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The Day of the Jackal

4.19 of 5 stars 4.19 · rating details · 36,567 ratings · 598 reviews

The Jackal. A tall, blond Englishman withopaque, gray eyes. A killer at the top of his profession. A man unknown to any secret service in theworld. An assassin with a contract to kill theworld's most heavily guarded man.

Oneman with a rifle who can change the course ofhistory. One man whose mission is so secretive noteven his employers know his name. And as theminutes count...more

Paperback, 384 pages

Published October 4th 1982 by Bantam (first published 1971)

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Jan 30, 2013 Steve aka Sckenda rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Lovers of Plausible International Thrillers

Shelves: favorites-pop-fiction, spy, thriller, espionage, france, movie, edgar-award

Ici Chacal? This is one of my favorite thrillers of all time, and I have fond memories of staying up all night, reading this great story while I was in high school. It is based loosely on real life plots in the early sixties to kill French President Charles De Gaulle, who had withdrawn French troops from Algeria after a bitter colonial war. Many in the French Army and Foreign Legion believed that they had been betrayed and that their dead had died in vain, so ex-soldiers formed a paramilitary re...more Ici Chacal? This is one of my favorite thrillers of all time, and I have fond memories of staying up all night, reading this great story while I was in high school. It is based loosely on real life plots in the early sixties to kill French President Charles De Gaulle, who had withdrawn French troops from Algeria after a bitter colonial war. Many in the French Army and Foreign Legion believed that they had been betrayed and that their dead had died in vain, so ex-soldiers formed a paramilitary resistance group called the OAS.

The OAS tried multiple times to kill De Gaulle and failed (true). In this novel, OAS leaders in exile hire a professional assassin, code-named, "The Jackal," to do the job properly. Here is where the fictional fun begins. Forsyth, in Part I, shows us how you would go about plotting an assassination, stealing an identity, forging papers, designing and manufacturing a unique rifle, smuggling it into the country, and getting within range of the most protected man in Europe.

In Part II, Forsyth walks us through how the French security forces would try to foil The Jackal when they learn of his existence after capturing an OAS leader. Again, the reader gets a procedural as to how the police would organize an early sixties manhunt.

In Part III, we see how any person can be killed (or captured) with the right plan. Even as a teenager, I knew that De Gaulle was not assassinated, but it does not matter. This is a thriller of the highest order, which, in my definition, means that it not only must be entertaining and fun—IT MUST BE PLAUSIBLE. That’s why I give this book 5-stars. It kept me up all night, and it seemed extraordinarily realistic to me.

There was a fabulous 1973 movie based on the book, which holds its age very well, especially given that it portrays events from 10 years earlier. I would avoid the Bruce Willis film, “The Jackal” (1997), which was a bloody awful and botched attempt to Americanize and modernize the 1973 film.(less)

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Aug 17, 2011 Stephen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobook, historical-thriller, spy-stuff, 1970-1979, assassins

To those that gave this 4 or 5 stars…I completely get it…I really do.

I found much impressiveness in this classic spy story, despite the 3 star ceiling I ended up placing on it. Technically proficient and drenched in details, this is as authentic an anatomy of an assassination attempt I have ever seen. Forsyth’s “Jackal-like” control over the narrative was singular and I can certainly understand this being considered a classic among the spy-thriller genre.

Despite the significant amount of superi...more

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Aug 18, 2008 Michael Havens rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Those who like Spy/Suspence thrillers

Guilty pleasures? Got them? Ok, here's mine. I love to read Spy,World War Two thrillers, and techno-thrillers. I especially like the World War Two and Cold War era type, though Frederick Forsyth's novel 'The Day of the Jackal' is not one of them. What it is is a cat-and-mouse chase between Great Britain and France to find a hired killer, code named "Jackal", before he gets to General de Gaulle, now President of France (who actually was a military commander and resistance leader during World War...more

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May 30, 2008 Nikki rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: edgar-best-novel-winners, mysteries, re-reads, saw-the-movie, guardian-1000-novels, books-set-in-france

Re-reading The Day of the Jackal, Frederick Forsyth's 1972 Edgar winner for Best Novel, was perhaps even more satisfying than reading it for the first time (can it really have been 36 years ago?) I would never quibble with the committee's choice on this one.

