Customer Reviews

The Day Of The Jackal

5 star:		(111)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Day of the Jackal is not just Frederick Forsyth's best book; it's the best book in it's genre. A political killer code-named "The Jackal" is hired to assassinate Charles De Gaulle, president of France. He is the best, not appearing on any police file. But through one small twist of fate, the French authorities learn of this plot, and set Claude Lebel, their best detective to find The Jackal. From there, the race is on, and Forsyth gives the reader front-row seats. He has created a sizzling rivalry between the cold-blooded assassin and the one policeman talented enough to stop him, and the suspense never lets up. Through deception, betrayal, and luck, Lebel tracks the killer throughout Europe, ending in the climactic assassination attempt itself. Based on true events, the obvious outcome doesn't take away from the thrill of the chase. This is the book that set the standard for others to try and follow

"The Day Of The Jackal" features a plot you know is going to fail, a protagonist who you never know much about other than he's up to no good, and a henpecked hero looked upon with contempt by most of his superiors. The Bond lovers who made up this novel's key audience back in 1971 must have scratched their heads. But they kept reading. So will you.

Ian Fleming had his James Bond take on outsized supervillains in blurry circumstances that only slightly approximated real life. Forsyth took Fleming's Anglo love for the good life and attention to how-things-work detail, and transported it to a real-life setting, part travelogue, part "what-if" hypothesis. He named real people, used real issues, and presented in utterly passionless style a story that sells you on its utter verisimilitude.

Forsyth doesn't go much for humor: a trip by the assassin Jackal to a gay bar is about the closest to a chuckle we get; a politically incorrect one to be sure. He throws in some nice descriptions: "The heat lay on the city like an illness, crawling into every fibre, sapping strength, energy, the will to do anything but lie in a cool room with the jalousies closed and the fan full on." But for a first-time fiction author, Forsyth isn't trying to sell you on his lyrical brilliance. He just moves you from one scene to another with minimum fuss, a deeper brilliance given he was a struggling writer with no track record with this sort of thing.

Spy fiction was never the same after "Day Of The Jackal" came out. It became less a thing of fantasy, more a thing of life, because Forsyth proved that such an approach not only could work but work better than the Fleming approach. Even the movies' Bond adapted to it over time, for better or worse.

One thing not talked about much that first-time readers will likely get is "Day Of The Jackal" is at times a brutal book, unsparing in its detailing of government-directed torture, of casual murder, of the mass of luckless shadow people with their missing limbs and mildewed medals in which evildoers are able to move, unobserved by the hoi polloi. Reading it for the first time in boarding school, I was taken aback at how harsh a world I lived in, that things like this could go on. Read today, after 9/11, it's almost quaint in that respect. But it's never a nice book. In fact, the casual nastiness is part of its perverse charm.

First and last, this is a ripping good yarn, well told with a wealth of lived-in detail. You get the feeling Forsyth, struggling as he was, traveled every yard of the Jackal's long trail before setting it all down. It's not the only great book Forsyth wrote, "The Odessa File" came a year later, and he's shown flashes of his old form in the decades since. But "The Day Of The Jackal" began the art of spy fiction as we know it today; more than 30 years on, it's still the gold standard.

What can I add to 69 other reviewers? Simply this; I first read the book 25 years ago, and I still regularly take it back down off the shelves and dip into some part that jogs my memory, and enjoy savouring the detail afresh, as with a great piece of classical music or a Jane Austen novel. I am not normally a reader of thrillers; but this is equally much a great detective story and a mind game, and the writing style and the language are also superb, as is the evocation of the French setting. It starts quite slowly but accelerates all the way to the end. It is fascinating to compare it with the great 1973 film (NOT the Bruce Willis version). Scenes from the film like the final assassination attempt create an even more vivid picture in the mind as you read the book again. On the other hand, the detail of the planning, or the moment of Lebel's realisation of how the Jackal has got a gun through the apparently impregnable police screen, or seeing how all the different threads of the storyline fit together, can only be captured in the book. Every word and every nuance count at the climactic moments. Read the book, then see the film, then read the book again. It may not be as pacy as some modern all-action thrillers, but it is never contrived and virtually every bit rings true.

The only bad thing I can say about Day of the Jackal is that just about every other espionage/thriller novel that I have read since then has paled in comparison. Forsyth's novel moves at a steady pace, shifting its focus between an enigmatic assassin and the French police inspector who is doggedly pursuing him. The journalistic writing style shuns sensationalism for fly-on-the-wall realism, and indeed one of the pleasures of Day of the Jackal is the voyeuristic look into the underworld it provides. While Day of the Jackal makes no attempt to tackle great themes of "literature," it succeeds so well in entertaining the reader that it belongs on the shelf next to Ernest Hemingway or Jack London rather than certain contemporary writers whose contributions to this genre suffer in comparison.

The only thing I regret about The Day of the Jackal is that I saw the movie first, so I knew basically what the storyline was before I ever picked up the book.

However, what kept my interest up in reading the book was Forsyth's constant attention to intricate details, fascinating details that really painted the picture a lot more fully and clearly--and without giving away what was going to happen.

And let's not forget the basic characters of the book--they were quite realistic in their thinking and in their actions based upon that thinking. The mark of a great author, at least as far as I see it, is the ability to create such realistic characters and not have to resort to contrivance to make a point.

