A few weeks ago I went to see the latest movie about John McClain’s colorful and action packed life as a member of New York’s finest. Those men and women in blue who every day put their lives on the line to save the world from petty thieves, terrorists and megalomanic hackers. The movie was great. It had everything. High speed car chases, fancy martial arts moves and a hero and a half who thoroughly and whole-heartedly kick some bad-ass scumbag’s behind. All very entertaining and completely improbable.

In Jan Guillou’s latest addition to the Swedish spy Carl Hamilton’s more secretive but no less action packed life, the wealthy and highly decorated count is recruited as the head of the Palestinian fleet. Together with his old friend Brigadier General Mouna al Husseini they set out in a newly procured, futuristically advanced Russian submarine to destroy the whole Israeli fleet. Not only do they succeed in their mission, after playing tricks and games with both the American and the British navy, they also survive an ambush from two American submarines. Very cool.

The main difference between these two pieces of modern entertainment is in their political message. While the “Die Hard” movie is sprinkled with a typical American “war on terrorism”-attitude mixed with the eternal war of intrigue between the myriad of semi-secret agencies, the whole story in “Madame Terror” is based on the political-religious conflict between Israel and Palestine – and their respective allies and friends. But in between – or rather in front of – the political game is an action-packed story with under-water chases, fancy maneuvering and super-advanced ass kicking. All very entertaining and good bit impossible.

In a fairly strong comment in the Swedish newspaper Expressen.se, former chief of research Ingemar Dörfer of the Swedish Institute of Defence Research (FOI) characterizes Jan Guillou’s brilliantly written story as “completely improbable”. According to Mr. Dörfer the book is “full of factual errors and absurd reasoning”. And if Guillou had presented the book as a description of the true world as it is, I am sure Mr Dörfer is correct. The South African air force is (or was at the time) equipped with Mirage III rather than the Jas 39 Gripen. And of course former president Bill Clinton didn’t bargain with Russia to leave 23 Russian men for dead. (At least such accusations have never been proven.)

But this, ladies and gentlemen, is entertainment. Just as detective John McClain takes down a helicopter with a police squad car, rides the tail of a F-35 fighter jet and saves the world (i.e. USA) from total destruction and collapse with a worried look on his face and a witty comment; so too can Hamilton and friends sink as many Seawolf-class submaries they like, cripple any navy with a single submarine and have the Russian president sign any order he like. Because just as in love and war, all is fair in the world of fiction.