As most people probably know, the book deals with a plot to assassinate Charles de Gaulle, President of France, by a group opposed to his policies on Algeria. Not only does the reasonably well-informed reader know that, historically, de Gaull...more Re-reading The Day of the Jackal, Frederick Forsyth's 1972 Edgar winner for Best Novel, was perhaps even more satisfying than reading it for the first time (can it really have been 36 years ago?) I would never quibble with the committee's choice on this one.

As most people probably know, the book deals with a plot to assassinate Charles de Gaulle, President of France, by a group opposed to his policies on Algeria. Not only does the reasonably well-informed reader know that, historically, de Gaulle was not assassinated, but Forsyth actually makes a point of telling us this early in the book. So, in a most important sense, we know from the outset how the book ends. And yet, it is one of the best examples I've read of page-turning, heart-stopping, breath-holding suspense writing.

Using the third-person omniscient form, Forsyth takes us into the minds and actions of the plotters, the police, and the Jackal himself. As the Jackal's preparations are being made, the French policeman, Lebel, is making his own preparations to foil the hired assassin. The police (including a number of quasi-police agencies with few qualms about methods) are well aware of the plot to assassinate de Gaulle -- several unsuccessful attempts have been made -- and they quickly surmise that the plotters have a hired killer. But finding the Jackal is not so easy, and he always seems to be one step ahead of them until the last shattering moment.

One thing that struck me in this reading of The Day of the Jackal was that, while one part of my brain was firmly on the side of Lebel and his need to stop the assassin, another part of me was admiring the Jackal's ingenuity and cool head, and almost wanted him to "win." And all this with no attempts made by the author to excuse or rationalize the Jackal's career choice -- in fact we are told very little about the Jackal's past beyond one brief reference to his having grown up poor. Forsyth puts the reader in the very unusual position of watching two consummate professionals doing their jobs in opposition to each other; even though we know which is the "good" or "right" side, our inwards groans at a setback for the Jackal are as heartfelt as those for Lebel, at least until the last few chapters.

If you are too young to have read this book when it first came out, or even if you did read it then, do yourself a favor and read or re-read it. (less)

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Dec 06, 2012 Rob rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

A tight and fantastic political/cat-and-mouse thriller. Edgar award winner 'The Day of the Jackal' is well-paced, originally plotted and filled with amazing research. Forsyth clearly belongs among the top ranks of the great thriller writers. He is often immitated (Clancy, Thor, McBain) but NEVER really replicated.

Beyond the merits of the novel itself, the Day of the Jackal has also influenced actual assassins (Yigal Amir and Vladimir Arutinian), inspired the nickname for Ilich Ramírez Sánchez (...more

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Feb 17, 2010 Meaghan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: suspense novel lovers

Shelves: favorites, adult-novels, around-the-world

This is one of the great classics in the suspense novel genre, and with good reason. I was stunned by it. This book made me want to go to the library right away and check out every Forsyth novel they had.

You know at the beginning that the assassination plot failed -- it says so -- but that doesn't stop you from clinging to the edge of your seat as your follow The Jackal and those who are chasing him. He's the consummate killer, using money, sex, drugs and whatever other tools are at his disposal...more

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May 30, 2008 John rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An insurgent group hires a professional assassin to kill the president of France. The target is not the guy who got elected, got divorced and married a model. This is 1963, and the president is Charles De Gaulle.
Standing in the assassin's way is an unimposing French detective named Claude Lebel. This character isn't introduced until nearly halfway into the book, and it's after that point that "The Day of the Jackal" becomes hard to put down. The compelling feature of the novel is the battle of w...more

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Nov 29, 2008 Atishay rated it 5 of 5 stars

Hands down the best thriller I've ever read and probably would for a long time to come.
Frederick Forsyth shines and deservingly so for the amount of research he puts into his projects. This one is regarding an attempt to assassinate Charles De Gaulle, the French President, narrated from the assassin's point of view. Immaculate in its details and planning, the climax is shattering and will make you close the book for a second and look at the ceiling, eyes closed.
Another masterpiece by the mas...more

