The Day of the Jackal
Decide its fate
The record
Time
An eveningA season416 pages, about 8 hours: the length of 1.3 typical books on the shelf.
Getting in
Walk right inSteep climbTwo readers report the opening, heavy with OAS and French political background, felt slow before the Jackal’s plan gets moving.
One of a kind
Others do thisNothing else doesThe New York Times says The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and The Manchurian Candidate seem like Hardy Boy mysteries beside it.
The case for it
on the Jackal
“you are observing the mechanics of an assassin who is a really blank character.”
Sam Bourne · Five Books, 2012 on the structure
“it consists of two interlinked hunting stories.”
Michael Burleigh · Five Books, 2021 on the journalistic style
“it is a seamless fusion of journalism and fiction writing”
John Weisman · The Diane Rehm Show, 2012 on 1960s France
“it depicts France in the 1960s in an incredibly convincing way.”
James Twining · Five Books, 2009
The case against
on the opening
“the level of detail might slow the book to a crawl”
five stars · a book blog on the pace
“My first thoughts about this book were that it seemed quite slow-moving.”
four stars · a book blog on the emotional distance
“There’s a certain emotional distance to the narrative.”
a book blog on the length
“It’s always longer than you remember and it unfolds over quite some length.”
Patrick Worrall · Five Books, 2024
