Was an diesem Titel eines französischen Journalistentrio, das sich hinter dem Namen Rene Louis Maurice versteckt, von Follett ist, weiß man nicht so genau - am wenigsten weiß Follett es selbst.
Die - nennen wir es einmal wohlwollend "Novelization des Bankeinbruchs von Albert Spaggiari in Nizza" - erschien unter anderem unter den Titeln
- -The gentlemen of 16 July
- -Under the streets of Nice
- -The heist of the century
- -Sorpresine nel bosco
- -Unter den Strassen von Nizza
- COOL - Der Bankraub von Nizza
- -5 milliards au bout de l'égout
- -Pod ulicami Nicei
„This book is a nightmare. A London publisher bought a French book called Cinq Milliards au Bout de l’Egout, about a spectacular bank robbery in Nice, but the translation was very badly written.[...] So offered me £750 to fix the book. [...] It’s still not a good book, but I turned a completely unpublishable manuscript into something more or less respectable. [...] But an unscrupulous American publisher tried to bring it out as the new Ken Follett book. I was outraged. After all the work I had put into Eye of the Needle and Triple, they wanted to present this thing that I had spent 12 days on asmy number three. [...] I took them to court to try and stop publication. The judge enforced a compromise, underwhich they had to make it clear that I was one of four authors. [...] Unfortunately it continues to rear its ugly head every so often. A convicted con-man called Clemens von Bezard is still trying to flog it. I recently had to take legal action to stop him selling the rights for a game called Ken Follett’s Heist of the Century to a German toy company! I won that one but I’m afraid The Heist of the Century has plagued me for 30 years and will probably continue to do so.”
zitiert nach:
The Heist of the Century, auf www.ken-follett.com
http://ken-follett.com/bibliography/the_heist_of_the_century/
https://archive.fo/eV9gY
Mehr über Ken Follett:
Andrea Fladenhofer: Die Rezeption Ken Folletts im deutschen Sprachraum, Masterarbeit, Universität Wien 2014 (PDF hier)
