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The Outsider: My Life in Intrigue
From Frederick Forsyth, the grand master of international suspense, comes his most intriguing story ever—his own.
For more than forty years, Frederick Forsyth has been writing extraordinary real-world novels of intrigue, from the groundbreaking The Day of the Jackal to the prescient The Kill List . Whether writing about the murky world of arms dealers, the shadowy Nazi underground movement, or the intricacies of worldwide drug cartels, every plot has been chillingly plausible because every detail has been minutely researched.
But what most people don’t know is that some of his greatest stories of intrigue have been in his own life.
He was the RAF’s youngest pilot at the age of nineteen, barely escaped the wrath of an arms dealer in Hamburg, got strafed by a MiG during the Nigerian civil war, landed during a bloody coup in Guinea-Bissau (and was accused of helping fund a 1973 coup in Equatorial Guinea). The Stasi arrested him, the Israelis feted him, the IRA threatened him, and a certain attractive Czech secret police agent—well, her actions were a bit more intimate. And that’s just for starters.
It is a memoir like no other—and a book of pure delight.
For more than forty years, Frederick Forsyth has been writing extraordinary real-world novels of intrigue, from the groundbreaking The Day of the Jackal to the prescient The Kill List . Whether writing about the murky world of arms dealers, the shadowy Nazi underground movement, or the intricacies of worldwide drug cartels, every plot has been chillingly plausible because every detail has been minutely researched.
But what most people don’t know is that some of his greatest stories of intrigue have been in his own life.
He was the RAF’s youngest pilot at the age of nineteen, barely escaped the wrath of an arms dealer in Hamburg, got strafed by a MiG during the Nigerian civil war, landed during a bloody coup in Guinea-Bissau (and was accused of helping fund a 1973 coup in Equatorial Guinea). The Stasi arrested him, the Israelis feted him, the IRA threatened him, and a certain attractive Czech secret police agent—well, her actions were a bit more intimate. And that’s just for starters.
It is a memoir like no other—and a book of pure delight.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published September 8, 2015
447 people are currently reading
1815 people want to read
About the author
Frederick Forsyth
339 books4,342 followersFrederick Forsyth, CBE was a English author and occasional political commentator. He was 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, The Afghan, and more recently, The Cobra and The Kill List.
The son of a furrier, he was born in Ashford, Kent, educated at Tonbridge School and later attended the University of Granada. He became one of the youngest pilots in the Royal Air Force at 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. It was later made into a film of the same name.
The son of a furrier, he was born in Ashford, Kent, educated at Tonbridge School and later attended the University of Granada. He became one of the youngest pilots in the Royal Air Force at 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. It was later made into a film of the same name.
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December 20, 2015
THE OLD PRO.
"You still haven't explained why. You've explained what and how but not why!" - Simon Endean.
" For nearly two years, I watched between half a million and a million small kids starving to death because of people like you and Mason. It was done basically so that you and your kind can make bigger profits through a vicious and totally corrupt dictatorship and it was done in the name of law and order, of legality and constitutional justification. I may be a fighter, I may be a killer, but I am not a bloody sadist. I worked out for myself how it was done and why it was done and who were the men behind it. Visible up front were a bunch of politicians and foreign office men but they are just a cage full of posturing apes, neither seeing nor caring past their interdepartmental squabbles and their re-election. Invisible behind them were profiteers like your precious James Mason. That's why I did it. Tell Mason when you get back home. I'd like him to know. Personally. From me. Now get walking."- Carlo Anthony Shannon.
This is a book written by a man who has lived a rich life. He’ was one of the youngest pilots to have served in the RAF and part of the original squadron to have flown Britain’s first jet fighters. He was a journalist, covering ground breaking events across Cold War Europe and most famously witnessed one of the original humanitarian tragedies of Africa. He served his country as an asset for the SIS, doing the odd task when they called upon him. He’s hobnobbed with politicians, soldiers, militants, criminals, spies and historical figures from Ireland to Israel and Nigeria and South Africa. But most importantly, for 50 years, with one book, he has singlehandedly defined the course of modern thriller writing. He’s the last surviving elder statesman in the business. Please welcome, Frederick Forsyth. This is his autobiography.
For Frederick Forsyth, there are no more worlds left to conquer. As he’s stated in interviews, he is retiring and this is his last book, the capstone to a professional life which began at the start of the Cold War and concluded in the second decade of the war on terror. And what a book it is, his own story, one which allows us to appreciate his work, even more. Most people only know him from 1971’s “The Day of the Jackal” a book which no true thriller fan should leave unread. With that thriller, well researched, intricate and realistic, he left his mark on spy/military/political novels and influenced almost every other writer who came after him, along with the expectations of readers for generations. Brad Thor coined the term “faction”. Frederick Forsyth actually invented it.
But who is the man behind the books? The last surviving pioneer of thrillers, who in the age before internet was opening the curtain to the shadow world existing behind the thin veneer of civilization that made up our everyday, humdrum lives? In his 70’s, the man himself finally tells all and allows us to get to know him better.
So, the first section of the book. He begins with his father, a jobless naval architect who decided to travel to the rubber plantations of Colonial Malaysia at the start of the great depression. In 1935, Forsyth’s father saved the life of a boy suffering from a lethal case of appendicitis. He was successful. The father of the boy, who was Japanese, happened to be one of the agents Imperial Japan deployed to Asia in the lead up to World War 2 and rewarded him with the warning, “If you value your life, leave Malaya.” Heading the warning, Forsyth’s dad returned to the UK a year later and in 1945, it was found that none of his fellow staff on the plantation he worked at had survived.
But back to Forsyth himself. He was born in 1938 at the start of the second world war. He talks us through his childhood, and how the seed which would lead him to his first job was planted with him ending up in the cockpit of a spitfire when his father took him to visit an airbase. He then covers his education. The man completed his O level Russian, a skill which would serve him well at the start of his career. Finally, he explains how he got into the RAF. Despite the urgings of the school authorities and the inter-service rivalry (Forsyth notes the Navy and Army were thought more highly of compared to the RAF), he willingly sacrificed a chance to go to Oxbridge and joined the armed services.
Next section. Forsyth convers his stint at the RAF and the start of his work as a journalist. The plane he trained on, the Vampire, had no ejector seat. Nonetheless he survived and during his training also visited Cyprus and Lebanon where he had the chance to witness two revolutions and give his first contribution to the media about the skirmish which started the Lebanese Civil War. Soon after, Forsyth resigned his commission and decided to go into Journalism. Failing to get a job at one of the main Fleet Street papers, he instead hit the jackpot and landed a job at Reuters. A few months later, he got his first foreign posting. Paris, which he arrived in May 1962.
There, he began to cover the French Algerian conflict and the one of the world’s first organized terrorist campaigns, conducted by the right wing OAS organization which was trying to kill General Charles De Gaulle. Forsyth covered a particularly spectacular assassination attempt in which 120 bullets missed DeGaulle when a team of terrorist botched an ambush on his car. This experience would later start his writing career as a novelist. Another posting followed. Having the dubious honour of being selected as Reuters man in East Berlin, Forsyth covered events in Czechoslovakia, Hungary and East Berlin, where the rioting and terrorism was replaced by paranoia and trolling the Stasi surveillance net. He covered the checkpoint Charlie standoff and even got arrested by the Stasi at one point after helping confirm the status of a downed USAF recon plane.
Third act is all about his fateful tenure at the BBC. Here, he goes into great detail about the post war organization, positively skewering the officials and bureaucrats who hypocritically preached impartiality as long as the government is office was UK Labour. He also reveals the veiled contempt the UK political establishment at the time had for the Jews trying to set up Israel and a barely disguised preference for the Arab nationalists and Islamists trying to murder them all. Forsyth elaborates on how his views went the other way. Next, Africa. Forsyth explains how he ended up in Nigeria.
There, he got a front row seat in witnessing the Nigerian Civil War where the Eastern part of the country, being persecuted by the Muslim North, separated. Forsyth explains in great detail how this war, one of the original African tragedies happened, and it makes for chilling reading in how similar mistakes like the one which caused the civil war and one of the great forgotten humanitarian disasters of all time. During the early stage of the war, when events began to cool down, Forsyth visited Israel. He talked with David Ben Gurion, interviewed and played co-pilot to Eizer Weizman, the founder of the Israeli Air Force 50000 feet up in a Cessna monoplane and had a late night run in with the trigger man who executed the Igurn’s King David Hotel Bombing.
Fourth Act takes us back to Africa and how Forsyth was cultivated as an SIS asset. His handler ran the Africa desk and decided to target foreign correspondents to build his HUMINT network in Nigeria, where due to the BBC muddying the waters, he had hardly any idea what was going on. Forsyth happened to be one of the correspondents he successfully cultivated as an asset. Despite doing diligent work, the foreign office was successful in overruling the SIS and convincing the Harold Wilson government to continue a policy of supporting the Nigerian Federal government and its campaign to starve the secessionists into submission which after 15 months had successfully killed 1 million children from starvation.
The chapter on how the malnutrition took hold across the province is heart-breaking stuff. Forsyth then recounts how after tightening the noose failed, the British Establishment began armaments shipments despite claims of being neutral and doubled down on supporting their discredited policy after the first pictures of malnourished children started popping up in the international media. As the war progressed, Forsyth survived a strafing run by a Mig 17 operated by the government forces and nearly got blown up by a mortar. By 1969 he had left. What he say would form the basis of my personal favourite of his novels, The Dogs Of War, which was written as an apology of sorts to the people Forsyth left in Nigeria who he believed he had let down.
The last act of the book focuses on the start of Forsyth’s writing career, something which writers and those who want to get into fiction writing should take notes on. Having escaped Eastern Nigeria, Forsyth was broke. He decided to use what he had learned in journalism to help him write a novel. On the 2nd, January 1970, he began a tradition which he would follow for the rest of his career as a novelist. He broke out a typewriter, loaded it and started tapping. Noting that ever since “Rouge Male”, a novel about a scheme to shoot Adolf Hitler, no fiction writer had made a book around a plot to kill a living public figure, Forsyth centred his around Charles De Gaulle who would die that year in November. Completing the first draft, Forsyth got three rejection letters and pulled out of the fourth publisher. This section he takes us through the publishing industry at the time, noting many of the greats like him and Jk Rowling always got their first draft resoundingly rejected. At a party however, he hit the jackpot, meeting the editorial director for a publisher.
