The Day of the Jackal REVIEW BY DEVIKA S CLASS 10 C

The Day of the Jackal (1971), a thriller novel by English  author Frederick Forsyth  

  

 The Day of the Jackal is split into three parts and an epilogue. The first part, “Anatomy of a Plot,” starts in 1962  in the aftermath of a failed attempt to kill de Gaulle made by Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry. The attack is ostensibly motivated by de Gaulle’s decision to grant independence to the state of Algeria. After Bastien-Thiry’s arrest, the French government retaliates against the OAS in an underground skirmish, which it tries to keep under wraps. 

Part 2, “Anatomy of a Manhunt,” concerns the French secret service’s attempt to find the Jackal while suppressing public knowledge about the ongoing campaign to assassinate de Gaulle. Lebel is given unlimited powers and resources with which to conduct his investigation. Someone suggests that he look at the records of the English Secret  Intelligence Service, since the assassin may be abroad. He finds a possible suspect named Charles Calthrop.  Meanwhile, another detective, Bryn Thomas, is given similar powers to find the assassin. Unbeknownst to the French government, the wife of an Air Force colonel is spying for the OAS, transmitting a constant feed of recent news back to the organization.

 Part 3, “Anatomy of a Kill,” concerns the days up to and including that of Jackal’s assassination attempt. Lebel has the security council’s phones tapped, suspecting that there is a mole. He discovers that the mole is the wife of the colonel. Thomas uses a database of recently stolen passports to get closer to Jackal’s identity. On August  22, Lebel postulates that the Jackal will attempt the  assassination on the 25th, which commemorates Paris’  liberation during World War 

At the novel’s end, the Jackal’s identity remains unknown:  the Special Branch bursts into Calthrop’s apartment just as the real Calthrop is returning from a holiday in Scotland.  Baffled, they bury the Jackal’s body in an anonymous grave