In between the sex scenes, his books often contained details of terrorist attacks, espionage and war that had not appeared anywhere else. He cultivated spies and diplomats, and he insinuated himself so thoroughly into their world that many sought him out and were then delighted to see themselves appear - always under different names - in his novels.Ī string of French presidents and foreign ministers read him regularly and praised his geopolitical acumen, though rarely in public. de Villiers remained a journalist at heart, and his books were based on constant travel and reporting in dozens of countries. may be the longest-running fiction series ever written by a single author, and one of the best selling.įor all the kinky sex and gunplay that fueled his plots, Mr. Though largely unknown in the Anglophone world, S.A.S.
GERARD DE VILLIERS SAS 170 CODE
de Villiers created his own fictional spy hero - Son Altesse Sérénissime, or His Serene Highness, was his code name - in 1964. de Villiers was often compared to Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, who served as an inspiration when Mr. The cause was cancer, his lawyer, Eric Morain, said. Gérard de Villiers, a French popular novelist whose raffish, long-running spy-thriller series, S.A.S., sold more than 100 million copies and became a kind of drop box for real-world secrets from intelligence agencies around the world, died on Thursday in Paris.