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Apr 07, 2013 Mohnish Chawla rated it 5 of 5 stars

the part 1 is just average
there is nothing extra ordinary about it
all the assassin's in the world have to be meticulous,impeccable,smart,sexy.....and our's was no different!!
so we have a general go through of the political situation of France THE failed attempts of the OAS to assassinate the president & the generals at the top to finally do come up with the idea of getting the work done by an outsider = THE JACKAL
then we go through his planning that after a point starts to be a little boring...more

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Jan 15, 2013 Valerie Derbyshire rated it 3 of 5 stars

My opinion of this book sits somewhere between the reviewers who think this is the most brilliant thriller ever written and the one who said "as a book this is totally boring." Yes, there are boring moments whilst the plot is laid - some of the French history and terminology can be hard to get to grips with - but there are moments of utter brilliance too. I bought this book on the strength of the first line "It is cold at six-forty in the morning of a March day in Paris, and seems even colder wh...more

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Oct 30, 2012 Nick Stephenson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Widely regarded as the book that set the tone for the modern thriller. The Day of the Jackal concerns the "semi-true" events surrounding the French president Charles de Gaulle's years in power following World War II, in particular the many attempts on his life made by the French separatist movement. After yet another botched attempt to dispatch de Gaulle, the separatists decide to hire an outsider who would be unknown to the French authorities and who could therefore get close to the president w...more

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Aug 12, 2012 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-mystery-suspense

I was of older gradeschool age, and after exhausting all the Nancy Drew's my mother's younger sister passed down to me, I went to my parents meager book shelf. I read Exodus, by Leon Uris. The boldface on the book jacket demanding to be read like a hollywood movie demanding to be seen. I had no idea that it already was a movie. From that book forward I was hungry for literature. I tried other books on this parental shelf: this Steinbeck (Winter of our Discontent)--I liked but could not say why;...more I was of older gradeschool age, and after exhausting all the Nancy Drew's my mother's younger sister passed down to me, I went to my parents meager book shelf. I read Exodus, by Leon Uris. The boldface on the book jacket demanding to be read like a hollywood movie demanding to be seen. I had no idea that it already was a movie. From that book forward I was hungry for literature. I tried other books on this parental shelf: this Steinbeck (Winter of our Discontent)--I liked but could not say why; Dale Carnegie--false; Victoria Holt--fake drama; Day of the Jackal--almost, gets the tension; Michener--almost,has drama. Then the 3 shelves had been read.

Fortunately, our township had become a city in the intervening years and built a library (1972) less than a half-mile from my house. Unfortunately, the librarians kept escorting from the adult section to the kid section of which they were so proud. Doubly unfortunately, being an obedient child (my downfall in multiple areas of life) I obeyed. I read little in middle school, because nothing caught my interest.

Fortunately, in high school I had teacher who liked to irritate and shake the ground beneath his students. He threw us into Heart of Darkness, by Conrad laughing under his breath. I took every english class I could with wicked-humored Dane. When he despised my pollyanna-ish, he gave me My Last Duchess, by Browning in a poetry class of the great classic English Poets. In this class we read Pope and lots of Pope. Our final exam were these poems he assigned like medicine to cure a weakness he saw in each of us. We needed to memorize it, analyze it, and defend our presentation of it. Going into this exam, I finally had an "A" in one of his classes--until he asked "Why was she wearing a ribbon about her neck?" Well, I could not bring into my consciousness that malevolent shadow following me whenever I was inside this poem. Pollyanna-ish won and I got a "C".

Fortunately, I was of an age I was no longer escorted out of the adult section in the library, so I read more and more classic he mocked us announcing that we did not have enough life in us to neither comprehend nor write of great literature. Yes, that may be true, but great literature reflects and kindles a flame already lit inside. Besides, great literature can be read more than twice. I think I will go back and re-read Lord Jim.

I read Don Quioxte, because Mr. Rasmussen's idea of school musical was Man of La Mancha. He was banned from doing musicals and plays again. Too bad parents have so little faith and administrators so little courage, Mr. Rasmussen might have shaken the ground beneath our feet, but the opened earth revealed a bigger world we could go forth and master.(less)

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Jul 03, 2012 Stephen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime, mystery, pop-lit, suspense

I came around to The Day of the Jackal knowing it had a serious provenance. I don’t tend to seek out thrillers (although I certainly enjoy them), but I’m well aware that there are classics that are worth reading, and that this was one of them.

