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Content snapshot
Flag an inaccuracy →What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.
Violence
Some
Assassination planning and some killings; cold professional violence
Language
Some
Adult language
Sexual Content
Some
Some adult sexual encounters in the thriller tradition
Substance Use
None
No substance use
Emotional Intensity
Some
The cold procedural logic of both the assassin and his pursuer
What this book is about
The OAS hires an unnamed British professional—the Jackal—to assassinate French President de Gaulle. The novel follows the Jackal's meticulous preparation in parallel with the French detective Claude Lebel's increasingly desperate investigation. Forsyth's 1971 debut is procedurally brilliant—we know de Gaulle survived, which shifts the tension from outcome to process—and set the template for the modern techno-thriller with its obsessive attention to detail.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Cold professional assassination as the novel's subject
Multiple killings in service of the mission
Reader Verification
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