AL GLENNE

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.

BOOKS

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

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 probable are:

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


1			Apostles Of Violence Written by M. G. Braun, Ralph Hackett (translator) Copyright: 1962 Originally published in French as Apôtres De La Violence [Apostles Of Violence] #25. 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 Written by M. G. Braun, Ralph Hackett (translator) Copyright: 1966 Originally published in French as Action De Force [Action Force] #33. 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 Written by M. G. Braun, Ralph Hackett (translator) Copyright: 1966 Originally published in French as Plan 'Jalousie' [Plan "Jealousy"], #39. 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 Written by M. G. Braun, Ralph Hackett (translator) Copyright: 1966 Originally published in French as Pas De Bonheur Pour Spyros [No Happiness For Spyros], #16. 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.

Tell us what you think of the series. Give your grade and comments.

Your Grade:
Your Comments:

To give your opinion, you must be logged in.