The Day of the Jackal in Espionage Aficionados

Jun 21, 2012 Feliks rated it it was amazing

Shelves: genre-thrillers

Frederick Forsythe is easily the most well-known writer of the action thriller. Action-fiction today is lucrative business in part because of its tight integration with the movie industry (action-flick franchises are the nearest thing to a steady dividend Hollywood can rely on). The paperbook side of thriller-dom is thus highly competitive but also highly programmatic; as authors all grapple with each other for name-cachet and movie-adaptations. Its a tough field to stand out in.

The more so, be Frederick Forsythe is easily the most well-known writer of the action thriller. Action-fiction today is lucrative business in part because of its tight integration with the movie industry (action-flick franchises are the nearest thing to a steady dividend Hollywood can rely on). The paperbook side of thriller-dom is thus highly competitive but also highly programmatic; as authors all grapple with each other for name-cachet and movie-adaptations. Its a tough field to stand out in.

The more so, because the modern world has grown so over-familiar with the conventions of this often-hackneyed genre. We've become this way thanks to our bewildering, current day-to-day lives in the age of terrorism. There are hideous monthly headlines in the real-world now, which supersede even the most far-fetched fictional thriller plot. So our nerves are always on edge. It all rather makes a mockery of 'armchair thrillers'. Thus, even as the field has become glutted with heavily-hyped newcomers and internet campaigns; the whole thing can seem stale, depleted, trite, and grasping.

It wasn't always this way. The golden age of action thriller writing--it can readily be seen--were the 60s/70s when for most Americans, war and chaos were found only on TV news broadcasts. In that 'pre-terror' interval Forsythe ruled. He absolutely, thoroughly, dominated this market. He was the writer to which all others were compared to. His were the works towards which every book-jacket blurb alluded. And there was a heckuva lot of fierce competition for his spot.

From approximately '67 to '77 there was a rambunctious, sprawling, paperback era with all manner of fresh action scenarios continually coming to the fore. Jumbo-jets, cruise-ships, locomotives, automobiles--seemingly, there was a thriller written for every imaginable backdrop of modern life. It was just a much simpler time when a cliff-hanger plot could always be contrived in such a way as to truly push audiences to the edge of their seats; & make their hearts race. It was a "window-of-opportunity" when more advanced technologies were still unknown. Thrillers could still 'wow' suburban audiences with exotic landscapes. Readers could still be shocked with descriptions of ugly violence always occurring in far-away countries rather than our own. These are the specific, --and the perfect-- conditions for all action-thriller fiction. Thrillers really depend on 'novelty' in all these areas to succeed.

Now, Forsythe is a British author and like many of his colleagues, he possesses a familiarity with Europe and many former British colonies throughout the world. He's similar to Ian Fleming in this regard. The first thing one can remark about his writing (as in Fleming's 'Bond' series) is his easy ability to portray countries and cultures that tend to dazzle provincial Americans. From his earliest works, he takes advantage of this: Hamburg, South Africa, Cote-azure. His casual familiarity with foreign climes, his glibness with travel--is something we Yanks envy.

Secondly, Forsythe was notorious for the rich detail he provides in the body of a plot. I'm calling this out separately as a function rather than speaking merely of his writing form. Forsythe's style is supple, economical, and observant--but so is the style of a lot of other authors. Rather, it is his fantastic capers, his assassinations, the audacious heists he writes about, which seem to tower tall above the concoctions of all other writers, in terms of rich detail.

Forsyth's technical authority sets him apart, much like Tom Clancy's did years later. Forsyth plots are living--and very feasible-- entities. Filled with gritty practicalities. How can a car can hide weapons under the carriage? How to forge papers? How to fool airport security? The grand result of intensive research: his plots are without loophole and really power the structure of his narrative. There's no dross. There's no drag. No dead weight.

Thirdly (choosing from among the many qualities which make a great page-turning read) I would say it is his pacing. Forsythe excels at slow, painstaking, building-up of layers of tension and anticipation. In the 1970s--when Forsyth's wildly successful international bestseller, the one which everyone had at least heard of ('The Day of the Jackal') held permanent spot in all paperback racks; there was really only one other title which vied with that juggernaut for pacing. That was, Thomas Harris' 'Black Sunday'. You'd often see the two of these books paired together in bookshelves and libraries all over the world. And it was for their pacing. It blew readers away. There was just nothing else like them. No two paperbacks had more tattered covers than these.

'The Day of the Jackal' of course, --a milestone we all recognize--is what Frederick Forsythe is first and foremost known by, will always be known by. His crowning accomplishment. It really was a revolutionizing display of sheer inventiveness and sustained vision which has still to be topped. Even today, many years later; this one book is still ranked among the best 2-3 thrillers ever written. Its inestimable--the impact this title had on its own genre; its indescribable--the audacity it displayed. It continues to defeat any subsequent efforts by latter-day challengers to match or even equal it.

Think about it: a story of violent, ruthless militarism...cold-blooded, deliberate, political assassination--which readers already knew did not succeed (in reality)... yet it still had people jumping up and down in their seats rooting and howling at the climax. It had people's hands trembling at the end of the tale, gripping the book's spine, breathing shallowly, eyes wide. Just extraordinary. Reverential fans still speak about how they 'felt they were traveling along' with Forsythe's famous assassin, along every step of his sinister mission. THIS is storytelling.
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Dec 09, 2010 Joe Newell rated it it was amazing

A very meticulous and entertaining spy novel. All of the I's are dotted and T's are crossed by Forsyth who writes with precision and keeps the story moving.

A classic. ...more

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