This is a brilliant novel. Really exciting. And I think there are a few key factors that play into this. The first is that it takes place in a plausible version of the real world. Surrounding a plot by an assassin to take the life of Charles de Gaulle, the...more I came around to The Day of the Jackal knowing it had a serious provenance. I don’t tend to seek out thrillers (although I certainly enjoy them), but I’m well aware that there are classics that are worth reading, and that this was one of them.

This is a brilliant novel. Really exciting. And I think there are a few key factors that play into this. The first is that it takes place in a plausible version of the real world. Surrounding a plot by an assassin to take the life of Charles de Gaulle, the novel establishes itself in a solid historical setting by recounting actual assassination attempts by the French terrorist group, OAS, of the same. You can’t really call this novel historical fiction since it involves a primarily fictional group of individuals, but it takes place in a firmly historical world.

The second factor is that both the details surrounding the planned assassination attempt and the investigation in pursuit of the assassin (the titular Jackal) are all perfectly well outlined and are brilliantly executed. Every step makes sense. There are no moments where logic must be thrown out the window or the reader must employ their suspension of disbelief. It makes sense. And the really unique thing, particularly where the investigation and manhunt are concerned, is that much of the plot involves fairly routine police work—checking records, passport photos, and plane records, investigating hotel clerks, setting up road blocks, etc. And it’s not boring. Even a little bit, which is quite a feat! Which brings us to…

The third factor: the narrative. The novel’s narrator depicts events as though they were coming from a case file. The sentences are clipped. Descriptions are succinct. And dialogue is matter-of-fact. If it were strictly like this, it would be tremendously boring, but there’s enough detail and interjection mixed in to make it immensely entertaining. It’s a very fine line for an author to walk, but Forsythe proves very talented at this.

The end result is a novel that is gripping, exciting, and engaging. You really should look into it!
(less)

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Jun 17, 2012 Jane Stewart rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: suspense-thriller, 5-star-other

Wonderful intellectual suspense. Intricate, smart plotting. Excellent ending.

This is a classic - a great experience. I’m frequently smiling at the smart and unexpected actions. Leading the investigation is homicide detective Lebel. He is short, rumpled, quiet, unassuming, and blinks a lot when criticized. There are no scenes with his wife, but we hear that he is henpecked. Don’t expect a charismatic hero. This is a humble man doing smart things in a methodical manner. I loved the nuanced charact...more Wonderful intellectual suspense. Intricate, smart plotting. Excellent ending.

This is a classic - a great experience. I’m frequently smiling at the smart and unexpected actions. Leading the investigation is homicide detective Lebel. He is short, rumpled, quiet, unassuming, and blinks a lot when criticized. There are no scenes with his wife, but we hear that he is henpecked. Don’t expect a charismatic hero. This is a humble man doing smart things in a methodical manner. I loved the nuanced characters. I was sympathetic to some of the bad guys and disliked some of the good guys. Jackal is a bad guy but he does not humiliate or do despicable things to people. He just kills anyone who threatens him. I admired his intelligence and competence. The OAS guys are bad guys, but they have idealistic motives, even though warped. They’re not out to kill masses of people. They just want to kill one guy.

Government officials learn that the OAS hired a foreigner to assassinate the French president. The killer’s code name is Jackal. They cannot talk to the OAS because they are hiding in another country. Lebel is brought in to lead the search to find the Jackal. I’m shaking my head thinking where does he start? What can he do? And then I am so impressed with the method of investigating and uncovering clues. On the other side, I was impressed and intrigued with many smart things the Jackal did.

CLASSIC WRITING STYLE:
I love this method of writing - classic. There is no jumping around in time. Things are told in a logical and linear method. In many cases when a new character is introduced, a short background is given showing his motivations, and then the current day story continues. This works well. And all scenes have natural endings. The author doesn’t stop a scene in the middle of a sentence. (Stephen King are you listening?)