A day later, Forsyth decided to change his plan of attack and armed with a three page brief which pointed out the story was about HOW the plot to kill De Gaulle fails despite the killer waltzing around the French Law Enforcement, Forsyth ambushed the editorial director, improvised a successful pitch and landed a three book contract. He quickly found ideas for the next two books, the second from a research trip to the legendary Simon Wiesenthal who provided him with the real life war criminal to be the antagonist of the Odessa File. As for his third book, Forsyth visited Equatorial Guinea and in a research trip to visit a Hamburg Based Arms Dealer, had his cover accidentally blown by an ad for the German Edition of the day of the jackal and was forced to make a run for the nearest train station. Having completed the three book contract, Forsyth had arrived on the thriller scene and for the next several decades was here to stay. The book goes on, but I'm nearing the red line, so read it yourself to find out about his career.
So, as a memoir, how is it? I found it pretty good. Does he embellish some of the information? Maybe a little, but considering he’s in his old age, he’s got nothing left to lose. But on the other hand, I found most of it rings true. This book successfully met the main requirement of all memoirs, allowing you to get to know the subject better. I’m more understanding and appreciative of some of the behind the scenes work that went into the old master’s work. Overall, “The Outsider My Life In Intrigue”, is an engaging and enlightening autobiography about the last surviving elder statesman of thriller writing. I recommend it.
VERY RECOMMENDED.
"You still haven't explained why. You've explained what and how but not why!" - Simon Endean.
" For nearly two years, I watched between half a million and a million small kids starving to death because of people like you and Mason. It was done basically so that you and your kind can make bigger profits through a vicious and totally corrupt dictatorship and it was done in the name of law and order, of legality and constitutional justification. I may be a fighter, I may be a killer, but I am not a bloody sadist. I worked out for myself how it was done and why it was done and who were the men behind it. Visible up front were a bunch of politicians and foreign office men but they are just a cage full of posturing apes, neither seeing nor caring past their interdepartmental squabbles and their re-election. Invisible behind them were profiteers like your precious James Mason. That's why I did it. Tell Mason when you get back home. I'd like him to know. Personally. From me. Now get walking."- Carlo Anthony Shannon.
This is a book written by a man who has lived a rich life. He’ was one of the youngest pilots to have served in the RAF and part of the original squadron to have flown Britain’s first jet fighters. He was a journalist, covering ground breaking events across Cold War Europe and most famously witnessed one of the original humanitarian tragedies of Africa. He served his country as an asset for the SIS, doing the odd task when they called upon him. He’s hobnobbed with politicians, soldiers, militants, criminals, spies and historical figures from Ireland to Israel and Nigeria and South Africa. But most importantly, for 50 years, with one book, he has singlehandedly defined the course of modern thriller writing. He’s the last surviving elder statesman in the business. Please welcome, Frederick Forsyth. This is his autobiography.
For Frederick Forsyth, there are no more worlds left to conquer. As he’s stated in interviews, he is retiring and this is his last book, the capstone to a professional life which began at the start of the Cold War and concluded in the second decade of the war on terror. And what a book it is, his own story, one which allows us to appreciate his work, even more. Most people only know him from 1971’s “The Day of the Jackal” a book which no true thriller fan should leave unread. With that thriller, well researched, intricate and realistic, he left his mark on spy/military/political novels and influenced almost every other writer who came after him, along with the expectations of readers for generations. Brad Thor coined the term “faction”. Frederick Forsyth actually invented it.
But who is the man behind the books? The last surviving pioneer of thrillers, who in the age before internet was opening the curtain to the shadow world existing behind the thin veneer of civilization that made up our everyday, humdrum lives? In his 70’s, the man himself finally tells all and allows us to get to know him better.
So, the first section of the book. He begins with his father, a jobless naval architect who decided to travel to the rubber plantations of Colonial Malaysia at the start of the great depression. In 1935, Forsyth’s father saved the life of a boy suffering from a lethal case of appendicitis. He was successful. The father of the boy, who was Japanese, happened to be one of the agents Imperial Japan deployed to Asia in the lead up to World War 2 and rewarded him with the warning, “If you value your life, leave Malaya.” Heading the warning, Forsyth’s dad returned to the UK a year later and in 1945, it was found that none of his fellow staff on the plantation he worked at had survived.
But back to Forsyth himself. He was born in 1938 at the start of the second world war. He talks us through his childhood, and how the seed which would lead him to his first job was planted with him ending up in the cockpit of a spitfire when his father took him to visit an airbase. He then covers his education. The man completed his O level Russian, a skill which would serve him well at the start of his career. Finally, he explains how he got into the RAF. Despite the urgings of the school authorities and the inter-service rivalry (Forsyth notes the Navy and Army were thought more highly of compared to the RAF), he willingly sacrificed a chance to go to Oxbridge and joined the armed services.
Next section. Forsyth convers his stint at the RAF and the start of his work as a journalist. The plane he trained on, the Vampire, had no ejector seat. Nonetheless he survived and during his training also visited Cyprus and Lebanon where he had the chance to witness two revolutions and give his first contribution to the media about the skirmish which started the Lebanese Civil War. Soon after, Forsyth resigned his commission and decided to go into Journalism. Failing to get a job at one of the main Fleet Street papers, he instead hit the jackpot and landed a job at Reuters. A few months later, he got his first foreign posting. Paris, which he arrived in May 1962.
There, he began to cover the French Algerian conflict and the one of the world’s first organized terrorist campaigns, conducted by the right wing OAS organization which was trying to kill General Charles De Gaulle. Forsyth covered a particularly spectacular assassination attempt in which 120 bullets missed DeGaulle when a team of terrorist botched an ambush on his car. This experience would later start his writing career as a novelist. Another posting followed. Having the dubious honour of being selected as Reuters man in East Berlin, Forsyth covered events in Czechoslovakia, Hungary and East Berlin, where the rioting and terrorism was replaced by paranoia and trolling the Stasi surveillance net. He covered the checkpoint Charlie standoff and even got arrested by the Stasi at one point after helping confirm the status of a downed USAF recon plane.
Third act is all about his fateful tenure at the BBC. Here, he goes into great detail about the post war organization, positively skewering the officials and bureaucrats who hypocritically preached impartiality as long as the government is office was UK Labour. He also reveals the veiled contempt the UK political establishment at the time had for the Jews trying to set up Israel and a barely disguised preference for the Arab nationalists and Islamists trying to murder them all. Forsyth elaborates on how his views went the other way. Next, Africa. Forsyth explains how he ended up in Nigeria.
There, he got a front row seat in witnessing the Nigerian Civil War where the Eastern part of the country, being persecuted by the Muslim North, separated. Forsyth explains in great detail how this war, one of the original African tragedies happened, and it makes for chilling reading in how similar mistakes like the one which caused the civil war and one of the great forgotten humanitarian disasters of all time. During the early stage of the war, when events began to cool down, Forsyth visited Israel. He talked with David Ben Gurion, interviewed and played co-pilot to Eizer Weizman, the founder of the Israeli Air Force 50000 feet up in a Cessna monoplane and had a late night run in with the trigger man who executed the Igurn’s King David Hotel Bombing.
Fourth Act takes us back to Africa and how Forsyth was cultivated as an SIS asset. His handler ran the Africa desk and decided to target foreign correspondents to build his HUMINT network in Nigeria, where due to the BBC muddying the waters, he had hardly any idea what was going on. Forsyth happened to be one of the correspondents he successfully cultivated as an asset. Despite doing diligent work, the foreign office was successful in overruling the SIS and convincing the Harold Wilson government to continue a policy of supporting the Nigerian Federal government and its campaign to starve the secessionists into submission which after 15 months had successfully killed 1 million children from starvation.
The chapter on how the malnutrition took hold across the province is heart-breaking stuff. Forsyth then recounts how after tightening the noose failed, the British Establishment began armaments shipments despite claims of being neutral and doubled down on supporting their discredited policy after the first pictures of malnourished children started popping up in the international media. As the war progressed, Forsyth survived a strafing run by a Mig 17 operated by the government forces and nearly got blown up by a mortar. By 1969 he had left. What he say would form the basis of my personal favourite of his novels, The Dogs Of War, which was written as an apology of sorts to the people Forsyth left in Nigeria who he believed he had let down.
The last act of the book focuses on the start of Forsyth’s writing career, something which writers and those who want to get into fiction writing should take notes on. Having escaped Eastern Nigeria, Forsyth was broke. He decided to use what he had learned in journalism to help him write a novel. On the 2nd, January 1970, he began a tradition which he would follow for the rest of his career as a novelist. He broke out a typewriter, loaded it and started tapping. Noting that ever since “Rouge Male”, a novel about a scheme to shoot Adolf Hitler, no fiction writer had made a book around a plot to kill a living public figure, Forsyth centred his around Charles De Gaulle who would die that year in November. Completing the first draft, Forsyth got three rejection letters and pulled out of the fourth publisher. This section he takes us through the publishing industry at the time, noting many of the greats like him and Jk Rowling always got their first draft resoundingly rejected. At a party however, he hit the jackpot, meeting the editorial director for a publisher.
A day later, Forsyth decided to change his plan of attack and armed with a three page brief which pointed out the story was about HOW the plot to kill De Gaulle fails despite the killer waltzing around the French Law Enforcement, Forsyth ambushed the editorial director, improvised a successful pitch and landed a three book contract. He quickly found ideas for the next two books, the second from a research trip to the legendary Simon Wiesenthal who provided him with the real life war criminal to be the antagonist of the Odessa File. As for his third book, Forsyth visited Equatorial Guinea and in a research trip to visit a Hamburg Based Arms Dealer, had his cover accidentally blown by an ad for the German Edition of the day of the jackal and was forced to make a run for the nearest train station. Having completed the three book contract, Forsyth had arrived on the thriller scene and for the next several decades was here to stay. The book goes on, but I'm nearing the red line, so read it yourself to find out about his career.
So, as a memoir, how is it? I found it pretty good. Does he embellish some of the information? Maybe a little, but considering he’s in his old age, he’s got nothing left to lose. But on the other hand, I found most of it rings true. This book successfully met the main requirement of all memoirs, allowing you to get to know the subject better. I’m more understanding and appreciative of some of the behind the scenes work that went into the old master’s work. Overall, “The Outsider My Life In Intrigue”, is an engaging and enlightening autobiography about the last surviving elder statesman of thriller writing. I recommend it.
VERY RECOMMENDED.
December 15, 2020
Frederick Forsyth is best known for his incredibly successful series of spy novels that began with the legendary Day of the Jackal which has been made into movies a couple of times now. However he also had a storied career joining the Royal Air Force to get his pilot's license, reporting from Cold War Berlin and war-torn Nigeria, and even assisting the U.K. spy services from time to time. The Outsider: My Life in Intrigue, is a memoire of his life and adventures, and one that's equally compelling as an espionage novel in its own right.
