Book info

• Title The Day of the Jackal
• Author Frederick Forsyth
• Year 1971
• Genre Thriller

1963. An anonymous Englishman is hired by the Operations Chief of French terrorist organisation O.A.S. to murder the French president, General Charles de Gaulle. A failed attempt in the previous year means the target will be nearly impossible to reach. Only one man could do the job: an assassin of legendary talent known only as The Jackal. This remorseless and deadly killer must be stopped. But he is a man without a name, without an identity; a lethal spectre. How can you stop an assassin nobody can identify? The task falls to the best detective in France - and the price of failure is unthinkable...

Thoughts

Perhaps I am spoiled by the more modern fast-paced thriller, but this one took such a long time to get going. Perhaps, also, the reason people like it is the meticulous attention to detail, but that just wasn’t for me. We had the precise movements of the assassin on the hunt for French president Charles de Gaulle, what he did each day, where he went. At one point, I thought I needed to get out a map and trace his exact movements.

Then we had the hunt from the police side of things, who they talked to, what meetings were held and what was discussed. It gradually started to get interesting when they had near misses and informants and the day started to get closer. But ultimately, it was far too slow going for me, and a bit of a battle to get through.

Good twist at the end though.

Rating: 3 / 5