Frederick Forsyth, Day of the Jackal author and a former MI6 agent, just passed away, aged 86. Forsyth had penned around 20 spy novels and many of his novels, especially “The Dogs of War,” often used material from his earlier life as a reporter and spy. One of the standout elements of Forsyth's literary works is his ability to weave fact and fiction together.
Forsyth’s relevance also lies in the way he anticipated global threats long before they dominated headlines. He wrote about nuclear terrorism, rogue intelligence operations, and mercenary conflicts at a time when these topics were either taboo or underreported.
Today, as the world grapples with cyber warfare, shadow diplomacy, and covert statecraft, Forsyth’s novels remain eerily prescient. His ability to blend journalistic precision with fictional storytelling helped readers not just escape into a thrilling plot, but also understand the mechanisms behind real-world crises.
His mastery of the spy thriller genre stems from a confluence of storytelling skills, journalistic rigour, and a deep understanding of international politics and intelligence operations. Forsyth could make the cold, often shadowy world of espionage pulse with tension, urgency, and authenticity.
Eye of the spy and the flair of a journalist
Before becoming a novelist, Forsyth was an acclaimed journalist, notably a foreign correspondent. His experiences reporting during the Biafran War and from various geopolitical hotspots granted him access to insider information and a deep understanding of the machinery of international affairs. This background translated into novels teeming with precision and credibility.
Forsyth doesn’t just invent a plot—he constructs it from a foundation of real-world knowledge. Whether he’s describing how a passport is forged or how a political assassination is planned, every detail feels plausible and precise, making readers feel as though they are eavesdropping on the real dealings of the intelligence community.
For instance. Forsyth went undercover as an arms dealer in Hamburg in 1974 for the research of his novel "The Dogs of War", the story of a group of mercenaries who plot a coup in a fictional African republic. He managed to infiltrate a group of arms dealers, pretending to be an intermediary for a South African entity. When an arms dealer spotted his portrait in a bookstore window, Forsyth was alerted that he had just 80 seconds to escape his hotel. Without hesitation, he snatched up his passport and cash, sprinted to the station, and leapt onto a moving train just as it was departing.
Forsyth’s meticulous research into the tools of the espionage trade—surveillance equipment, encryption, weapons, disguises, and more—lends his novels an authenticity few can match. Forsyth's penchant for drama makes his material quite timeless.
The Eddie Redmayne-led series The Day of the Jackal (2024) pays tribute to Frederick Forsyth’s iconic novel by retaining its core elements of precision, tension, and realism. While the show updates the geopolitical context for modern audiences, it preserves the cat-and-mouse dynamic between the elusive assassin and the relentless investigator, which is a hallmark of Forsyth’s storytelling.
By staying rooted in plausible espionage rather than over-the-top theatrics, the adaptation honours Forsyth’s legacy of intelligent thrillers. Subtle visual cues, period-informed aesthetics, and a tight, suspense-driven plot further echo the tone of the novel.
Although Forsyth always denied he was a spy, in his 2015 autobiography, The Outsider, the author admitted he was an intelligence “asset” for more than 20 years. “There was nothing weird about it,” he told an audience at an event, “it was the Cold War. An awful lot of the strength of British intelligence came from the number of volunteers. A businessman might be going to a trade fair in a difficult-to-enter city and he’d be approached, quite gently, with a courteous, ‘If you would be so kind as to accept an envelope under your hotel door and bring it home …’ so that was what I did. I ran errands.”
Jonathan Lloyd, Forsyth’s agent, said he last saw the writer a few weeks ago to watch a forthcoming BBC documentary about his life. Lloyd said he “was reminded of an extraordinary life, well lived.”
“Having long held The Day of the Jackal as the blueprint of the modern thriller, I was honoured to become his editor for Avenger in 2002 and have remained so ever since,” said Bill Scott-Kerr, Forsyth’s publisher. “Working with Freddie has been one of the great pleasures of my professional life,” he added. “He leaves behind a peerless legacy which will continue to excite and entertain for years to come.”