The Day of the Jackal

The Day of the Jackal is a thriller novel by Frederick Forsyth about a professional assassin who, contracted by the Organisation de l'Armée Secrète, a French terrorist group of the early 1960's, attempts to kill Charles de Gaulle.

The novel is widely regarded as one of the best "spy thrillers" ever written, widely praised for its convincing portrayal of France in 1962, and carefully thought-out plot.

While the OAS did exist as described in the novel, and did actually try to assassinate de Gaulle, no plot of the type described in the novel ever really happened. The book is a work of complete fiction. It is widely and incorrectly believed that the character in the book was based after Carlos the Jackal, when in fact the novel was published before Carlos became known. Ironically, the name of the character of the novel may have been the inspiration for the Carlos's nickname, after a copy of the novel was found in his hotel room after a police raid.

The book was filmed in 1973, and a very loose adaptation was made in 1997 as The Jackal, starring Bruce Willis and Richard Gere.