MAINTAINING SUSPENSE:
I am frequently annoyed with other authors who leave scenes before a natural end and jump to another character, place, or time. For example, Mary walks into a room, hears a noise, and is hit. The next sentence is about another character in another place. This is not story suspense. It’s manipulation to create artificial suspense. I am angry at the author. My anger takes me out of the story. Forsyth does suspense perfectly in this book. For example, Lebel gets a clue about the Jackal. I feel hopeful. POV switches to Jackal who is doing things according to plan. He hears that Lebel learned something, so Jackal changes his plan and does something different. I’m impressed. POV then switches to Lebel’s guys who arrive at Jackal’s location but don’t find him because Jackal left an hour earlier. I’m thinking oh no what will they do next? Even though the POV is switching, the actions flow in a logical time line. The result is a chess game - watching each player respond and make his next move. This is a perfect way to maintain suspense throughout the book.

MINOR SPOILER: (view spoiler)

NARRATOR:
The narrator Simon Prebble did a fine job.

DATA:
Unabridged audiobook reading time: 13 hrs and 21 mins. Swearing language: moderate, only two or three times. Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: about 5, mostly referred to, not much detail. Setting: primarily 1963 France, England, Belgium, and Italy. Book copyright: 1971. Genre: suspense thriller. Ending: Excellent and feel good.(less)

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Feb 05, 2012 Sarah rated it 1 of 5 stars

The Day of the Jackal was for me was a laborious read. This book consists of many information dumps, and was not at all suspenseful. As with all books I rate one star, I did not finish it, I only got to 46% complete. To get this far even, required constant encouragement drawn from the many positive reviews, and hopes that the books shinning light would start on the next page. I am in fact still holding onto the opinion that from the point of which I’ve left off, the book must begin to turn excep...more

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Sep 24, 2011 Murdock Hendrix rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 31, 2011 Truly rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Kesalahan jelas bukan pada buku ini!
Kemunginan besar pada kepalaku yang sedang error akibat dalam kondisi jenuh ^_^

Ini buku baca bersama dalam BBI.
Kesalahan pertama adalah menunda-nunda baca buku ini sehingga saat waktu posting bersama malah kelewatan. Padahal buku ini sudah ada di tangan sejak bookfair yang lalu. Seharusnya tidak butuh waktu lama untuk menuntaskan sebuah buku.

Keselahan kedua, sampai buku ini tamat dengan dipaksakan, saya tidak menemukan sesuatu yang menarik. Teman-teman yang su...more

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Apr 12, 2011 Bobby Bermea rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: People who like spies, thrillers, mysteries and books about smart people being very, very smart.

Shelves: cloak-and-dagger

Normally, I wouldn't bother giving a review to an audiobook or putting it on my list but this one was such an enjoyable experience, such a perfect melding of brilliant story and exciting reading, that I had to tell someone somewhere. Of course, I'd been aware of Forsyth's famous novel for years and always meant to get around to reading it -- but always slightly put off that I already knew how it was going to end. Silly me. The drama and the thrills come from the creation of a violent world where...more

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May 09, 2013 Goran Markov rated it 5 of 5 stars

A brilliant novel by Frederick Forsyth! Brilliant, indeed.

Although, motivated by his debts and financial problems to start writing fiction, Forsyth used his research technics he had picked up as a foreign news correspondent to make the novel more realistic. In the beginning of the novel, Forsyth gives a description of a failed assassination attempt on Charles de Gaulle, the French president, which Forsyth personally reported from the scene as a correspondent stationed in Paris at the time (1962...more

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Jul 17, 2011 Dhejan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Seseorang yang tak dikenal… seorang pembunuh bayaran!

Bersetting Prancis pada tahun 60-an, novel ini mengisahkan tentang upaya pembunuhan terhadap Presiden Prancis kala itu, Jenderal Charles de Gaulle.
Percobaan pembunuhan ini telah enam kali dilakukan. Dan sebanyak enam kali pulalah kegagalan harus ditelan pahit oleh para petinggi OAS (Organisation L’Armée Sacrète).