For anyone interested in the life and times of a famous author with an adventurous past, The Outsider makes for an easy and fun read. The prose is concise, smooth, and keeps a rolling pace from Forsyth's first memories of desperately wanting to fly a Spitfire plane to his eventual (however delayed) chance to at last fulfill that wish. In between he lives a life that would make most writers (well, me, at least) feel insignificant by comparison. If you've ever suffered from "imposter syndrome", this book will have you curled up in a ball underneath the bed.
Forsyth achieved a great deal throughout the decades, but more than that, it's the adventurous and fearless spirit conveyed by the book that grabs you. He feels very much like a character from an espionage novel – brave, brash, cunning, and dismissive of bureaucrats and those he deems corrupt. There's a strong thread of classic British conservatism that runs through the book which might not please all readers (he's really got a thing about the BBC – hopefully he's gotten over it by now).
If there's a fault to be found in the book, it's probably one endemic to memoirs: Forsyth never really looks at the events he describes from any other perspective than his own. He makes judgments on who's heroic and who's venal, how one political perspective is honest and forthright and the other intolerably hypocritical, but never questions those verdicts. It's hard to say whether he feels he grew as a person between age 6 and 73, or whether those years were merely the spaces in which he went on grand adventures and with seeming effortlessness, wrote massive blockbuster novels. It's not that he comes across as arrogant – he doesn't – but simply that in telling his story he leaves little room for reflection. However, as someone who doesn't read a lot of memoirs, in some ways this made the book far more engaging for me, so I suppose you can't be too picky in these matters.
The Outsider: My Life in Intrigue delivers exactly what it promises on the tin: the secret real-life adventures of a legendary writer who embodies the kind of characters we might find in a spy novel. That makes for a pretty fun read.
For anyone interested in the life and times of a famous author with an adventurous past, The Outsider makes for an easy and fun read. The prose is concise, smooth, and keeps a rolling pace from Forsyth's first memories of desperately wanting to fly a Spitfire plane to his eventual (however delayed) chance to at last fulfill that wish. In between he lives a life that would make most writers (well, me, at least) feel insignificant by comparison. If you've ever suffered from "imposter syndrome", this book will have you curled up in a ball underneath the bed.
Forsyth achieved a great deal throughout the decades, but more than that, it's the adventurous and fearless spirit conveyed by the book that grabs you. He feels very much like a character from an espionage novel – brave, brash, cunning, and dismissive of bureaucrats and those he deems corrupt. There's a strong thread of classic British conservatism that runs through the book which might not please all readers (he's really got a thing about the BBC – hopefully he's gotten over it by now).
If there's a fault to be found in the book, it's probably one endemic to memoirs: Forsyth never really looks at the events he describes from any other perspective than his own. He makes judgments on who's heroic and who's venal, how one political perspective is honest and forthright and the other intolerably hypocritical, but never questions those verdicts. It's hard to say whether he feels he grew as a person between age 6 and 73, or whether those years were merely the spaces in which he went on grand adventures and with seeming effortlessness, wrote massive blockbuster novels. It's not that he comes across as arrogant – he doesn't – but simply that in telling his story he leaves little room for reflection. However, as someone who doesn't read a lot of memoirs, in some ways this made the book far more engaging for me, so I suppose you can't be too picky in these matters.
The Outsider: My Life in Intrigue delivers exactly what it promises on the tin: the secret real-life adventures of a legendary writer who embodies the kind of characters we might find in a spy novel. That makes for a pretty fun read.
September 10, 2015
I have been immensely fascinated by The Dogs of War, The Fourth Protocol, The Kill List and The Day of the Jackal, all written by Frederick Forsyth. To this day, The Day of the Jackal remains one of my all-time favorite political spy thrillers and Frederick Forsyth one of my favorite authors. His latest offering, The Outsider: My Life in Intrigue, is a spellbinding compilation of autobiographical vignettes, and is as entertaining as any other Frederick Forsyth book.
In this sixty-chapter memoir, British author Forsyth tells the most thrilling experiences of his life from his early childhood to the present day. Beginning with the first chapter Whispered Words to the last, Dream Come True, Forsyth, the master-storyteller that he is, gives a compelling account of his life which is as riveting and enthralling as his fictional works. His stint with the Royal Air Force, Reuters and BBC, and his life as the author of bestselling spy thrillers are well documented. What makes The Outsider such an exciting read is the surprises that Forsyth strewn all over the book.
Forsyth reveals that it was not until he was thirty-one that he got the crazy idea to write in order to pay off his debts. That was the time he was home from Africa, and stony-broke as usual, with no job and no chance of one. And Forsyth claims that he almost started the Third World War. The Outsider: My Life in Intrigue by Frederick Forsyth not only gives insights into the person behind the number one bestsellers of fourteen books, but also gives panoramic views of the political landscapes and social turmoil which he witnessed as a journalist, RAF pilot and author. If you love a good book, well-written and compelling from start to finish, you won’t want to miss this gripping memoir.
In this sixty-chapter memoir, British author Forsyth tells the most thrilling experiences of his life from his early childhood to the present day. Beginning with the first chapter Whispered Words to the last, Dream Come True, Forsyth, the master-storyteller that he is, gives a compelling account of his life which is as riveting and enthralling as his fictional works. His stint with the Royal Air Force, Reuters and BBC, and his life as the author of bestselling spy thrillers are well documented. What makes The Outsider such an exciting read is the surprises that Forsyth strewn all over the book.
Forsyth reveals that it was not until he was thirty-one that he got the crazy idea to write in order to pay off his debts. That was the time he was home from Africa, and stony-broke as usual, with no job and no chance of one. And Forsyth claims that he almost started the Third World War. The Outsider: My Life in Intrigue by Frederick Forsyth not only gives insights into the person behind the number one bestsellers of fourteen books, but also gives panoramic views of the political landscapes and social turmoil which he witnessed as a journalist, RAF pilot and author. If you love a good book, well-written and compelling from start to finish, you won’t want to miss this gripping memoir.
December 14, 2023
WOW! No problem giving this one, published in 2015, a solid 4/5 stars. Quite a life of adventure! I have to admit I read this for a book discussion group. Otherwise, I most likely would not have read it, as I'm not much of a Frederick Forsyth fan. I read "The Odessa File," published in 1972 ( and I remember reading it in 1976). I was greatly impressed by that thriller, about the ODESSA, Nazi postwar organization, but I have not read any of his other books, such as "The Day of the Jackal," his most successful book ( I believe).
"The Outsider" shows that Forsyth has lived a life of adventure equal to any of the characters he created (he is now 85 years old). He was an RAF pilot, then a journalist. And, then he became a fiction writer, his fiction based on his amazing experiences (and, oh yes, he served as a spy at times). For me, the most fascinating part of the book, was his reporting on the Biafran War of 1967-1970. This was the war in which the Nigerian federal government, supported strongly by Britain, crushed the effort by the Ibo people of southeastern Nigeria to create the independent republic of Biafra. I remember reading about that war as a high school student and, like the rest of the world, being shocked by the photos of the starving children of Biafra. It was the first time we saw pictures of starving Africans and it was shocking. I think we have become numb toward such pictures since then..
It was a fast read mainly because I couldn't put the book down at times. I'll have to read another of Forsyth's novels sometime.
"The Outsider" shows that Forsyth has lived a life of adventure equal to any of the characters he created (he is now 85 years old). He was an RAF pilot, then a journalist. And, then he became a fiction writer, his fiction based on his amazing experiences (and, oh yes, he served as a spy at times). For me, the most fascinating part of the book, was his reporting on the Biafran War of 1967-1970. This was the war in which the Nigerian federal government, supported strongly by Britain, crushed the effort by the Ibo people of southeastern Nigeria to create the independent republic of Biafra. I remember reading about that war as a high school student and, like the rest of the world, being shocked by the photos of the starving children of Biafra. It was the first time we saw pictures of starving Africans and it was shocking. I think we have become numb toward such pictures since then..
It was a fast read mainly because I couldn't put the book down at times. I'll have to read another of Forsyth's novels sometime.
December 27, 2023
My favourite read of 2023. A chance find. Once I had started reading, everything else was put on hold. I don't know where to start. There is so much to talk about.
Frederick Forsyth never intended to be a writer at all. He wanted to travel and see the world. Became a journalist. Then a foreign correspondent for Reuters, then for the BBC in Africa. Back in London out of a job and flat broke, in a friend's flat in January 1970 on his portable typewriter, wrote The Day of the Jackal in thirty-five days. Published the next year, and two years later made into a film.
Frederick Forsyth never intended to be a writer at all. He wanted to travel and see the world. Became a journalist. Then a foreign correspondent for Reuters, then for the BBC in Africa. Back in London out of a job and flat broke, in a friend's flat in January 1970 on his portable typewriter, wrote The Day of the Jackal in thirty-five days. Published the next year, and two years later made into a film.
May 3, 2021
About half-way through this book. It is a refreshing read, and it is honestly written by Forsyth. More detailed review to be written when I have finished the book.
Finished the booknow. It is an honest and intriguing insight into the life of this well-known author.
Worth reading.
Finished the booknow. It is an honest and intriguing insight into the life of this well-known author.
Worth reading.
October 29, 2015
I could never resist anything written by Frederick Forsyth. I had bought every single book he has written (so far), and have read all of them. So when I saw his latest book, “The Outsider – My Life in Intrigue” it was a no-brainer for me when the decision came to purchase at the airport. Of course, I missed out sorely on the large discounts available on Amazon / Flipkart or the opportunity purchase a much lower priced Kindle edition. The book did not disappoint me at all!
As the title reveals, it is an autobiography – not fiction! However, the various incidents in his life that he narrates in the book are as exciting as the plots he uses in his fiction. Some incidents are somewhat stranger than fiction!
Frederick Forsyth has evidently led a full live – a life of exploration, excitement, exploration, enrichment, escapades, and achievement. I just knew him as a famous author whose books I enjoyed immensely. To me he was an extremely talented author. After I finished reading this book, I realize what an immensely multi-talented personality he is. He is multilingual – fluent in French, German and Spanish, apart from English. He has been a pilot since age of 17 and served in the RAF with some nice yarns to tell (which he does in the book). He served as a reporter travelling to the most troubled spots on earth, and coming out unscathed from everyone, showcasing a charmed life well-lived. He has met some famous personalities, monarchs, Heads of State, dictators, and the like. In his twenties, he crashes his car at high-speed, but comes out alive with some nasty injuries. He sits on a pack of mortar on a flight, when a bullet goes between his legs through to the roof of the plane. What a charmed life!
At 70 years of age, he even fulfils his childhood dream of flying a Spitfire! And then, to research for a book, he goes off to Somalia, which is not the safest place for any person at all to be in the best of days.