I touched on this a bit earlier, but I don't want to forget to mention specifically about the way Forsyth expertly kept the suspense building until the climactic point near the end.

I could go on, but I would be giving away specific plot details by doing so.

I strongly recommend for anyone to read this book. I can virtually guarantee that (s)he will not be disappointed in the least. Whether the reader's main interest is history, suspense, or just a good story doesn't matter.

They are the veterans of the futile war in Algeria. The President cares nothing for them, their cause or their forgotten colony. Attempt after attempt to take the life of the president have failed. Simply put: the OAS is dying. With informers at every level and no money left, they seek retribution.

The only man on earth capable of full filling their lust for vengeance is an anonymous, blond english man who calls himself -- The Jackal. Unknown to every police force and secret service on earth, The Jackal does not exist. With a price of half a million dollars The Jackal will assassinate the most heavily guarded man on earth-President Charles de Gualle.

With utmost precision and professionalism we follow the Jackal through his elite plan to kill his target.

This was a sweet novel. This book should be read by any would-be assassin and by every would-be writer who wants to write about Assassins...

This was unfortunate for Freddie Forsyth, because he was never able to match it. But then, neither was anyone else. Set in the aftermath of the Algerian crisis in the early 1960s in which an entire Foreign Legion paratroop regiment mutinied and formed the OAS (Secret Army Organisation), there was an attempt on the life of French President Charles de Gaulle and France trembled on the edge of civil war, the story is meticulously put together and excitingly told, with a bit of repetition of language (Mr. Forsyth seems to like trains; several times he described the demolition of someone's expectations or his person as if hit by a train). The Jackal, hired by the OAS to assassinate De Gaulle, is a cold-blooded killer who's in it purely for the money, yet curiously you find yourself rooting just a little for him. And you KNOW that Charles de Gaulle died in his bed in Colombey Les Deux Églises in 1969, so the Jackal can't possibly succeed, yet the book keeps you reading right to the end - and the O. Henry-type twist that has become somewhat of a Forsyth trademark. By the way, most of the French politicians mentioned were real people in De Gaulle's government.

All in all, a brilliantly-conceived and -presented thriller. I have yet to find a better one. (For what it's worth, Fred Zinneman's film of the novel, with Edward Fox as the Jackal, is also excellent. Avoid like the plague the appalling US remake starring Bruce Willis).

This book is brilliant. I chose to read it after we got it for homework in school. I read a few thrillers and mystery. But this book is on my list of top five books.

It's about an assassin whose codename is the Jackal. He is hired to kill the French president de Gaulle. You follow him when he brilliantly plans the murder. You see how he thinks, how he choose the perfect weapon, gets false passports etc. You end up liking him and whish him good luck, while you sometimes might want him to fail. How does Forsyth do that?

We meet many other characters through the reading, about fifty. Even if they are too many in a book of over 300 pages, it is not quite hard to follow the plot. Who are then the main characters? Well, the Jackal is one of course. The villain is the Jackal, but who is the hero? Is it Lebel, Rolland or Thomas? In a strange way, you find that the plot is the real main character. All things that happen in the book is just analyze of the attempt of murder on de Gaulle. Everything that happens is important and manipulates the ending of the story. This makes the story very complex and brilliant. You won't waste your time reading 150 pages with nothing happening. Every page is important.

Read it, or you'll regret it.

I will very soon see the both versions of the movie.

''It was a cold October morning in Paris and even colder for a man about to be executed by the firing squad''.
Thus begins the opening lines of an all time great bestseller and a benchmark as far as thriller writing is considered. Frederick Forsyth is one of my favourite thriller writers after Alistair Maclean. Read this novel and you would understand why.
The book starts with a group called OAS, who plan to assasinate Charles de Gaulle. A bunch of fiercely committed French nationalists, they have never forgiven de Gaulle for this role in granting independence to Algeria. After the first abortive assasination attempt on De Gaulle, which results in the capture and execution of many of the group members, they decide to hire a professional mercenary to do the job.
And the man they find is an unknown, shadowy and ruthless mercenary called The Jackal. In fact none even knows what his real name is. But this guy has no idelogy nor associated with any ism. He is happy as long as he gets paid. And now starts the best part of the book. The Jackal liasions with a photographer to get a fake passport and identity. After getting which he promptly murders him. And soon the French police manage to get a lead on this. They track down a Polish guy who acts as a go between the gang and the Jackal. On interrogating him they learn the truth.
And then starts the cat and mouse game between the cops and the Jackal leading to the climax.
The planning by the Jackal, the strategy adopted by him, and the investigation by the French cops are brilliantly describe in this book. And the climax is a real heart stopper. To enjoy all that you must read this book. The best thing i love about Forsyth's novels is the topicality he brings to his novels. Every minor detail is so brilliantly captured and he gives a real insightful look into the world of espionage and international politics. Once you read this book, its difficult to put it down. It grips your attention from the word go. So to all people who love thriller novels, read this book. Just dont miss it.

Every now and then I get a yen for a good page turner, a real pot boiler. An airport read, if you will. Day of the Jackal fits the bill, perfectly. The one probelm with this book is that it is almost impossible to put aside. Forsyth weaves a superb yarn from a historical context, namely French military disaffection with DeGaulle and a subsequent plot to kill him. The suspense generated is equal to any novel I've read. Make sure you have a few hours at a stretch to read this.