norbert jacques wrote the original dr. mabuse books in the style of other popular thrillers in europe at the time, such as nick carter, fantomas, and fu manchu. jacques expanded the traits of these books to include critiques on weimar germany. in 1930, jacques was approached by a film producer to develop a story for a new dr. mabuse film with a female villain. this caused jacques to start writing a new novel called "mabuse's colony". in the novel, a character named frau kristine obtains a copy of mabuse's testament which outlines plans for a future world of terrorism and crime that she uses.