I knew of the conflict in Nigeria and the tragedy at Biafra. But I never got to know who were really responsible for the deaths of so many children. Much of the news carried in newspapers those days were the official handouts (had no access to TV then) and I wasn’t able to fathom the enormity of the human tragedy. For reading this particular episode alone, the book is well worth purchasing!
After reading this book, I spoke so highly of it that a friend of mine remarked “What is the big deal? He is after all a writer of fiction!” implying that the narration of events in the autobiography could well be exaggerated fiction. I politely told that friend that he is entitled to his opinion and I do not buy that. Sometimes truth can be stranger than fiction. Sometimes real life can be more exciting than fiction. Sometimes real people do lead such an extraordinary life!
If you have read the fiction of Frederick Forsyth and wanted to know the man, here is the book for you. His previous book, The Kill List disappointed me. But this one did not!
As the title reveals, it is an autobiography – not fiction! However, the various incidents in his life that he narrates in the book are as exciting as the plots he uses in his fiction. Some incidents are somewhat stranger than fiction!
Frederick Forsyth has evidently led a full live – a life of exploration, excitement, exploration, enrichment, escapades, and achievement. I just knew him as a famous author whose books I enjoyed immensely. To me he was an extremely talented author. After I finished reading this book, I realize what an immensely multi-talented personality he is. He is multilingual – fluent in French, German and Spanish, apart from English. He has been a pilot since age of 17 and served in the RAF with some nice yarns to tell (which he does in the book). He served as a reporter travelling to the most troubled spots on earth, and coming out unscathed from everyone, showcasing a charmed life well-lived. He has met some famous personalities, monarchs, Heads of State, dictators, and the like. In his twenties, he crashes his car at high-speed, but comes out alive with some nasty injuries. He sits on a pack of mortar on a flight, when a bullet goes between his legs through to the roof of the plane. What a charmed life!
At 70 years of age, he even fulfils his childhood dream of flying a Spitfire! And then, to research for a book, he goes off to Somalia, which is not the safest place for any person at all to be in the best of days.
I knew of the conflict in Nigeria and the tragedy at Biafra. But I never got to know who were really responsible for the deaths of so many children. Much of the news carried in newspapers those days were the official handouts (had no access to TV then) and I wasn’t able to fathom the enormity of the human tragedy. For reading this particular episode alone, the book is well worth purchasing!
After reading this book, I spoke so highly of it that a friend of mine remarked “What is the big deal? He is after all a writer of fiction!” implying that the narration of events in the autobiography could well be exaggerated fiction. I politely told that friend that he is entitled to his opinion and I do not buy that. Sometimes truth can be stranger than fiction. Sometimes real life can be more exciting than fiction. Sometimes real people do lead such an extraordinary life!
If you have read the fiction of Frederick Forsyth and wanted to know the man, here is the book for you. His previous book, The Kill List disappointed me. But this one did not!
March 12, 2021
I have a mixed history with the works of Frederick Forsyth, I loved the first three or four books and then he lost me as his books got increasingly right-wing and it felt he was more trying to get messages over rather than writing great books.
So I would have ignored his autobiography, but it has got some very good reviews and, I have to say, it looked like the man has had quite the life.
His life does read almost like a thriller. He moved through life as a RAF pilot, then a reporter and foreign correspondent in some pretty hairy places it has to be said, especially Africa during a horrific civil war. He has done the occasional job for our security services and has always been keen to go where others fear to tread.
It’s hard to actually like Mr Forsyth, his book’s title correctly identify him as someone slightly detached, but equally he has lived an incredible life. He is one of those who is inquisitive and keen to get stuck in, this was a time of easier travel, but he often just jumps on a plane and heads for anything ‘interesting’. Much of this is interesting, some of it fascinating. I loved the tale of dog-fights in the Six Day War with the Israelis in ex Luftwaffe MEs against Egyptians in ex RAF Hurricanes! In fairness it is his experience that has put the author violently against the BBC and certain politicians and this has filtered into some of his books.
Having said that, this is an amazing biography and you have to respect the author for getting out there and making things happen.
So I would have ignored his autobiography, but it has got some very good reviews and, I have to say, it looked like the man has had quite the life.
His life does read almost like a thriller. He moved through life as a RAF pilot, then a reporter and foreign correspondent in some pretty hairy places it has to be said, especially Africa during a horrific civil war. He has done the occasional job for our security services and has always been keen to go where others fear to tread.
It’s hard to actually like Mr Forsyth, his book’s title correctly identify him as someone slightly detached, but equally he has lived an incredible life. He is one of those who is inquisitive and keen to get stuck in, this was a time of easier travel, but he often just jumps on a plane and heads for anything ‘interesting’. Much of this is interesting, some of it fascinating. I loved the tale of dog-fights in the Six Day War with the Israelis in ex Luftwaffe MEs against Egyptians in ex RAF Hurricanes! In fairness it is his experience that has put the author violently against the BBC and certain politicians and this has filtered into some of his books.
Having said that, this is an amazing biography and you have to respect the author for getting out there and making things happen.
September 22, 2015
I have not read any of Forsyth's novels, though I know of them and the movies made about them, but this memoir just didn't grab me. I love books about espionage and I think It was told in an easy style, sort of like someone talking with a friend, but it just came across flat. The beginning was the best part in my opinion. Enjoyed reading about his tenacity as a boy learning languages in school, turning down a chance at a prestigious university to pursue his dream to be an RAF fighter pilot. I have to admit I stopped reading about 3/4 of the way through. I just could not go further.
August 17, 2017
I kept feeling that a certain streak of arrogance was to the fore. However he certainly had an amazing variation of experiences and it made a very interesting read, all of which provided a background to the books that Frederick Forsyth made his name from.
November 22, 2015
Anecdotal biography of the author. Mostly interesting, a little repetitive and at times self-serving.
April 27, 2019
A cool Brit with a penchant for excitement, Forsyth spent his educational years learning languages in different countries. He picked up quite a varied education; along with studying bull-fighting and a few other thrill sports. He moved early into the RAF, then retired into a position with the BBC. But, that didn't last long, due to his reluctance to stick to the company propaganda lines about the Biafra - Nigerian Civil War. His contention was that though the BBC had reported daily on the American-Vietnam War, they were concerned with the embarrassment that Britain would suffer due to the fallout of their involvement in this action. After some intrigue and threats on his life, he reported independently on the war.
All of this became a backdrop to his later novels, and he traveled a bit about Europe and Africa involved in some correspondence and research for further novels. The story is quite interesting throughout and reveals vignettes of his experiences, including sky-diving. Overall, I liked the book and especially enjoyed the Audible narration by Robert Powell. But, I do not consider it exceptional in any way, hence the 3 star rating. It did provide a deal of information to launch my further research on key current events.
The strengths of the book are the insight it provides into the political scene of the first half of the 20th Century. I read this book for my stop in Guinea-Bissau on my Journey Around the World in 2019. It was an excellent choice due to the fact that it provides a uniquely British perspective of Africa in a post-colonial era. Some of the African countries encapsulated here include Morocco, Somalia, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, and South Africa; as well as Guinea-Bissau.
I was taken aback to realize that the JFK phenomenon was world-wide. Forsyth was in East Berlin at the time. Men cursed. Women screamed when the announcement was heard on the news. I don't know why this surprised me. I grew up knowing the impact Kennedy's death had on Americans, and how everyone of that generation remembers where they were when they heard the news. It seems the shock-waves were felt around the world, and I can certainly understand that now.
Aside from his personal perspectives, Forsyth brings to the table his excellent writing voice, and his talent with phrases such as 'the nastiest corner of the human soul.' I would certainly like to read a couple of his novels, such as The Day of the Jackal and Kill List. My next stop, however will be along the coast in Guinea, where I am reading The King of Kahel by Tierno Monenembo.
All of this became a backdrop to his later novels, and he traveled a bit about Europe and Africa involved in some correspondence and research for further novels. The story is quite interesting throughout and reveals vignettes of his experiences, including sky-diving. Overall, I liked the book and especially enjoyed the Audible narration by Robert Powell. But, I do not consider it exceptional in any way, hence the 3 star rating. It did provide a deal of information to launch my further research on key current events.
The strengths of the book are the insight it provides into the political scene of the first half of the 20th Century. I read this book for my stop in Guinea-Bissau on my Journey Around the World in 2019. It was an excellent choice due to the fact that it provides a uniquely British perspective of Africa in a post-colonial era. Some of the African countries encapsulated here include Morocco, Somalia, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, and South Africa; as well as Guinea-Bissau.
I was taken aback to realize that the JFK phenomenon was world-wide. Forsyth was in East Berlin at the time. Men cursed. Women screamed when the announcement was heard on the news. I don't know why this surprised me. I grew up knowing the impact Kennedy's death had on Americans, and how everyone of that generation remembers where they were when they heard the news. It seems the shock-waves were felt around the world, and I can certainly understand that now.
Aside from his personal perspectives, Forsyth brings to the table his excellent writing voice, and his talent with phrases such as 'the nastiest corner of the human soul.' I would certainly like to read a couple of his novels, such as The Day of the Jackal and Kill List. My next stop, however will be along the coast in Guinea, where I am reading The King of Kahel by Tierno Monenembo.
October 27, 2018
Frederick Forsyth is one of my favorite authors and it was but natural that I had the urge to read his autobiography when I chanced upon it. The standout feature of Forsyth’s volume of work is the impeccable research that goes into each of his novels which makes them so engaging and readable. The Outsider gives a glimpse into his style of working, which has paid the author rich dividends in the form of best-selling novels that he has churned out over the past 48 years- 2nd January 1970 being the day on which he commenced work on his all-time best-selling work, The Day of the Jackal, which also happens to be his debut novel.
Forsyth was born in 1939, the year that the second world war commenced. Being in the midst of the war did have an indelible effect on the little child, which was but inevitable. The remarkable feature of young Forsyth’s life was that at that young age, he had the good fortune to stay for considerable periods of time in France, Germany and Spain as part of student exchange programs, which helped him in no small way to pick up foreign languages as also develop a flair for foreign cultures and peoples. Forsyth developed a flair for languages and he managed to get scholarships to pursue his love for foreign tongues. By the age of around 20, he was adept at French, German, Spanish and Russian.
Forsyth had a great passion for flying and at the tender age of just over seventeen, he managed to get himself into National Service in the RAF. He was an exception, because during that time there were lot of young folks who were trying to avoid the National Service. Forsyth gives very engaging accounts of his training which enabled him to get his flying wings in the RAF subsequently.
