The Day of the Jackal
by Frederick Forsythliterary work· published 1971
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The Day of the Jackal is a 1971 political thriller novel by English author Frederick Forsyth about a professional assassin who is contracted by the OAS, a French dissident paramilitary organisation, to kill Charles de Gaulle, the president of France. The novel received admiring reviews and praise when first published in 1971, and it received a 1972 Best Novel Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America. The novel remains popular, and in 2003 it was listed on the BBC's survey The Big Read. The novel begins as historical fiction; the OAS did exist and conspired to commit the act with which the book opens, giving an accurate depiction of the attempt to assassinate General de Gaulle by Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry on 22 August 1962. The subsequent plot is fiction.
Adaptations (2)
The Day of the Jackal has been adapted 2 times, across film and television series, from 1973 to 2024.
The Day of the Jackal1973 · film · 143 min · dir. Fred Zinnemann · IMDb ↗An international assassin known as ‘The Jackal’ is employed by disgruntled French generals to kill President Charles de Gaulle, with a dedicated gendarme on the assassin’s trail.
The Day of the Jackal2024 · television series · IMDb ↗IMDb8.1An unrivalled and highly elusive lone assassin, the Jackal, makes his living carrying out hits for the highest fee. But following his latest kill, he meets his match in a tenacious British intelligence officer who starts to track down the Jackal in a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase across Europe, leaving destruction in its wake.
