the series are:
Apostles of Violence
Operation Jealousy
That Girl from Istanbul
Operation Atlantis was originally published in the hot Cold War era of 1964 and stars “French James Bond” Al Glenne. Al is joined by his American CIA counterpart, linebacker, drinking buddy, Jeff Cavassa. They bump into each other while in Berlin, realize they are working the same case, and join forces.
There has been intel that the Russians are working on a secret base called Atlantis that exists in the actual sunken city of Atlantis. I think. I was a bit confused on this one. The secret Russian base is definitely called Atlantis, but the book is blasé about telling you whether it’s actually the lost city. But I think it’s supposed to be mysteriously ambiguous to give it an esoteric adventure aspect to take it out of the real espionage Le Carre stylings and into more fantastical exploitative spy fiction.
A historian of Atlantean research has been murdered. Everyone suspects the Russians have done it to cover up the secrets of their underwater Atlantis weapons base. Investigating is French spy Al Genne. We’re thrown a bunch of characters. One is a sadistic serial killer. One is a high-priced call girl. One is a mystery man bad guy boss. Lieutenants. Captains. Majors. French. Americans. Germans. Russians. Etc etc. But don’t worry. Almost everyone is weeded out early on and the main story consists of four general characters. It was daunting at first but it narrows down rather quick.
Al investigates and does spy stuff. To be honest though, he’s more like the little dog jumping around the big dog going, Spike! Spike! Hey Spike! Like in that old cartoon. The American spy is the guy with the steady hand who takes care of business. He’s a physical beast and a master of hand-to-hand combat, weapons, and technology. He knows all the major players and what’s really going on behind the scenes. It was weird that this was written by a French author. I mean, the story is told with the French spy being the main character, but the US spy was the hero. No wonder this is one of the series entries they chose to translate into English. Of course I have no idea how the rest of them are so maybe this is a constant plot thread and if so, man that’s a bummer.
One of the characters is a Russian Anti-Soviet revolutionary who wants to find Atlantis and destroy it to show his fellow countrymen they mean business. I found his character to be very believable. He was capable but reckless. He could be vicious and intelligent but in a non-military way. The desperation of a revolutionary.
There is lots of action as the two Allied spies meet the players. Torture scenes which include morse code screaming. Fist fights between giant brutes. Showcase showdown climax shoot outs between the two forces. Mental chess cuckolding. Mysteries: is it really the lost city of Atlantis the Russians have found? Fade to black sex scenes. There are three women in this book, one is a prostitute, the other two get raped, though one is into it. Yeah, I don’t know. It’s classless in that regard. There is one scene where a young looker is seducing Al the French spy. As he’s about to seal the deal she starts crying. She doesn’t want to do it. She has a fiancé, and her revolutionary brother is making her do it for the cause. She eventually does have sex with Al (to tell herself it’s over between her fiancé) and then later on is raped by the fucking Russian army. Just unsexy stuff like that. James Bond it is not.
The action is in abundance and the story moves quick. Like I said, the US spy is the man. He never falters. Always kicks ass. Always knows what’s going on. He actually gives the summation of events to Al the French spy at the end of the book. Sorry you were in the dark buddy, here’s what really happened. What?!
It was schlocky and exploitive but mostly enjoyable. I was hoping for more Frenchness, whatever that means, but this was no different than a novel from the states. In fact the main character complains that the French government doesn’t really care about his spy stuff and when he needs a boat to go search for the Russian base, there would be some much bureaucracy that it would take a month, so he might as well let his US spy buddy handle it as with the US it would be immediate and better equipped. Is that the Frenchness I was looking for? I don’t know how I thought a French spy novel would differ from anywhere else but this definitely didn’t have it.
If I had to give it a grade, I’d say C+. It was a little better than ok. The pacing is what gave it that higher grade. It really never stops. It’s entertaining, I just felt the main character could have been a little sharper and well, more the star of the show. And obviously I wanted more French in it.
There is a 1965 Italian movie called Operation Atlantis that looks to be pretty similar though it’s the Red Chinese instead of the Russians. I have no idea if it was based off of this novel and Italian film making doesn’t mind taking others’ ideas and doing their own version so it could be based off of this book. I might have to watch it someday.
Berkely Medallion 1966
Cover art by Ron Lesser as seen in the book, The Art of Ron Lesser vol 1. Deadly Dames and Sexy Sirens available at menspulpmags.com
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