Frederick Forsyth (1938–2025)

This is a brilliantly written thriller based on a fictional assassination attempt against French President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. While we know from history that he won't succeed, the novel focuses on the Jackal's thought processes, how he devises his plans, develops a weapon and constructs several false identities. It follows the manhunt and how the efforts of the various French agencies to track him down are frustrated by a combination of the killer's resourcefulness, bad luck and a show more mole in the authorities' midst. Even when he is cornered in Paris he almost succeeds in carrying his audacious plan. This is deservedly a classic of the genre, focusing on detail in almost an instructional sense, but still managing to be a gripping narrative which never flags. show less

An early work from the father of the modern espionage thriller, and it contains my biggest pet peeve: a protagonist doing something incredibly stupid. And it’s okay. Peter Miller is a reporter, not a trained undercover agent. Through the convergence of bad luck, laziness, entitlement and not truly believing all the precautions taught to him were necessary, he blows his cover almost immediately. The story never really hinged on this anyway. It’s about how the diary of a Holocaust survivor show more who killed himself leads to the investigation The ODESSA, a real-life Nazi organization that used stolen wealth to further their twisted philosophies. To varying degrees Forsyth always used fiction to expose reality. He is always entertaining while doing so. show less

John Preston is a civil servant working fro MI5. As a relative newcomer to the service having previously been in the military, he doesn't fit well with the old boy network and finds himself at odds with his boss. Having been shifted to a more obscure and less exciting department Preston suddenly finds himself at the sharp end of a Russian plot to destabilise the UK on the eve of the 1987 General Election. However, Preston does not know the nature of the plot, which is probably just as well, show more as the plan is to detonate a nuke on British soil.
I must confess that I have lived my life accompanied by a high amount of literary snobbishness meaning that a number of bestselling authors have not made it on to my reading list. Over the last few years I have learned my lesson with John Le Carre and Robert Harris, and now Frederick Forsyth. The Day of the Jackal was a good book, but The Fourth Protocol is in a different league. This is a fine piece of work with a complex, realistic and compelling plot and good character development. It had me hooked from the beginning and I would rate it up there with any other thriller that I've ever read. The outcome was in doubt right up until the end of the novel making it really exciting, but at the same time it was delivered in the same sort of British stiff upper lip manner that Le Carre uses.There is some heavy politics mixed in with spycraft, interdepartmental tensions, nods to history and good storytelling. Highly recommended if you've not read it.
The Lady show less

This book was a re-read for me. I read it about 40 years ago, and it set me onto the path of reading and enjoying thrillers. This book was the start of thrillers as we know them today. Forsythe’s skill as an author is awe-inspiring! There is never a dropped storyline or even an extraneous clue. Every word is a building block of this remarkable story and every word jacks up the tension. Nothing that happens is expected or really even guessed at. I wish I was more like Charles Lebel, the show more dogged, intelligent investigator who will do anything to get his man and he never gives up. The technology in the book is a bit dated since the story is set in the summer of 1963. This was before computers, cell phones, sophisticated listening equipment and the internet. Everything had to be done the old-fashioned way, which, it turns out, if spearheaded by the right commanding officer, can be pretty effective. As before, I was rooting for the Jackal all the way through. He was cool-headed and had a brilliant mind. He was a man without a soul or a conscience. Also, he was a man with dogged determination, and a man who would go to any lengths to achieve his goal. The book is perfect in every way, and I am glad I decided to read it again. I appreciated it more the second time around. Re-reading old classics is never a waste of time. show less