Classic thriller about an eerily familiar attempt to take out French politican Charles de Gaulle.
The titular "Jackal", known in French as Monsieur Chacal, is a professional political assassin who does not refer to himself by that edgy name but is assigned it by the ultranationalist French organization that contracts him, the Organisation armée secrète. This prototypical Forsyth thriller begins with a true-to-life description of a failed 1962 attempt by the OAS to assassinate de Gaulle, and then recounts the origins and motives of the membership of this shadowy "secret army". It proceeds to detail the hiring of an anonymous Englishman, a hitman who was rumored to have taken part in activities in the Dominican Republic in 1961, and his preparations for another attempt on President de Gaulle's life. The Day of the Jackal is especially notable today because an assassination attempt similar to one described in the novel occurred at a rally at which former United States president Donald Trump was speaking. Without spoiling much more of the book's plot, I will say that Forsyth novels in general are extremely well-researched, with his transition from investigative political journalism to realistic fiction being apparent by the prevalence of actual historical details in his work. His other thriller The Dogs of War is also a favorite of mine, evincing similarly deep research.