Matinya Letnan Kolonel Jean-Marie Basytien-Thiry, pemimpin sebuah geng pembunuh dari OAS yang dihukum tembak mati pada 11 Maret 1963,...more

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Feb 01, 2013 Luffy Monkey D. rated it 2 of 5 stars

The day of the jackal was over, and I was glad of that. Just because this old thriller was related to a favored genre of mine - the historical fiction - didn't mean I would like outdated thrillers with no idea that hasn't been milked by movies of various characteristics. But I learned one thing after reading this book, and that was that archaic books like this died intestate.

There were defining aspects in this hefty - not too much though - novel. There were new characters that kept making entr...more

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Aug 29, 2012 Cliff rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels

This, Forsyth's first novel, won the Edgar Award for best crime novel in 1972. I first read it about five years after it was published when a friend, who had sat up all night reading it, passed the book on to me. The passage of time has done nothing to diminish the freshness of the writing and if anything adds to the historical interest.

The story is set in the early 1960s. The Jackal is a professional assassin who is hired by the OAS, a group opposed to decolonisation of Algeria and committed to...more
This, Forsyth's first novel, won the Edgar Award for best crime novel in 1972. I first read it about five years after it was published when a friend, who had sat up all night reading it, passed the book on to me. The passage of time has done nothing to diminish the freshness of the writing and if anything adds to the historical interest.

The story is set in the early 1960s. The Jackal is a professional assassin who is hired by the OAS, a group opposed to decolonisation of Algeria and committed to a military overthrow of the French government, to kill Charles de Gaulle, president of France.

The opening section of the book provides the historical and political setting and describes the development of the assassination plan, and the recruitment of the Jackal. The story then follows the Jackal, as he plans the assassination and begins to make the necessary preparations. The French authorities learn of the plot and an international manhunt ensues. The task of leading this manhunt falls to Lebel, an unassuming, middle-ranking French detective. The remainder of the book is an extended chase as the Jackal manages to stay one step ahead of his pursuers whilst remaining determined to complete his mission.

Forsyth is a great story-teller. The action moves along rapidly and there is a lot of originality in the various twists and turns. He goes into a great amount of detail about the Jackal's planning and, later as his pursuers close in, improvisation, and about the operations of the French and British political and security apparatus. The style of writing is more like reporting than fictional prose. Some might find the detail excessive, but for me, it gives a sense of realism and immediacy. There is a tendency to provide back-story each time a new character appears, but this is done in a manner in keeping with the journalistic style and doesn't really slow the action.

We know in advance that the plot will fail - de Gaulle died peacefully in old age and Forsyth tells us at the start that he is not about to re-write history, but nevertheless the tension builds until the very last page and there is a very cheeky twist right at the end. (less)

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Aug 03, 2011 Joyce rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, mystery

Wonderfully plotted thriller, great vacation read, The Day of the Jackal is a classic of its genre. I have watched both movies made of the book, the first of which, starring Edward Fox, is so far superior to the Bruce Willis version as to be laughable in comparison.

However, I hadn't read the book itself for many years and it is just as good as I remembered. If you've not seen either movie, you're in for a treat. The story is set in the early 1960's, when France and other European colonizers wer...more

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Aug 02, 2009 Steven Kent rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: light-reading, read-it-cause-i-had-to, stuff-that-s-good-to-konw

One of the finest examples of slight-of-hand storytelling in espionage, Day of the Jackal is the tale of disgruntled and abandoned French military men hiring one of the world's foremost hitmen to do away with Charles D'Gaul.

The story unfolds from several perspectives. Early on, you see it from the point of view of the freedom fighters as they hire their killer elite. From there, you hop into the head of the hitman himself as he slips into France for his date with destiny. He leaves a disturbing...more

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Jun 03, 2010 Iwan Sutisna rated it 5 of 5 stars

A good reading material to start on dwelling in the spy fiction thriller. Mr. Forsyth once again shows he is truly deserved get a title a master of story teller and why this book received so many good critical reviews and award as far as I know of. For one thing this book is divided in 3 chapter that is: Anatomy of a Plot, Anatomy of a Manhunt and Anatomy of a Kill. In the first chapter the plot moves a little bit slow only then in second chapter the story start rolling with a massive but discre...more

