Son Altesse Sérénissime (His Serene Highness) is a series of espionage novels created by French author Gérard de Villiers, featuring Austrian prince Malko Linge as the lead character. Since, more than 120 million copies have been sold globally, mostly in French, making it the top 25 of the best-selling book series of all time, behind Frédéric Dard's San-Antonio with 200 milion copies sold worldwide.
Since 2006, the novels have been published as comic books, though aimed chiefly at adults given their contents of violence and sex. Villiers's books have been bestsellers, making him a very wealthy man.
The novel's title is a play on initials: Son Altesse Sérénissime (SAS) is the French version of "His Serene Highness" (HSH); and the British Special Air Service (SAS) is the principal special forces unit of the British Army.
In 2014, Vintage Books posthumously published English versions of The Madmen of Benghazi and Chaos in Kabul, translated and adapted by William Rodarmor. The publisher released three other books in English through 2016.
Background
Gérard de Villiers was a correspondent for France-Soir and other newspapers. He began writing the SAS novels in 1964, when an editor told him that Ian Fleming had died and that de Villiers might create the next James Bond. He succeeded; the series had sold about 100 million copies worldwide, comparable to the Bond series. It may be the longest book series in history written by one person.
Government officials and intelligence officers, who enjoyed seeing themselves fictionalized and reading about events they could not publicly reveal, told de Villiers secrets that appeared in SAS, making the series' plots and settings unusually realistic. The books often predicted future events such as the capture of Carlos the Jackal, assassination of Anwar Sadat, and events in the Syrian Civil War. Robert F. Worth, former Beirut bureau chief for The New York Times, was amazed to read in La Liste Hariri details of the assassination of Rafic Hariri that no journalist knew when the book appeared. A Lebanese intelligence officer who wanted to reveal information but did not trust journalists (including Worth) helped de Villiers, the novelist said.
Hubert Védrine said that while Foreign Minister, before visiting a country he read SAS novels to learn what French intelligence believed about it. While the books' many detailed sex scenes give the series a poor literary reputation, "the French elite pretend not to read him, but they all do", Védrine said.
Plot
In order to finance the repairs of his castle in Liezen, Austria, main character Malko Linge works as a freelance agent for the CIA of the United States. The CIA sends him on dangerous missions all over the world. He has an excellent memory and speaks several languages fluently. He is very well-groomed, preferring to wear tailor-made alpaca suits. He carries an ultra-small gun.
Recurring characters
The following supporting characters regularly appear in the S.A.S. espionage novels: Samantha Adler : A German brunette and arms dealer. Mandy Brown aka Mandy la salope (Mandy the bitch) : An American maneater. Frank Capistrano : Italian American who is a special advisor to the White House. Elko Krisantem : Turkish servant of Malko Linge. He used to be a killer. Alexandra Vogel : Malko's fiancée. Milton Brabeck : A CIA agent who protects Malko on several missions. Partner of Chris Jones. Chris Jones : A CIA agent who protects Malko on several missions. Partner of Milton Brabeck.