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AL GLENNE

Glenne_Al4 Glenne_Al1 Glenne_Al3 Glenne_Al2
 
Full Name: Al Glenne
Nationality: French
Organization: French Secret Service
Occupation Agent

Creator: M. G. Braun
Time Span: 1962 - 1966

ABOUT THE SERIES

Al Glenne is an agent with the French Secret Service.

While his age is not mentioned, facts point to his having been an agent for some time before the first recorded adventure, putting him in his early 30's at least. He had served with the Resistance during World War II, according to remarks made, and has worked for the Secret Service of his country since then. As is to be expected for a secret agent of the 50s and 60s, Glenne has a tremendous appreciation of the female form, a love only made stronger by the fact that he is French.

Glenne is a loner by nature but one who has a large cadre of friends, many of whom reappear from time to time.

In 1954, author M.G. Braun, an established writer with France's extremely popular Fleuve Noir (Black River) publishing house, began a series of espionage adventures, a series that would last 24 years and see the release of 75 novels marked, not by the use of the name of the main character, Al Glenne, but by the simple word "espionage". Little information as to the content of each of these books is available but numerous of these titles contain Glenne's name in them and four of them are definitely Glenne stories so it is possible that all 75 are. One thing confusing the issue is the fact that at the same time M. Braun was getting his stories released, so were several other authors with their own characters and M. Braun had two other series going with the same company, one about a Special Police department and the other about an ex-con man and his wife, Sam and Sally, who loved to get into trouble.

Four of the Al Glenne adventures were translated into English by Ralph Hackett and published by Berkeley in paperback format in 1966. On the back of each of these is a blurb stating that M. Braun was "the author of more than 45 counterspy novels dealing with the adventures of Al Glenne and his friends." At the time of their release (1966-1967), 45 was about the number of "espionage" books Black River has printed. Whether the blurb meant that Glenne was in all of them, which I believe, accompanied by various friends, or that some were Glenne and some were his friends, I cannot say.