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Mar 31, 2013 Maria rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Klassieke politieke thriller, een vermenging van feiten en fantasie. Een alsmaar spannender wordende intrige rond een moordaanslag op Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Met als absolute held de ‘gewone’ commissaris Claude Lebel. Iemand die zijn ogen wat beter open houdt dan een ander…

Met klassieke wederzijdse Frans-Engelse irritaties en tegenstellingen, een ingenieus plan van de Jakhals wat stukje bij beetje wordt ontvouwd, en een huurmoordenaar overal op voorbereid en steeds knap improviserend.
Ik was...more

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May 28, 2012 Kriti rated it 5 of 5 stars

This was a book filled with suspense and action. Parts of it reminded me of the Bourne series, as the Jackal was meticulous and ruthless. There is a character of a similar name is the Bourne series, who is just as fearsome as the one in this book. I loved how descriptive the book was in regard to the actions and preparations taken by the Jackal. It gave a sense of realism to his actions and the plot. Personally, I found myself supporting the Jackal, hoping that he could perform the impossible. H...more

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Jul 28, 2011 Fanda VIXXIO rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bbi, book-swap, own-shelf

Buku ini merupakan bacaan bersama BBI (Blogger Buku Indonesia) untuk bulan Juli 2011. Posting review akan dilakukan serentak 29 Juli 2011.

Salah satu buku yang tokoh utamanya seorang antagonis. Gagal membinasakan Presiden Charles de Gaulle, OAS --organisasi bawah tanah yang terdiri dari militer dan membenci Gaulle-- terpaksa merekrut seorang pembunuh bayaran asing agar lebih leluasa membunuh de Gaulle. Si orang asing itu tak diketahui jatidirinya, hanya sebuah sebutan/kata sandi: Jackal. Benar-be...more

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Aug 08, 2012 Natasha Hurley-Walker rated it 1 of 5 stars

Clearly the book is deserving of more than one star, in an objective rating system. However, this is *my* rating, based on *my* enjoyment of the book. Which was almost infinitesimal.

Clear, utterly emotionless, featureless prose taking plodding character from one predictable, cliched scene to another. Weird omniscient narration where we simultaneously know the thoughts in every character's head but nothing about their soul. I felt like some kind of Robotic Overlord, privileged to know all and yet...more Clearly the book is deserving of more than one star, in an objective rating system. However, this is *my* rating, based on *my* enjoyment of the book. Which was almost infinitesimal.

Clear, utterly emotionless, featureless prose taking plodding character from one predictable, cliched scene to another. Weird omniscient narration where we simultaneously know the thoughts in every character's head but nothing about their soul. I felt like some kind of Robotic Overlord, privileged to know all and yet understand nothing.

The only iotum of beauty in this book was the moment that Kowalski visits the airport and thinks of how life could have been. Everything else was boring, murderous or bureaucratic. And not in a satirical way. Stuff Just Happens. Filing cabinets are described in extreme detail. Phone calls are made. Letters are sent, and not mysteriously lost in the post. Characters arrive on scenes at just the right moment for narrative tension (which means, of course, that there is none). And after the ending spoiler barely 10% into the book that(view spoiler) (yes, that does mean my knowledge of French history sucks), I found absolutely no excitement in the book whatsoever. The final scene is exactly what it was always going to be: narratively you can simply predict the moment that the Jackal will (view spoiler) Of course unlike the author I've left that moment up to the reader's speculation. (Where are the sarcasm tags?)

Not to mention I had not a moment's belief that a professional assassin such as the Jackal was even faintly plausible. When I checked up on Wikipedia as to whether this was some kind of historical faction, and the Jackal really existed, I found that of course the whole thing was complete fantasy.

Maybe I just don't get spy novels. I found this utterly tedious, just as snoringly dull as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Perhaps I'm missing a chromosome. I'm going to go read some sci-fi to cheer myself up.(less)

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Aug 23, 2011 Andrew Ives rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: favourites

Not many books are still gripping beyond 400 pages, but especially towards the end, I could hardly put it down. If you're not familiar with French, France and its idiosyncrasies, you might become bored early on, but once the Jackal starts putting his plan into action, the story picks up speed. Even though I have seen the film a few times, I still enjoyed the book slightly more.