His love of languages, writing and travel eventually made Forsyth take up a career in journalism after a short stint in the RAF. He embarked on his journalistic career with the Eastern Daily Press, which was based in Norwich, Norfolk. Being in a local newspaper had its advantages. Forsyth says, it made him check his facts always, as there was no room for error. The locals would just walk up to the offices of the newspaper and point out the inconsistencies in the edition, which could turn out to be deeply embarrassing. Forsyth talks about an interesting encounter that he had with a tailor, who could read palms. He says that the ‘palmist’ was able to give an account of his past as well as his future. He says that whatever was predicted at that point in time has turned out to be true. This is definitely a candid confession from a person who prides himself to be a top-notch journalist and a seeker of the truth!!
Forsyth’s passion to travel the world and his ambition to do well in his journalistic career made him move to Fleet Street in London, which was the Mecca of journalism. A chance encounter with a senior journalist landed him in a coveted job as a foreign correspondent with Reuters. He was posted to Paris, just because he was fluent in French. Forsyth says that this move to Paris was the sole reason why a book called the Day of the Jackal could become possible about 10 years hence. A wonderful proof as to how circumstances and chance meetings shape the course that our life takes.
While in Paris, Forsyth had a ringside view of the attempts that were made on the life of the French President, Charles de Gaulle by the OAS. This was the inspiration for him to embark on his debut novel, Day of the Jackal, in 1970. This is an irrefutable proof for the fact that one has to have rich experiences which can subsequently shape one into a master story teller. Forsyth’s further stint at Reuters took him into East Berlin, as the Reuters representative there. He was the only western journalist present on the wrong side of the iron curtain. It was during height of the cold war. During his stint in East Berlin, Forsyth had to work for the Western intelligence in addition to his publicized role as that of a journalist. No doubt that all this exposure gave him tremendous insight into the world of espionage that he was able to reflect all of it so effectively in the thrillers that he produced subsequently as a successful author. Forsyth thereafter had a stint with the venerable BBC, but he was soon disillusioned with that Organization, that he left after a short stint with them. Forsyth paints a very dismal picture about the absence of basic journalistic ethics at the BBC. It is indeed a revealing expose’ that the author makes about the BBC, which is held in high esteem for impartiality. Forsyth was tasked to cover the Nigerian civil war, where the enclave of Biafra had declared independence from Nigeria. Britain was providing aid in the form of Arms and funds to the Nigerian Government to crush the revolt. BBC was unabashedly being selective and partisan in its coverage of the crisis and was toeing the official British line. Forsyth left the Organization and moved as an independent journalist to Biafra to cover the famine, a human tragedy that was unfolding there, which was a direct result of the atrocities committed by the Nigerian Government, with the active assistance of Britain. Forsyth’s exposure to the anarchy in the African continent, and the use of foreign mercenaries in conflicts was the fodder and inspiration for his novel, The Dogs of War.
Soon after his African sojourn, Forsyth found himself out of work. It was at that time, in 1970, that he started work on his debut novel, The Day of the Jackal. He finished this novel, which transformed his life beyond all realms of imagination, in just 35 days. The target of assassination in the novel, Charles de Gaulle was still alive. It was said that the level of technical details that was brought out in the novel was unparalleled, till that point in time. Even then, Forsyth had to face a lot of rejections and the manuscript was not accepted by a host of publishers. It was finally accepted by Hutchison, a major publisher, and the rest, as they say, is history. Forsyth, with his rich experience of intrigue and covert operations in East Germany and in the jungles of Africa, was able to come out with realistic and highly plausible plots in novels like the Odessa File and The Dogs of War, which established him as a frontrunner in the genre of thrillers.
Forsyth is very candid in admitting that he lost all the fortune that he had made writing novels, when he was well into his fifties. He had a divorce, which was a huge drain on his finances. In addition, he was swindled of all his life’s savings by a fly- by- night investment broker, which ended up making him practically bankrupt. He says that he made up his mind that he would make all that he had lost, and thereafter he started writing again. The resolve and the sheer courage of the man has to be appreciated.
This is a very riveting and enjoyable account of the life and times of one of the best novelists of this century. Forsyth does not claim his novels to be classy. But at the same time, they do have an element of plausibility that runs through them, which makes them so readable and enduring. The pains that the author takes in researching for his works, makes the reading so enjoyable that most of his novels read like historical fiction. His autobiography is not one to be missed, especially by his fans.
Forsyth was born in 1939, the year that the second world war commenced. Being in the midst of the war did have an indelible effect on the little child, which was but inevitable. The remarkable feature of young Forsyth’s life was that at that young age, he had the good fortune to stay for considerable periods of time in France, Germany and Spain as part of student exchange programs, which helped him in no small way to pick up foreign languages as also develop a flair for foreign cultures and peoples. Forsyth developed a flair for languages and he managed to get scholarships to pursue his love for foreign tongues. By the age of around 20, he was adept at French, German, Spanish and Russian.
Forsyth had a great passion for flying and at the tender age of just over seventeen, he managed to get himself into National Service in the RAF. He was an exception, because during that time there were lot of young folks who were trying to avoid the National Service. Forsyth gives very engaging accounts of his training which enabled him to get his flying wings in the RAF subsequently.
His love of languages, writing and travel eventually made Forsyth take up a career in journalism after a short stint in the RAF. He embarked on his journalistic career with the Eastern Daily Press, which was based in Norwich, Norfolk. Being in a local newspaper had its advantages. Forsyth says, it made him check his facts always, as there was no room for error. The locals would just walk up to the offices of the newspaper and point out the inconsistencies in the edition, which could turn out to be deeply embarrassing. Forsyth talks about an interesting encounter that he had with a tailor, who could read palms. He says that the ‘palmist’ was able to give an account of his past as well as his future. He says that whatever was predicted at that point in time has turned out to be true. This is definitely a candid confession from a person who prides himself to be a top-notch journalist and a seeker of the truth!!
Forsyth’s passion to travel the world and his ambition to do well in his journalistic career made him move to Fleet Street in London, which was the Mecca of journalism. A chance encounter with a senior journalist landed him in a coveted job as a foreign correspondent with Reuters. He was posted to Paris, just because he was fluent in French. Forsyth says that this move to Paris was the sole reason why a book called the Day of the Jackal could become possible about 10 years hence. A wonderful proof as to how circumstances and chance meetings shape the course that our life takes.
While in Paris, Forsyth had a ringside view of the attempts that were made on the life of the French President, Charles de Gaulle by the OAS. This was the inspiration for him to embark on his debut novel, Day of the Jackal, in 1970. This is an irrefutable proof for the fact that one has to have rich experiences which can subsequently shape one into a master story teller. Forsyth’s further stint at Reuters took him into East Berlin, as the Reuters representative there. He was the only western journalist present on the wrong side of the iron curtain. It was during height of the cold war. During his stint in East Berlin, Forsyth had to work for the Western intelligence in addition to his publicized role as that of a journalist. No doubt that all this exposure gave him tremendous insight into the world of espionage that he was able to reflect all of it so effectively in the thrillers that he produced subsequently as a successful author. Forsyth thereafter had a stint with the venerable BBC, but he was soon disillusioned with that Organization, that he left after a short stint with them. Forsyth paints a very dismal picture about the absence of basic journalistic ethics at the BBC. It is indeed a revealing expose’ that the author makes about the BBC, which is held in high esteem for impartiality. Forsyth was tasked to cover the Nigerian civil war, where the enclave of Biafra had declared independence from Nigeria. Britain was providing aid in the form of Arms and funds to the Nigerian Government to crush the revolt. BBC was unabashedly being selective and partisan in its coverage of the crisis and was toeing the official British line. Forsyth left the Organization and moved as an independent journalist to Biafra to cover the famine, a human tragedy that was unfolding there, which was a direct result of the atrocities committed by the Nigerian Government, with the active assistance of Britain. Forsyth’s exposure to the anarchy in the African continent, and the use of foreign mercenaries in conflicts was the fodder and inspiration for his novel, The Dogs of War.
Soon after his African sojourn, Forsyth found himself out of work. It was at that time, in 1970, that he started work on his debut novel, The Day of the Jackal. He finished this novel, which transformed his life beyond all realms of imagination, in just 35 days. The target of assassination in the novel, Charles de Gaulle was still alive. It was said that the level of technical details that was brought out in the novel was unparalleled, till that point in time. Even then, Forsyth had to face a lot of rejections and the manuscript was not accepted by a host of publishers. It was finally accepted by Hutchison, a major publisher, and the rest, as they say, is history. Forsyth, with his rich experience of intrigue and covert operations in East Germany and in the jungles of Africa, was able to come out with realistic and highly plausible plots in novels like the Odessa File and The Dogs of War, which established him as a frontrunner in the genre of thrillers.
Forsyth is very candid in admitting that he lost all the fortune that he had made writing novels, when he was well into his fifties. He had a divorce, which was a huge drain on his finances. In addition, he was swindled of all his life’s savings by a fly- by- night investment broker, which ended up making him practically bankrupt. He says that he made up his mind that he would make all that he had lost, and thereafter he started writing again. The resolve and the sheer courage of the man has to be appreciated.
This is a very riveting and enjoyable account of the life and times of one of the best novelists of this century. Forsyth does not claim his novels to be classy. But at the same time, they do have an element of plausibility that runs through them, which makes them so readable and enduring. The pains that the author takes in researching for his works, makes the reading so enjoyable that most of his novels read like historical fiction. His autobiography is not one to be missed, especially by his fans.
January 12, 2021
How many of us can claim to have led eventful lives? I used to know a man (now long-deceased) who'd survived Pearl Harbor and years of subsequent combat, on Pacific islands and later in Korea. He sometimes said he "could write a book" about all he'd seen, although in reality he wouldn't even talk about it. No one else personally known to me comes to mind just now. But Frederick Forsyth's autobiography is an adventure story that tops anything else I can think of this side of fiction.
What made it so? Aside from the time and place of his birth, one vitally important part of his early years was being sent abroad to spend summer vacations with families that spoke other languages. He thereby acquired the ability to pass as a native speaker of French and German, and he attained O-level status in Russian (which I suppose equals fluency). This would open all sorts of doors for him as an adult.