The books that are probabl

Nr French Title (Translation) - Year Published In France

1 Comme Des Loups (As A Wolf) - 1954

2 Jeux Sans Loi (Free Games Act) - 1954

3 DernièRe Audace (Last Daring) - 1955

4 Route Suicide (Route Suicide) - 1955

5 Les Eaux Rouges (Red Tides) - 1956

6 L'Homme Seul (Man Alone) - 1956

7 Terre VioléE (Earth Raped) - 1956

8 Commando De La ColèRe (Commando Of Wrath) - 1957

9 Le Chant De La Peur (The Song Of Fear) - 1957

10 Qu'Un Sang Impur (Impure Blood) - 1957

11 La Grande Lutte (The Big Fight) - 1958

12 Menace Sur Les Sables (Threat To The Sands) - 1958

13 Tactique DéFensive (Defensive Tactics) - 1958

14 Faire Face (Coping) - 1959

15 Le Dernier Guerrier (The Last Warrior) - 1959

16 Pas De Bonheur Pour Spyros (No Happiness For Spyros) - 1959

17 A Vous Glenne ! (To You, Glenne!) - 1960

18 Intervention "C" (Response "C") - 1960

19 Mission CaraïBes (Mission Caribbean) - 1960

20 Promesse De Meurtre (Promise To Murder) - 1960

21 Fasse Dieu (May God) - 1961

22 L'Assaut Des DamnéS (The Assault Of The Damned) - 1961

23 Prescriptions SpéCiales (Special Requirements) - 1961

24 Zone D'Action (Action Zone) - 1961

25 ApôTres De La Violence (Apostles Of Violence) - 1962

26 Attaque Imminente (Imminent Attack) - 1962

27 ExéCution Double (Double Execution) - 1962

28 T-30 (T-30) - 1962

29 Le Gringo (The Gringo) - 1963

30 Meurtre Inclus (Included Murder) - 1963

31 Politique De Force (Force Policy) - 1963

32 AbcèS De Fixation (Abscess) - 1964

33 Action De Force (Action Force) - 1964

34 Secteur Est (East Sector) - 1964

35 TêTe De Bois (Head Of Wood) - 1964

36 Vous Trichez M. Glenne (You Cheat Glenn) - 1964

37 L'Heure Du Tarragone (The Time Of Tarragona) - 1965

38 Permis De Tuer (Licence To Kill) - 1965

39 Plan "Jalousie" (Plan "Jealousy") - 1965

40 ZéRo Heure Une (A Zero Time) - 1965

41 Aux Derniers BarbeléS (Barbed Wire To The Latest) - 1966

42 Ca Va, Cavassa ? (Ok, Cavassa?) - 1966

43 C'Est Pour Demain (This Is For Tomorrow) - 1966

44 Feu Roulant (Barrage) - 1966

45 Du MêMe Enfer (The Same Hell) - 1967

46 En Plein Coeur (Right In The Heart) - 1967

47 Glenne Force (Glenne Force) - 1967

48 Horizon Rouge (Red Horizon) - 1967

49 Fini De Rire...! (Finished Laughing ...!) - 1968

50 GuatéMala-City (Guatemala City) - 1968

51 Les DéSerteurs (The Deserters) - 1968

52 Tuer Est Mon MéTier (Killing Is My Business) - 1968

53 Casse... Cash (Casse ... Cash) - 1969

54 Che Maccio ! (Maccio Che!) - 1969

55 Guerre Possible (Possible War) - 1969

56 V Comme Vacherie (V As Vacherie) - 1970

57 La Femme Au Fusil (Woman With Gun) - 1970

58 Le Temps Des GuéRilleros (Time Of Guerrillas) - 1970

59 Dix CentimèTres De Peau (Ten Centimeter Of Skin) - 1971

60 La Ciguatera (Ciguatera) - 1971

61 Pris Pour Cible (Targeted) - 1971

62 Chambre 12 (Room 12) - 1972

63 Glenne à La Turc (Glenne In Turkish) - 1972

64 Trois TêTes CoupéEs (Three Severed Heads) - 1972

65 Code Baltique (Baltic Code) - 1973

66 Elle S'Appelait Tily (Her Name Tily) - 1973

67 MaîTres à Tuer (To Kill Masters) - 1973

68 La Fille Des Andes (The Daughter Of The Andes) - 1974

69 Sept Mille Iles (Seven Thousand Islands) - 1974

70 Du CôTé De Khartoum (The Side Of Khartoum) - 1975

71 Sur Un Air De Viole (Air On A Viola) - 1975

72 A La Sainte Sophie (At The Saint Sophia) - 1976

73 L'Incorrigible (The Incorrigible) - 1977

74 Monsieur Colt (Mr. Colt) - 1977

75 Où Sont Les Lions ? (Where Are The Lions?) - 1978

BOOKS

Number of Books:4
First Appearance:1962
Last Appearance:1966

1 Apostles Of Violence Apostles Of Violence
originally Apôtres De La Violence, #25 in 1962
Written by M. G. Braun, Ralph Hackett (translator)
Copyright: 1962

Al Glenne is in the jungles of Venezuela searching for a satellite which crashed there. Joining with others also looking for it is when the killings begin.

2 Operation Atlantis Operation Atlantis
originally Action De Force, #33 in 1964
Written by M. G. Braun, Ralph Hackett (translator)
Copyright: 1966

What starts as a curiosity about Olga, a performer who does her best work in the nude, turns into murder and a deadly chase to the North Sea for Al Glenne.

3 Operation Jealousy Operation Jealousy
originally Plan 'Jalousie', #39 in 1965
Written by M. G. Braun, Ralph Hackett (translator)
Copyright: 1966

The beautiful Nadine may or may not be married to Erik Kleimann, ex-Nazi war criminal, but she is definitely interested in Al Glenne and Glenne is interested in some letters Kleimann has. The British and Russians are also interestes.

4 That Girl From Istanbul That Girl From Istanbul
originally Pas De Bonheur Pour Spyros, #16 in 1959
Written by M. G. Braun, Ralph Hackett (translator)
Copyright: 1966

Al Glenne and his friend, Jeff, were curious what happened to the beautiful Turkish lady until the first body was found. Then they decided to find out what was going on and discovered an international espionage plot with a great deal at stake.

MY COMMENTS

The four translations of Al Glenne adventures all share one fact and that is the stories are extremely fast reads, easy to understand and enjoyable. There is not a great deal of depth in the characters, especially Glenne's, but since this was a series and so many books had proceeded these, it was likely the author saw no need to rehash the agent's history and the translator remained accurate to his task. This is a shame because I would have loved to known more about Glenne, his history and his skills.

Keeping that in mind, do not expect much more than fast action and a decent plot but if that is what you sit down planning to get, you'll get that and be happy. Like his fellow translated heroes, Malko and OSS-117, there is a desire by me to have more translated. It will not happen, unfortunately, and computer translations have too long a road to go. Too bad.

GRADE

My Grade: B-

Your Average Grade:   A+

YOUR OPINIONS

David A+ 4/19/2014 7:23:42 PM

I recall enjoying the Glenne books and even reading a few while I lived in France, but although they are fast reads I never quite had the affection for them I did for Bruce's )OSS 117 or the Nick Jordan and Coplan books. That said the Glenne books were much closer to their American cousins in many ways.


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