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The Day of the Jackal/The Dogs of War
The Jackal. A tall, blond Englishman with opaque, gray eyes. A killer at the top of his profession. A man unknown to any secret service in the world. An assassin with a contract to kill the world's most heavily guarded man.
One man with a rifle who can change the course of history. One man whose mission is so secretive not even his employers know his name. And as the minutes count down to the final act of execution, it seems that there is no power on earth that can stop the Jackal.
One man with a rifle who can change the course of history. One man whose mission is so secretive not even his employers know his name. And as the minutes count down to the final act of execution, it seems that there is no power on earth that can stop the Jackal.
572 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
5 people are currently reading
280 people want to read
About the author
Frederick Forsyth
331 books4,360 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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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
February 4, 2021
Wowowoow. So good that I am writing my first review. This is the best crime/thriller/historical fiction that I have read, even though you know the ending, which makes it even better in my opinion. 5/5
March 31, 2024
High four. Honestly the only thing keeping this from being a five are the very long (yet meaty) segments on logistics. As a concept I like how both stories centered around preparations and operations - one in micro, another in macro. What ties both stories is the amount of prep work needed, both leading up to "one final moment."
Day of the Jackal is a four - the ending is understandable but a bit meh. Dogs of War is a five - the details worked well for the story, plus that ending is both sensory- and moral-appealing.
Day of the Jackal is a four - the ending is understandable but a bit meh. Dogs of War is a five - the details worked well for the story, plus that ending is both sensory- and moral-appealing.
February 5, 2016
The Day of the Jackal:-
Few sources could have let the world outside know about the various factors as far as people not involved with then diplomatic or political world involved, about the attempts on life of De Gaulle, a national hero of France since the end of WWII, and about the general displeasure about Algerian independence in various circles in France. It was electrifying in how much one learns from this tale set in the sixties in France.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010.
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The Dogs of War:-
Mystery thriller with a background of revolution in an African nation.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008.
............................................................
............................................................
The Dogs of War:-
Mystery thriller with a background of revolution in an African nation.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008.
..........................................................
Africa and Asia - well, all other continents - have been the playground for Europe with their residents given scarcely a thought and their rights, forget it. This is all the more so when it comes to mineral or other wealth of those continents. Business of Europe is of supreme importance and less so only compared to interests of aristocracy or royalties of those nations of Europe that have them, and even then only if they are alert to being taken in by business.
So when it is a small nation of Africa with abominable status in every way one could think of, as of the time line of the story, that is, when most of Asia and Africa is either independent or looking forward to it or struggling towards it, certainly a businessman who has accidentally come across information about tremendously rich mineral deposits of the said small African nation is not going to stop short of murder and coup and take over of the nation in name of a civil war in that nation which in reality is mercenaries sent by him so he could put up a dummy of his choice. To that end he bribes the scientist to shred his real report and one realises the scientist's daughter being handicapped perhaps saved his life - else he might have refused to sell his integrity and been straight murdered and been written off as accident.
Then there is the matter of the mercenaries. Africa has been overrun by them across the continent, and they are from Europe, and know Africa and can assess the situation and do the job for a price he can well afford, with competence and without fleecing him. So he and his chosen underlings are content to play their part and sit back until they can take the place over.
What they do not count on is that some of these mercenaries care not only for their own lives but for one another, and that includes more than skin colour, and beyond the comrades in arms from Africa. There are those that care for Africa itself - and what is more most of them do, more than they care for rich businessmen of Europe. So instead of selling the poor nation with hidden wealth to the men who plan to take it away and not care a whit for the poor of Africa, they put in place a plan all their own, with a man who would be good for the poor nation and men who would serve him and grow in numbers enough to guarantee he shall survive and rule and do well by the tiny nation.
The mineral here is platinum. But the story could have been about diamonds, only, that story went in favour of the rich businessmen of Europe.
But the heart rending part is the description of the nation of Zangaro with the abominable state of affairs which could have been better if only someone had cared before the band of mercenaries did, and the heart rending part is not that it can happen in a small nation of a poor continent, but that one suspects it is so in most of the continent, or major parts anyway.
The description here is all too real one fears, and not in a small measure due to Europe running away after exploiting the various nations of the continents and then leaving with the convenient excuse of giving in to demands of independence, instead of facing a mirror and asking if it is not selfish to leave after taking what they could and long before they could empower the populations of the subjugated nations to rule with education and culture of civil administration.
Not for nothing have millions starved through the continent even as the rich world keeps enjoying everything it can provide, from diamonds to coffee to cocoa to vegetables fresh for tables of Europe, while lands in Europe grow wines too expensive for any poor and flowers for perfumes more or less equally expensive, and other rich nations of other continents across oceans do no less.
Friday, March 21, 2014.
............................................................
............................................................