Secondly, despite securing a good education, he had no interest in continuing it at Oxford, which could have led to a safe and respectable career in teaching or the civil service. Instead, to begin with, he wanted to fulfill a childhood ambition and become a pilot. This led to a stint with the RAF, after which, still wanting to broaden his horizons, he got into journalism. His facility with languages led to postings first in France (where attempted assassinations of Charles de Gaulle planted the seed for his later bestselling novel The Day of the Jackal), and later in East Berlin (where he was the first Western representative to learn the fate of a downed spy plane). And that's just the beginning. Later, things didn't work out so well when he joined the BBC, and refused to repeat their propaganda. He describes an all-too-believable scenario in which the bureaucracy sends reporters into the field for show but already has a pre-approved narrative to tell the masses—a narrative diametrically opposed to reality. It's certainly believable in view of the situation prevailing today throughout corporate media. So this was another turning point in his life. Instead of keeping to the safe path, in which he would have written whatever his bosses told him to write, and collected a steady paycheck, he transitioned to freelance status and traveled the world on his own dime. He provides detail-rich but somewhat confusing accounts of all the people he met and all the horrors he saw, particularly during the Biafran war in Nigeria. Some of the details are included, I think, not to advance this story but to support his argument that the BBC and the Harold Wilson government are directly responsible for the suffering and death of vast multitudes of African children.
Again, this portion of his narrative bogs down from a narrative point of view, but a few scenes are memorable, especially the one in which two children come to him begging for food (when he has none to give), and the one in which someone on the next hill tries repeatedly to hit him with mortar rounds. His response: "There are moments when the question 'What the hell am I doing here?' will not go away."
One thing he was not doing there was making money. Finally, out of necessity, he tries his hand at writing the first of his many novels that are heavily based on what he has seen of life. (I've separately commented on some of them here, here, and here.) That of course is where he made his mark.
Many of the opportunities that came his way seem improbable. He shrugs them off as "a series of flukes." One that stands out in my mind is the way, after a very disappointing morning spent trying to get a job interview with any of the Fleet Street newspapers, he happened to catch the eye of a Reuters man at the lunch counter, after which a peach of a job was his for the taking. In my own experience, that disappointing morning sounds all too real; the other part not so much. But I understand the world does not distribute favors equally. Then of course there's the very lucky break that enabled him to put his first manuscript in front of an actual decision maker in the publishing world. For almost all would-be authors, breaks like that remain in the realm of fantasy.
Other readers complain about "a certain streak of arrogance" and a "self-aggrandizing" personality. I didn't see it that way. I don't hold any of Forsyth's success against him. His is the path a life ought to take, it seems to me, if one is both fearless and lucky. The guy in this book clearly is both. I do acknowledge that his acceptance of the luck seems a trifle heedless. Perhaps my reason for not objecting to it is that his sentences, in the voice of the narrator of the audio version, evoke memories of certain British blokes I've known and liked over the years. I sense that what some of us take for arrogance may actually be a sunny expectation that life can and should work out in an acceptable way, provided you do your bit. Possibly it's a characteristic of that generation.
This is the second author memoir/autobiography I've read in the last few months (the other being Andrew Klavan's). Of the two, it's much less introspective. I do miss introspection at times. The absence felt glaring in the brief account of going aloft as an observer in a squadron of fighter planes comparable to the Blue Angels. I kept waiting for him to do something with that anecdote, perhaps to connect the experience with his own earlier longing to be a pilot. But as told it seems almost pointless—or it did till the very end of the book, which contains one last, and more touching, bit about that interest of his. Probably, in Forsyth's thinking, these bits simply go under the heading Other Adventures I've Had Along the Way. There are several toward the end of the book. If there's little narrative art on display in his account of being a freelance journalist, he clearly shows his talent for writing when describing his close encounter with a storm in the Indian Ocean.
Again, the overall story doesn't dwell on moments of doubt and weakness, and there's little of the humorous self-deprecation found so often in the genre. That absence no doubt contributes to what some are calling arrogance. Somehow, I don't feel like faulting it for that.
What made it so? Aside from the time and place of his birth, one vitally important part of his early years was being sent abroad to spend summer vacations with families that spoke other languages. He thereby acquired the ability to pass as a native speaker of French and German, and he attained O-level status in Russian (which I suppose equals fluency). This would open all sorts of doors for him as an adult.
Secondly, despite securing a good education, he had no interest in continuing it at Oxford, which could have led to a safe and respectable career in teaching or the civil service. Instead, to begin with, he wanted to fulfill a childhood ambition and become a pilot. This led to a stint with the RAF, after which, still wanting to broaden his horizons, he got into journalism. His facility with languages led to postings first in France (where attempted assassinations of Charles de Gaulle planted the seed for his later bestselling novel The Day of the Jackal), and later in East Berlin (where he was the first Western representative to learn the fate of a downed spy plane). And that's just the beginning. Later, things didn't work out so well when he joined the BBC, and refused to repeat their propaganda. He describes an all-too-believable scenario in which the bureaucracy sends reporters into the field for show but already has a pre-approved narrative to tell the masses—a narrative diametrically opposed to reality. It's certainly believable in view of the situation prevailing today throughout corporate media. So this was another turning point in his life. Instead of keeping to the safe path, in which he would have written whatever his bosses told him to write, and collected a steady paycheck, he transitioned to freelance status and traveled the world on his own dime. He provides detail-rich but somewhat confusing accounts of all the people he met and all the horrors he saw, particularly during the Biafran war in Nigeria. Some of the details are included, I think, not to advance this story but to support his argument that the BBC and the Harold Wilson government are directly responsible for the suffering and death of vast multitudes of African children.
Again, this portion of his narrative bogs down from a narrative point of view, but a few scenes are memorable, especially the one in which two children come to him begging for food (when he has none to give), and the one in which someone on the next hill tries repeatedly to hit him with mortar rounds. His response: "There are moments when the question 'What the hell am I doing here?' will not go away."
One thing he was not doing there was making money. Finally, out of necessity, he tries his hand at writing the first of his many novels that are heavily based on what he has seen of life. (I've separately commented on some of them here, here, and here.) That of course is where he made his mark.
Many of the opportunities that came his way seem improbable. He shrugs them off as "a series of flukes." One that stands out in my mind is the way, after a very disappointing morning spent trying to get a job interview with any of the Fleet Street newspapers, he happened to catch the eye of a Reuters man at the lunch counter, after which a peach of a job was his for the taking. In my own experience, that disappointing morning sounds all too real; the other part not so much. But I understand the world does not distribute favors equally. Then of course there's the very lucky break that enabled him to put his first manuscript in front of an actual decision maker in the publishing world. For almost all would-be authors, breaks like that remain in the realm of fantasy.
Other readers complain about "a certain streak of arrogance" and a "self-aggrandizing" personality. I didn't see it that way. I don't hold any of Forsyth's success against him. His is the path a life ought to take, it seems to me, if one is both fearless and lucky. The guy in this book clearly is both. I do acknowledge that his acceptance of the luck seems a trifle heedless. Perhaps my reason for not objecting to it is that his sentences, in the voice of the narrator of the audio version, evoke memories of certain British blokes I've known and liked over the years. I sense that what some of us take for arrogance may actually be a sunny expectation that life can and should work out in an acceptable way, provided you do your bit. Possibly it's a characteristic of that generation.
This is the second author memoir/autobiography I've read in the last few months (the other being Andrew Klavan's). Of the two, it's much less introspective. I do miss introspection at times. The absence felt glaring in the brief account of going aloft as an observer in a squadron of fighter planes comparable to the Blue Angels. I kept waiting for him to do something with that anecdote, perhaps to connect the experience with his own earlier longing to be a pilot. But as told it seems almost pointless—or it did till the very end of the book, which contains one last, and more touching, bit about that interest of his. Probably, in Forsyth's thinking, these bits simply go under the heading Other Adventures I've Had Along the Way. There are several toward the end of the book. If there's little narrative art on display in his account of being a freelance journalist, he clearly shows his talent for writing when describing his close encounter with a storm in the Indian Ocean.
Again, the overall story doesn't dwell on moments of doubt and weakness, and there's little of the humorous self-deprecation found so often in the genre. That absence no doubt contributes to what some are calling arrogance. Somehow, I don't feel like faulting it for that.
November 4, 2020
The outsider - Frederick Forsyth
ಇವನ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಗೊತ್ತಿರದ ಥ್ರಿಲ್ಲರ್ ಓದುಗರು ಕಡಿಮೆ. ಅಧ್ಯಕ್ಷನ ಮೇಲೆ ಹತ್ಯೆಯ ಯತ್ನಕ್ಕೆ ಹೊರಡುವ ಹಂತಕನೊಬ್ಬನ ನಡೆಗಳ ರೋಚಕ ಕಾದಂಬರಿ 'ಡೇ ಆಫ್ ಜಾಕಲ್' (ಇದು ಅನಧಿಕೃತವಾಗಿ ಕನ್ನಡಕ್ಕೆ ಅವನದೇ ಆ ದಿನ ಅಂತ ಸಂತೋಷ್ ಕುಮಾರ್ ಎಂಬವರ ಅನುವಾದದಲ್ಲಿ ಬಂದಿದೆ), ಒಡೆಸ್ಸಾ ಫೈಲ್ (ಇದೂ ಇದೇ ಹೆಸರಲ್ಲಿ ಬಂದಿದೆ. ಇವೆಲ್ಲ ಗ್ರಂಥಾಲಯಕ್ಕೆ ಮಾರಾಟ ಮಾಡಲು ಅವಸರದಲ್ಲಿ ಅನುವಾದಿಸಿದ ಸರಕು)
ಕಿಲ್ ಲಿಸ್ಟ್ , ನೋ ಕಮ್ ಬ್ಯಾಕ್ಸ್ ಹೀಗೆ..
ಇವನ ಬರವಣಿಗೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ತರುವ ಗೂಢಚಾರ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಗಳ ಒಳಗಿನ ವಿಷಯಗಳು ಓದುಗರ ನಿಬ್ಬೆರಗಾಗಿಸುತ್ತದೆ.
ಚಾಣಾಕ್ಷ ಪ್ಲಾಟ್, ಚಕಚಕ ಬದಲಾಗುವ ಸೀನ್ಗಳು ,ನೇರ ಶೈಲಿ ಇವನ ಮುಖ್ಯ ಲಕ್ಷಣ.
ಇಂತಿಪ್ಪ ಇವನ ಆತ್ಮಕಥೆಯ ತುಣುಕು ಈ ಪುಸ್ತಕ.
ಇದನ್ನು ಆತ್ಮಕಥೆ ಎಂದು ಕರೆಯುವಷ್ಟು ಪ್ರಾಮಾಣಿಕ ಅಥವಾ ವಿವರಗಳಿಲ್ಲ.ಒಂದೊಂದು ಅಧ್ಯಾಯಗಳಲ್ಲೂ ಒಂದೊಂದು ಬಿಡಿ ಘಟನೆಗಳ ಅವ ಪೋಣಿಸಿ ಬರೆದದ್ದು ಗಮ್ಮತ್ ಓದು. ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನದರಲ್ಲಿ ಅವನೇ ರಕ್ಷಕ. ತಾನು ಭಾಷೆಗಳ ಕಲಿತದ್ದು , ಶೀತಲ ಸಮರ ,ಗೂಢಚಾರೀ ವ್ಯವಸ್ಥೆ, ಪೈಲೆಟ್ ಆದದ್ದು ,ಅವನಪ್ಪನ ವೃತ್ತಿಜೀವನ ಹೀಗೆ ಹತ್ತಾರು ಅಂಶಗಳ ಒಳಗೊಂಡ ಓದು.
