Stephen's Reviews > The Day of the Jackal

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 superior that Forsyth brought to this story, my 3 star rating reflects my lack of engagement in the story resulting largely from what I found to be a lack of well-drawn characters and a dearth of emotion in the narrative. These two missing components prevented me from getting warm and toasty with the story even with the undeniable quality of the plot.

PLOT SUMMARY

A novel in 4 parts.

First, the reader is introduced to the OAS (“Organisation de l'armée secrète”…or “Organization of the Secret Army”), a rabies-loaded, right-wing French nationalist group formed during the Algerian War and dedicated to keeping Algeria part of France…[if I can pause for a brief side note, the OAS completely reminded me of the scene in Monty Python’s, The Meaning of Life when John Cleese said:

I would remind you that [the cormorant] was presented to us by the Corporation of the town of Sudbury to commemorate Empire Day, when we try to remember the names of all those from the Sudbury area who so gallantly gave their lives to keep China British.

...Sorry, couldn’t resist sprinkling a little MP into the mix.]

Anyway, feeling spiteful, betrayed and more than a little miffed by de Charlie‘s “gall” and his support for Algerian independence, the OAS unsuccessfully tries to pop caps in de Gaulle’s derriere several times, most notably in a French suburb in 1962.

The above is all historical fact and provides a terrific lead in for Forsyth to seamlessly transition into the fictional story.

Part 2 of the story is easily my favorite part of the book. The OAS is in shambles after being infiltrated and decimated by the French “Action” service (the counter-terrorist portion of the French intelligence apparatus). As a result, the head of the OAS decides that the only way to turn things around is to succeed in assassinating de Gaulle and the only way to do that is to bring in a ninja professional assassin. Enter…Bruce Willis the Englishman …a nameless, mysterious, high-priced assassin considered the best in the world.

Engaged by the OAS and given complete operational control over the assignment, the rest of this section of the book details….and I mean D.E.T.A.I.L.S.…the Englishbloke’s preparation for the assassination. I was fascinated by this section and thought it felt incredibly authentic. Step by step the reader follows the Englishgent as he arranges the creation of false identities, the design and production of the perfect weapon, extensively studies de Gaulle, selects the appropriate time and place for the kill, and identifies his escape route.

I’ve never seen this kind of detail presented better without intrusion by the “pace-assassins” known of PLOD and BOG. Forsyth eludes both of these story killers and maintains excellent narrative flow. I LOVED IT.

Part 3 focuses on the French government’s counter-terrorist group as they learn of the potential plot and investigate various leads looking for a break. As with the rest of the book, the intricacy of the details is very impressive. However, this is where I started to disengage a bit from the plot due to a lack of emotional investment in the story. Part of this stems from the “intentional coldness” of the Englishman. His whole persona is one of ice which would have been great if contrasted by more emotionally colorful characters in the novel. Unfortunately, I didn’t find that and so it made immersing myself into the story impossible. Lack of immersion led to lack of connection led to lack of interest as the narrative began to seem far too dry.

The fourth part of the book is the climax where we have the Jackal closing in on his target and the Frenchies closing in on the Jackal. Again, technically this was done to perfection and I have no truck with anyone who slapped 5 stars on this story. However, for me, my lack of investment in the narrative continued to plague me and so the amount of tension (of which there should have been plenty) was running on empty. I still enjoyed it, but I kept telling myself that I SHOULD be enjoying it more.

Overall, Forsyth wrote a very impressive book and I would not quibble with it being listed among the classics of the genre. I just found the story a bit dry and the characters a bit too wooden to engage enough to say I really liked it. Thus a solid 3 stars and my respect for Forsyth’s accomplishment.