One of the authors on English thrillers I used to like and admire (still I do) and get glued to his highly acclaimed books entitled, The Dogs of War, The Fourth Protocol, The Devil?s Alternative and of course, the best of the lot --- The Days of the Jackal is Frederick Forsythe!
The Days of the Jackal, which is ultimate political suspense story, is extremely well narrated in lucid languages with unique sequencing of the plot, threaded with the incidents simultaneously occurring in several countries, is an excellent espionage thriller. One cannot leave the book without reading rather going through its details till he/she arrives at the climax.
He has meticulously gone into details, created convincing characters and climate in surroundings that give credence to the story (as if it is happening before our eyes) with immaculate narration. Nobody can escape its fatal attraction, till one reads through the pages and comes to its end.
Like all his books, this one was made into a great movie ? a top class English thriller with political angle. The plot is surrounding a professional assassin codenamed ’’Jackal’’, who plots to kill Charles de Gaulle, the President of France under contract killing. The screenplay by Kenneth Ross and direction by Fred Zinnemann are superb!
The suspense is created from the beginning and retained throughout; truly it is aggravated in last half an hour while reaching the climax. The main role of Jackal is enacted by Edward Fox with superb performance as if he has lived through the role.
The role of the Detective by Michael Lonsdale, who is relentless to spot out and stop the assassin in front of large public gathering without public knowledge, is equally excellent.
Those, who love top grade English thriller with a very convincing storyline and high quality cinematography, I am sure, would greatly enjoy seeing this movie---- it makes an imprint!