Madame Terror

"Madame Terror" is a 2006 novel by Jan Guillou, featuring the fictional Swedish spy Carl Hamilton. It is a thriller novel about the relations between the US and the Arab world. But unlike other thriller novelists, such as Tom Clancy, this novel is written from the Arabs' point of view, specifically the Palestinians.

Plot

Carl Hamilton, the Swedish "James Bond", vice-admiral and former chief of Säpo (the Swedish Security Service), has (after escaping from Swedish jail, convicted of murder) for ten years been living in the USA. Here he lives under false name (Hamlon) with American citizenship, in La Jolla, San Diego, keeping his body in shape and getting psychological help. But then on a spring day his old friend, the Palestinian intelligence officer Mouna al Hussaini comes to him with an offer...

The Palestinians have (with the help of the Russians, who want revenge on the Americans for sinking the Kursk submarine) developed a high-tech alfa class attack submarine designated the "U-1 Jerusalem". The crew is mixed Russian and Palestinian, but neither group wants be led by one from the other group. They need a leader that is neither Russian nor Palestinian, but who can speak Russian, supports the Palestinians and their cause, has Soviet, Russian and Palestinian medals, has (naval) military background, understands the strategies of war and is a high officer. Only one man fits that description: Carl Hamilton.

Their mission is to destroy the Israeli naval base in Haifa along with the Israeli fleet. The Americans declare them as terrorists, and with the British, they are hunting the sub (later called "Al-Quds", Arabic for Jerusalem) -- or are they?

Trivia

The "Madame Terror" in the book is Mouna al Hussaini, the Palestinian leader on board the sub, who becomes a heroic figure in the Arab world.