ಅವನ ಕಾದಂಬರಿಗಳ ಹಾಗೆ ಓದಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಹೋಗುತ್ತದೆ ಎನ್ನುವುದು ಪ್ರಶಂಸೆಯೂ ಹೌದು .ಮಿತಿಯೂ ಹೌದು!
ಇವನ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಗೊತ್ತಿರದ ಥ್ರಿಲ್ಲರ್ ಓದುಗರು ಕಡಿಮೆ. ಅಧ್ಯಕ್ಷನ ಮೇಲೆ ಹತ್ಯೆಯ ಯತ್ನಕ್ಕೆ ಹೊರಡುವ ಹಂತಕನೊಬ್ಬನ ನಡೆಗಳ ರೋಚಕ ಕಾದಂಬರಿ 'ಡೇ ಆಫ್ ಜಾಕಲ್' (ಇದು ಅನಧಿಕೃತವಾಗಿ ಕನ್ನಡಕ್ಕೆ ಅವನದೇ ಆ ದಿನ ಅಂತ ಸಂತೋಷ್ ಕುಮಾರ್ ಎಂಬವರ ಅನುವಾದದಲ್ಲಿ ಬಂದಿದೆ), ಒಡೆಸ್ಸಾ ಫೈಲ್ (ಇದೂ ಇದೇ ಹೆಸರಲ್ಲಿ ಬಂದಿದೆ. ಇವೆಲ್ಲ ಗ್ರಂಥಾಲಯಕ್ಕೆ ಮಾರಾಟ ಮಾಡಲು ಅವಸರದಲ್ಲಿ ಅನುವಾದಿಸಿದ ಸರಕು)
ಕಿಲ್ ಲಿಸ್ಟ್ , ನೋ ಕಮ್ ಬ್ಯಾಕ್ಸ್ ಹೀಗೆ..
ಇವನ ಬರವಣಿಗೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ತರುವ ಗೂಢಚಾರ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಗಳ ಒಳಗಿನ ವಿಷಯಗಳು ಓದುಗರ ನಿಬ್ಬೆರಗಾಗಿಸುತ್ತದೆ.
ಚಾಣಾಕ್ಷ ಪ್ಲಾಟ್, ಚಕಚಕ ಬದಲಾಗುವ ಸೀನ್ಗಳು ,ನೇರ ಶೈಲಿ ಇವನ ಮುಖ್ಯ ಲಕ್ಷಣ.
ಇಂತಿಪ್ಪ ಇವನ ಆತ್ಮಕಥೆಯ ತುಣುಕು ಈ ಪುಸ್ತಕ.
ಇದನ್ನು ಆತ್ಮಕಥೆ ಎಂದು ಕರೆಯುವಷ್ಟು ಪ್ರಾಮಾಣಿಕ ಅಥವಾ ವಿವರಗಳಿಲ್ಲ.ಒಂದೊಂದು ಅಧ್ಯಾಯಗಳಲ್ಲೂ ಒಂದೊಂದು ಬಿಡಿ ಘಟನೆಗಳ ಅವ ಪೋಣಿಸಿ ಬರೆದದ್ದು ಗಮ್ಮತ್ ಓದು. ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನದರಲ್ಲಿ ಅವನೇ ರಕ್ಷಕ. ತಾನು ಭಾಷೆಗಳ ಕಲಿತದ್ದು , ಶೀತಲ ಸಮರ ,ಗೂಢಚಾರೀ ವ್ಯವಸ್ಥೆ, ಪೈಲೆಟ್ ಆದದ್ದು ,ಅವನಪ್ಪನ ವೃತ್ತಿಜೀವನ ಹೀಗೆ ಹತ್ತಾರು ಅಂಶಗಳ ಒಳಗೊಂಡ ಓದು.
ಅವನ ಕಾದಂಬರಿಗಳ ಹಾಗೆ ಓದಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಹೋಗುತ್ತದೆ ಎನ್ನುವುದು ಪ್ರಶಂಸೆಯೂ ಹೌದು .ಮಿತಿಯೂ ಹೌದು!
July 6, 2021
A beautifully-written account of the fascinating life of a brilliant, and often whimsical, man. His innate ability to learn new skills and his never-ending curiosity about life in other countries took him through a number of jobs, from fully-trained RAF fighter pilot to local news reporter, foreign correspondent for the BBC and other freelance work until he finally got round to writing his first novel, "The Day of the Jackal".
This is more of a memoir than an autobiography. He is, I suspect, an intensely private person so there are few glimpses of his private life but there is plenty in his professional career to keep readers interested.
I would thoroughly recommend this book and, realising as I read it that it was decades since I had read several of his factually-based novels, I will now go and find another one on the library shelves.
This is more of a memoir than an autobiography. He is, I suspect, an intensely private person so there are few glimpses of his private life but there is plenty in his professional career to keep readers interested.
I would thoroughly recommend this book and, realising as I read it that it was decades since I had read several of his factually-based novels, I will now go and find another one on the library shelves.
November 7, 2015
Frederick Forsyth is best known as the author of a string of bestselling thrillers, but he was in the RAF and worked as a foreign correspondant before becoming an author, and the first two thirds of this book are about this part of his life. I don't know how many of his stories are 100% true and how many are embellished, but they feel true and either way they are terrifically entertaining. Reading this book feels like being at a dinner party, with the host starting increasingly gobsmacking anecdotes with lines like: "did I ever tell you about the time I was almost murdered in Paris" or "did I ever tell you about the time that I narrowly missed getting killed when a bullet went through my legs".
Forsyth's pedigree as a writer is apparent, with chapters ending with teasers designed to keep you reading, or starting with lines like: "I recall the date when I almost started the Third World War with exact accuracy for reasons that will become plain".
Besides his many adventures, he has had access to a string of fascinating characters: gun runners, assassins, drug smugglers, spies, presidents. His first novel, The Day of the Jackal, was based in part on conversations he had with de Gaulle's bodyguards. The Odessa File was guided by none other than Simon Wiesenthal. While researching The Cobra, he ended up in the middle of a coup d'etat in Guinea-Bissau.
In the middle the pace slows slightly as he talks about his time in Nigeria and Biafra, an experience that strongly affected him and that he clearly feels anger about to this day. While interesting, this part of the book is less engaging than the earlier and subsequent chapters.
The overall impression is of a guy who has lived a fascinating and blessed life, and who is fully aware of it. This is a great read.
Forsyth's pedigree as a writer is apparent, with chapters ending with teasers designed to keep you reading, or starting with lines like: "I recall the date when I almost started the Third World War with exact accuracy for reasons that will become plain".
Besides his many adventures, he has had access to a string of fascinating characters: gun runners, assassins, drug smugglers, spies, presidents. His first novel, The Day of the Jackal, was based in part on conversations he had with de Gaulle's bodyguards. The Odessa File was guided by none other than Simon Wiesenthal. While researching The Cobra, he ended up in the middle of a coup d'etat in Guinea-Bissau.
In the middle the pace slows slightly as he talks about his time in Nigeria and Biafra, an experience that strongly affected him and that he clearly feels anger about to this day. While interesting, this part of the book is less engaging than the earlier and subsequent chapters.
The overall impression is of a guy who has lived a fascinating and blessed life, and who is fully aware of it. This is a great read.
September 30, 2015
Forsyth writes in an intimate manner and made me feel as if I was sitting in his living room over a cup of tea discussing his life. The book is well written, concise with adventure, intrigue and humor.
The first part of the book he tells of his youth and his desire to fly planes. I was impressed that his father sent him to live with a family in France each summer when he was a child to learn French; then as a teen he sent him to live with a German family to learn German. Just before he went into the RAF he spent time in Spain living with a family to learn Spanish. He also learned Russian but via an academic method. A good part of the beginning of the book he discusses the techniques and importance of research to be a good author. He points out that a writer is an outsider as he is an observer of society and then works in solitude.
The remainder of the book is about his life as a journalist for the BBC, Reuters and as a free lance reporter. He discusses various wars in Africa and events such as the attempt to assassinate Charles de Gaulle that he covered as a reporter. Forsyth reveals how his ability to speak like a native helped him as an investigative reporter. He then details how these events and his investigative reporting provided the basic information that gave him the bases for his novels. I have read most of his books over the years and could relate to events in his life that he worked into his stories.
The book provides an insight into the mind of a writer. The story shows how much Forsyth liked to travel and enjoyed his desire for adventure. Robert Powell does a good job narrating the book.
The first part of the book he tells of his youth and his desire to fly planes. I was impressed that his father sent him to live with a family in France each summer when he was a child to learn French; then as a teen he sent him to live with a German family to learn German. Just before he went into the RAF he spent time in Spain living with a family to learn Spanish. He also learned Russian but via an academic method. A good part of the beginning of the book he discusses the techniques and importance of research to be a good author. He points out that a writer is an outsider as he is an observer of society and then works in solitude.
The remainder of the book is about his life as a journalist for the BBC, Reuters and as a free lance reporter. He discusses various wars in Africa and events such as the attempt to assassinate Charles de Gaulle that he covered as a reporter. Forsyth reveals how his ability to speak like a native helped him as an investigative reporter. He then details how these events and his investigative reporting provided the basic information that gave him the bases for his novels. I have read most of his books over the years and could relate to events in his life that he worked into his stories.
The book provides an insight into the mind of a writer. The story shows how much Forsyth liked to travel and enjoyed his desire for adventure. Robert Powell does a good job narrating the book.
October 29, 2015
As an author who has given us amazingly true to life tales of intrigue for a number of years one would expect his memoir to hold extraordinary revelations, and The Outsider does just that. Frederick Forsyth as most know is one of the most acclaimed writers of our time with such titles as The Day of the Jackal, The Dogs of War and The Odessa File to his credit. His has been a life well lived as he is a former pilot and print and television reporter for Reuters and the BBC. Need I mention all of his 15 novels and the fact that five movies and a television series have been made from his works? Prepare yourself for a fascinating listen!
We learn that he was the RAF’s youngest pilot at the age of 19 and was strafed by a MiG during the Nigerian Civil War and that’s just a sampling of his adventures. Basically The Outsider is a series of vignettes which reveal how to a great extent his real life shaped his work. He seems to have had an insatiable curiosity which took him from place to place, even during his correspondent days to France to cover the uprising against President Charles de Gaulle. He relates these experiences frankly and ofttimes with a bit of self-effacing humor.