I have a few minor criticisms though: Forsyth uses "round" in place of "around" throughout which grated slightly. Althou...more

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About Frederick Forsyth

From Wikipedia:

Frederick Forsyth, CBE (born 25 August 1938) is an English author and occasional political commentator. He is best known for thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Fourth Protocol, The Dogs of War, The Devil's Alternative, The Fist of God, Icon, The Veteran, Avenger and recently The Afghan.

The son of a furrier, Forsyth was born in Ashford, Kent. He was educate...more From Wikipedia:

Frederick Forsyth, CBE (born 25 August 1938) is an English author and occasional political commentator. He is best known for thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Fourth Protocol, The Dogs of War, The Devil's Alternative, The Fist of God, Icon, The Veteran, Avenger and recently The Afghan.

The son of a furrier, Forsyth was born in Ashford, Kent. He was educated at Tonbridge School and later attended the University of Granada in Spain. He became one of the youngest pilots in the Royal Air Force at the age of 19, where he served on National Service from 1956 to 1958. Becoming a journalist, he joined Reuters in 1961 and later the BBC in 1965, where he served as an assistant diplomatic correspondent. From July to September 1967, he served as a correspondent covering the Nigerian Civil War between the region of Biafra and Nigeria. He left the BBC in 1968 after controversy arose over his alleged bias towards the Biafran cause and accusations that he falsified segments of his reports. Returning to Biafra as a freelance reporter, Forsyth wrote his first book, The Biafra Story in 1969.

Forsyth decided to write a novel using similar research techniques to those used in journalism. His first full length novel, The Day of the Jackal, was published in 1971 and became an international bestseller and gained its author the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel. In this book, the Organisation armée secrète (a real-life terrorist group) hires an assassin to kill the then-French President Charles de Gaulle. It was later made into a film of the same name.

In Forsyth's second novel, The Odessa File (1972), a reporter attempts to track down a certain ex-Nazi SS officer in modern Germany. The reporter discovers him via the diary of a Jewish Holocaust survivor who committed suicide earlier, but he is being shielded by an organization that protects ex-Nazis, called ODESSA. Later, the reporter discovers that this same SS officer murdered a German Army officer during World War II for striking him after refusing to let SS soldiers take the place of his own wounded men. The German Army Officer was the reporter's father. This book was later made into a movie with the same name, starring Jon Voight, but there were substantial adaptations.

In The Dogs of War (1974) a British mining executive hires a group of mercenaries to overthrow the government of an African country so that he can install a puppet regime that will allow him cheap access to a colossal platinum-ore reserve. This book was also adapted to film, in 1981, starring Christopher Walken and Tom Berenger.

The Shepherd was an illustrated novella published in 1975. It tells of a nightmare journey by an RAF pilot while flying home for Christmas in the late 1950s. His attempts to find a rational explanation for his eventual rescue prove as troublesome as his experience. Following this came The Devil's Alternative in 1979, which was set in 1982. In this book, the Soviet Union faces a disastrous grain harvest and Ukrainian freedom fighters. A Politburo faction fight ensues. In the end, a Norwegian oil tanker built in Japan, a Russian airliner hijacked to West Berlin and various governments find themselves involved.

In 1982, No Comebacks, a collection of ten short stories, was published. Some of these stories had been written earlier. Many were set in the Republic of Ireland where Forsyth was living at the time. One of them, "There Are No Snakes In Ireland", won him a second Edgar Allan Poe Award, this time for best short story.

The Fourth Protocol was published in 1984 and involves renegade elements within the Soviet Union attempting to plant a nuclear bomb near an American airbase in the UK, intending to influence the upcoming British elections and lead to the election of an anti-NATO, anti-American, anti-nuclear, pro-soviet Labour government. The Fourth Protocol was later filmed, starring Pierce Brosnan and Michael Caine, in 1987. All the (less)

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Quotes from The Day of the Jackal

“It is cold at six-forty in the morning on a March day in Paris, and seems even colder when a man is about to be executed by firing squad.” — 6 people liked it

“Yessir. A crutch, like one-legged men always have.” — 3 people liked it

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