The Day of the Jackal

Title: The Day of the Jackal

Author: Frederick Forsyth

Published in: 1971

Date read: 7th December 2025

Score: 5/5

Genre: Thriller, Detective, Psychological

Plot: (Warning, may contain spoilers):
"The Day of the Jackal," published in 1971, is a groundbreaking political thriller that established Frederick Forsyth as a master of the genre. The novel is a meticulously researched, highly detailed account of a fictional plot to assassinate French President Charles de Gaulle in the summer of 1963.
The Plot
The story is set against the historical backdrop of the OAS (Organisation armée secrète), a militant French paramilitary group determined to overthrow de Gaulle following his decision to grant independence to Algeria. After several failed attempts, including the real-life assassination attempt on August 22, 1962, the surviving OAS leaders realize their efforts are compromised by leaks and internal disorganisation.
They decide to hire a professional, completely external assassin. They contract a nameless, apolitical British killer, known only by the codename "The Jackal," offering him a colossal sum of money for the high-risk job.
The narrative is structured as a dual-perspective cat-and-mouse game:
The Jackal's Preparation: The reader is given a step-by-step, chillingly detailed account of the assassin's methodical preparations. This includes securing a customized, untraceable sniper rifle from a gunsmith in Italy, commissioning several flawless fake identity papers from a professional forger (whom he later executes to ensure silence), reconnaissance of the assassination location in Paris, and creating a variety of elaborate disguises and cover stories.
The French Counter-Investigation: French intelligence, led by Interior Minister Roger Frey, learns of the plot's existence—but not the assassin's identity—after capturing and interrogaging a key OAS official. The government secretly appoints the brilliant but unassuming Police Commissioner Claude Lebel to lead the investigation. Lebel is given extraordinary, top-secret powers to identify and track the elusive Jackal before his final, unannounced target date.
The plot focuses on Lebel's frantic race against time. He pieces together fragments of information, navigating bureaucratic obstruction, political secrecy, and the international nature of the assassin's trail. As the Jackal travels across Europe, adopting various aliases (such as "Paul Oliver Duggan" and "Per Lundquist"), Lebel and his team gradually narrow down the possibilities, discovering the Jackal's true nationality and piecing together the details of his multiple disguises.
The novel culminates on Liberation Day, August 25, 1963, the predicted day of the attempt. Disguised as a crippled elderly veteran to bypass security, the Jackal infiltrates an apartment overlooking the ceremonial grounds in Paris and sets up his rifle. In the final, nail-biting scene, Lebel manages to arrive at the assassination spot just as the Jackal takes aim. The shot is fired, but the Jackal's meticulous planning is foiled by a minute, human detail, leading to a dramatic and definitive confrontation.
The book is celebrated for its journalistic precision, realistic depiction of tradecraft, and maintaining relentless suspense despite the well-known historical outcome (that de Gaulle was not assassinated).

Comments:
Wow, this book really does live up to its reputation. Throughout the book you can see where other books and countless films have gained inspiration. I started to read this at a very busy time at school which, once again, meant that I was reading just a few pages each evening before I went to sleep and so I didn't really get into it as much I I had wanted. This weekend, however, I read the last quarter in front of the fire and was truly sucked into the story. It is still relevant today and has not aged, so much so, I often wondered why they didn't WhatsApp a photo through or why they didn't just call for back-up on a mobile then I remembered that this was set 60 years before.

Books that we've read by Frederick Forsyth (1):
The Day of the Jackal (1971)