In addition to the global history his life has covered there are also personal reflections - but, that’s for you to find out.
English stage, film and television actor Robert Powell is an apt choice for narrator. His delivery is flawless.
We learn that he was the RAF’s youngest pilot at the age of 19 and was strafed by a MiG during the Nigerian Civil War and that’s just a sampling of his adventures. Basically The Outsider is a series of vignettes which reveal how to a great extent his real life shaped his work. He seems to have had an insatiable curiosity which took him from place to place, even during his correspondent days to France to cover the uprising against President Charles de Gaulle. He relates these experiences frankly and ofttimes with a bit of self-effacing humor.
In addition to the global history his life has covered there are also personal reflections - but, that’s for you to find out.
English stage, film and television actor Robert Powell is an apt choice for narrator. His delivery is flawless.
February 24, 2016
Frederick Forsyth has long been my favorite author. I even wrote a paper about him for a high school research paper decades ago. I was thrilled to see his autobiography in the library the other day because I knew it would be fascinating. Even having an above-average knowledge of his story, I was still blown away by the life he has led. I am amazed at some of the places and scrapes he has gotten himself into and out of in his action-packed life.
In many ways, he is a modern-day Jack London, who has used a series of jobs to get himself into the most unlikely places and to meet some of the most important people of the 20th century. His eye for detail and story narrative has led to excellent writing that has allowed us to share in his adventure almost like we were there with him.
Forsyth has never been one to write for the sake of creating beautiful prose, but rather--like the journalist he is at heart--to write detail that makes a scene come alive. His autobiography is written the same way, with effortless make-you-feel-like-you're-there descriptions of a variety of exotic locations and the most unlikely situations.
If you've ever read Fortyth, you'll love his autobiography. If you enjoy the modern thriller genre--which he helped to create--you'll love his autobiography. If you enjoy adventure and unlikely twists--you'll love his autobiography.
Highly recommended.
In many ways, he is a modern-day Jack London, who has used a series of jobs to get himself into the most unlikely places and to meet some of the most important people of the 20th century. His eye for detail and story narrative has led to excellent writing that has allowed us to share in his adventure almost like we were there with him.
Forsyth has never been one to write for the sake of creating beautiful prose, but rather--like the journalist he is at heart--to write detail that makes a scene come alive. His autobiography is written the same way, with effortless make-you-feel-like-you're-there descriptions of a variety of exotic locations and the most unlikely situations.
If you've ever read Fortyth, you'll love his autobiography. If you enjoy the modern thriller genre--which he helped to create--you'll love his autobiography. If you enjoy adventure and unlikely twists--you'll love his autobiography.
Highly recommended.
December 22, 2015
an entertaining autobiographer, but light in some ways, i guess in the lack of discussion about book writing and book trade. forsyth invokes the "luck" he has, but surely being given a chance to attend oxford as a 16 year old (he turned them down, hah, his mastery of 4 languages surely gave him added advantages, so he wanted to be a jet pilot, which he did become), becoming a journalist with the hopes it would allow him world travel, and being posted to northern england, but then knocking on door in londan trying to get a job on a big newspaper, he meets a guy in a bar...and next thing you now he is at reuters in paris, then berlin. bu then he quits reuters and goes to bbc, thinking he could travel more, but not so, he is at loggerheads with bbc, gets sent to biafra, reports what he sees, and gets fired. he's broke. he decides to write a novel . he writes 'day of the jackel' in a month, boom, not broke anymore, then this book starts going really really fast, about his time living in ireland, and leaving in fear for his family's life, his growing stature as a writer and a cold warrior, his old age. highly recommended for forsyth fiction lovers, not so much for others, i guess.
April 15, 2016
Of course there were The Day of the Jackal and The Odessa File, years ago when they came out, and maybe another. No idea why I didn’t read more. Picked this up as a curiosity, as much because he’s still alive as anything else. Was he in intelligence? Did he do what he wrote about?
Turns out the answer to that last question is yes, although he was not a real spook. He describes his life in a string of quick and breezy stories. Lots of humor. And a fair amount of suspense. First as a foreign correspondent, and then as an author doing research, he did indeed muck about with spies and revolutionaries – sometimes as one of them himself. He saw such hot spots as East Berlin (when they still shot wall climbers), Nigeria (showing the starving babies and proving his government was lying), Mogadishu (the hell hole after Black Hawk Down), and others. This proves his books are authentic, one heck of an accomplishment.
Thoroughly enjoyable.
Turns out the answer to that last question is yes, although he was not a real spook. He describes his life in a string of quick and breezy stories. Lots of humor. And a fair amount of suspense. First as a foreign correspondent, and then as an author doing research, he did indeed muck about with spies and revolutionaries – sometimes as one of them himself. He saw such hot spots as East Berlin (when they still shot wall climbers), Nigeria (showing the starving babies and proving his government was lying), Mogadishu (the hell hole after Black Hawk Down), and others. This proves his books are authentic, one heck of an accomplishment.
Thoroughly enjoyable.
October 18, 2015
A 3.5
If you already like Forsyth books you will enjoy this one. Do not expect a full blown autobiography. The book is written in a series of vignettes and you can divide the book into three clear sections. The first part deals with his growing up, schooling and learning to be a pilot. The second part is about his time as a journalist, to include stints in Paris, East Berlin, Nigeria and Israel. The final part is about the writing and publishing of his books and life after. There is very little about his personal life. The book is extremely interesting. This is especially true of his experiences in the foreign countries and in particular the time he spent in Nigeria during the civil war in the late 1960s. He also has some vignettes of some of the famous people he has interviewed like David Ben-Gurion. Mr. Forsyth has accomplished a lot and lived quite a full life.
If you already like Forsyth books you will enjoy this one. Do not expect a full blown autobiography. The book is written in a series of vignettes and you can divide the book into three clear sections. The first part deals with his growing up, schooling and learning to be a pilot. The second part is about his time as a journalist, to include stints in Paris, East Berlin, Nigeria and Israel. The final part is about the writing and publishing of his books and life after. There is very little about his personal life. The book is extremely interesting. This is especially true of his experiences in the foreign countries and in particular the time he spent in Nigeria during the civil war in the late 1960s. He also has some vignettes of some of the famous people he has interviewed like David Ben-Gurion. Mr. Forsyth has accomplished a lot and lived quite a full life.
January 17, 2016
There are spy thriller writers, and then there is Frederick Forsyth.
There are spy novels, and then there is the Day of The Jackal.
And, there are auto-biographies, and then there is this.
I cannot call this book a typical auto-biography in the strictest sense. There are no massive revelations, no coming out of closets neither are there instances of self analysis. Instead we get a book, which becomes as thrilling as Forsyth’s novels. He tells us about East Berlin, and makes us travel to that walled city. He makes us feel the problems of the Biafrans, and tells us how it feels to fly in a spitfire among other experiences.
This is not a major literary work, but none of his works were ever “literary” per se. Read this book with the open mindedness of a avid thriller fan, and Mr. Forsyth, as usual, won’t disappoint you.
There are spy novels, and then there is the Day of The Jackal.
And, there are auto-biographies, and then there is this.
I cannot call this book a typical auto-biography in the strictest sense. There are no massive revelations, no coming out of closets neither are there instances of self analysis. Instead we get a book, which becomes as thrilling as Forsyth’s novels. He tells us about East Berlin, and makes us travel to that walled city. He makes us feel the problems of the Biafrans, and tells us how it feels to fly in a spitfire among other experiences.
This is not a major literary work, but none of his works were ever “literary” per se. Read this book with the open mindedness of a avid thriller fan, and Mr. Forsyth, as usual, won’t disappoint you.
December 31, 2017
There is so much more to Frederick Forsyth than the Day of Jackal.
Fans of Mr Forsyth's work will enjoy learning more about his very full and exciting life. This auto-biography almost reads like one of his own thriller books due to the many scrapes he experienced in his life.
From his time as Reuters man in East Berlin to the threats from the IRA, from being the youngest pilot in the RAF to being strafed by MiGs this book has the lot.
Don't read this book if you are wanting to pick up tips on how to write a spy novel. Forsyth has more exciting things to divulge. Absolutely terrifying to read the censorship imposed on his reporting by the BBC.
(On a personal note if you are concerned about Forsyth's politics don't let that stop you from reading The Outsider. He rarely strays into that zone but talks about his life experiences.)
Fans of Mr Forsyth's work will enjoy learning more about his very full and exciting life. This auto-biography almost reads like one of his own thriller books due to the many scrapes he experienced in his life.
From his time as Reuters man in East Berlin to the threats from the IRA, from being the youngest pilot in the RAF to being strafed by MiGs this book has the lot.
Don't read this book if you are wanting to pick up tips on how to write a spy novel. Forsyth has more exciting things to divulge. Absolutely terrifying to read the censorship imposed on his reporting by the BBC.
(On a personal note if you are concerned about Forsyth's politics don't let that stop you from reading The Outsider. He rarely strays into that zone but talks about his life experiences.)
October 15, 2015
Mr Forsyth seems to have lived a life no adventurous than his heroes and he recounts it in a witty and candid manner... while pulling no punches as far as his account of the Harold Wilson government's role in the Biafran conflict goes and on the iniquities of the British legal system go but more engrossing are his accounts of hoodwinking the Stasi and encounters with nature, at its most benign and its most terrible.... This by the way is just a hint of what is available here... Forsyth readers, don't miss this...
October 28, 2015
Frederick Forsyth, author of classic thrillers like The Day Of The Jackal, The Dogs Of War, and The Odessa File (all three made into pretty fine films) writes a memoir of his childhood, his realized ambition to be an RAF pilot, his days in newspapers as a foreign corespondent, an aborted career in the BBC, and some of the adventures he had researching his stories, or helping out The Firm. A very interesting memoir. The only criticism this reader had was that it could have been longer and included more about his writing. Otherwise, a fine read. - BH.
January 27, 2016
Oh, such interesting tales, told by such an arrogant, self-aggrandising person. I think nearly every chapter - not quite, but nearly - features Mr Forsyth essentially 'saving the day'. His recollections and claims may well all be true, but oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, he does want us all to have a slight frisson of delight at how he's so manly, competent, heroic, and filled with derring-do. I read to the end, but was thoroughly fed up with the author well before that point. Pity that he didn't use a lighter hand in the writing of his adventures.
June 7, 2019
Forsyth's eventful, exciting life reads like one of his thrillers - making it easy to see how he came to be so good at writing them. I was fascinated to learn where some of his inspiration came from and just how much of it is based on his own experiences.
January 1, 2016
Engrossing
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