Few sources could have let the world outside know about the various factors as far as people not involved with then diplomatic or political world involved, about the attempts on life of De Gaulle, a national hero of France since the end of WWII, and about the general displeasure about Algerian independence in various circles in France. It was electrifying in how much one learns from this tale set in the sixties in France.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010.
............................................................
............................................................
The Dogs of War:-
Mystery thriller with a background of revolution in an African nation.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008.
............................................................
............................................................
The Dogs of War:-
Mystery thriller with a background of revolution in an African nation.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008.
..........................................................
Africa and Asia - well, all other continents - have been the playground for Europe with their residents given scarcely a thought and their rights, forget it. This is all the more so when it comes to mineral or other wealth of those continents. Business of Europe is of supreme importance and less so only compared to interests of aristocracy or royalties of those nations of Europe that have them, and even then only if they are alert to being taken in by business.
So when it is a small nation of Africa with abominable status in every way one could think of, as of the time line of the story, that is, when most of Asia and Africa is either independent or looking forward to it or struggling towards it, certainly a businessman who has accidentally come across information about tremendously rich mineral deposits of the said small African nation is not going to stop short of murder and coup and take over of the nation in name of a civil war in that nation which in reality is mercenaries sent by him so he could put up a dummy of his choice. To that end he bribes the scientist to shred his real report and one realises the scientist's daughter being handicapped perhaps saved his life - else he might have refused to sell his integrity and been straight murdered and been written off as accident.
Then there is the matter of the mercenaries. Africa has been overrun by them across the continent, and they are from Europe, and know Africa and can assess the situation and do the job for a price he can well afford, with competence and without fleecing him. So he and his chosen underlings are content to play their part and sit back until they can take the place over.
What they do not count on is that some of these mercenaries care not only for their own lives but for one another, and that includes more than skin colour, and beyond the comrades in arms from Africa. There are those that care for Africa itself - and what is more most of them do, more than they care for rich businessmen of Europe. So instead of selling the poor nation with hidden wealth to the men who plan to take it away and not care a whit for the poor of Africa, they put in place a plan all their own, with a man who would be good for the poor nation and men who would serve him and grow in numbers enough to guarantee he shall survive and rule and do well by the tiny nation.
The mineral here is platinum. But the story could have been about diamonds, only, that story went in favour of the rich businessmen of Europe.
But the heart rending part is the description of the nation of Zangaro with the abominable state of affairs which could have been better if only someone had cared before the band of mercenaries did, and the heart rending part is not that it can happen in a small nation of a poor continent, but that one suspects it is so in most of the continent, or major parts anyway.
The description here is all too real one fears, and not in a small measure due to Europe running away after exploiting the various nations of the continents and then leaving with the convenient excuse of giving in to demands of independence, instead of facing a mirror and asking if it is not selfish to leave after taking what they could and long before they could empower the populations of the subjugated nations to rule with education and culture of civil administration.
Not for nothing have millions starved through the continent even as the rich world keeps enjoying everything it can provide, from diamonds to coffee to cocoa to vegetables fresh for tables of Europe, while lands in Europe grow wines too expensive for any poor and flowers for perfumes more or less equally expensive, and other rich nations of other continents across oceans do no less.
Friday, March 21, 2014.
............................................................
............................................................
November 24, 2020
Both books were very entertaining; especially liked the ending of The Day of the Jackal.
June 4, 2008
This one is a little slow. One would think that the detail the author goes into describing the characters would bring you closer to them. But I just can't get a into them. The writing style seem cold and technical. I wish I knew French as there are a lot of little passages written in that language, and I am just to lazy to go look them up. I am only about 1/2 done with it, so maybe the rest of it will grab my attention more. I let you know!
May 19, 2015
Good story, but at times I found me pinching myself towards the end, especially, towards the end, when the hard, skeptical battle worn and tough as nails, main character gives his employer a talk about morals, justice and doing the right thing, considering he's a lifelong mercenary.
Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed the story a lot, but found myself taking a step back and laughing a bi, at the unlikelyness of it all.
Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed the story a lot, but found myself taking a step back and laughing a bi, at the unlikelyness of it all.
February 24, 2012
Again, not a book I'd ever choose to pick up or rave about. Yet it was captivating, especially from the historical significance as well as the fact that every conspiracy movie has been influenced by this classic. I could see how it inspired all the Bourne Identity movies and scripts such as those.
September 16, 2009
It's alright.
February 6, 2011
Mixed feelings. I've always loved Forsyth's documentary novels but I don't believe this was his best.
June 4, 2012
Excellent.
October 27, 2012
I loved this book especially the twists and the "weapon".
July 16, 2019
ISBN #978-1-854-71304-9
This is my second copy of the Day of the Jackal!! Unputdownable!!
This is my second copy of the Day of the Jackal!! Unputdownable!!
September 14, 2015
The best novel by this author by far.
January 28, 2010
The author keeps the reader guessing from beginning to end. A great suspense story.
July 4, 2015
BBC Big Read #109: Classic cat and mouse thriller
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews