I just read “Day Of The Jackal” and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it, having already seen the movie several times. (The original film.)
Which of Forsythe’s other books should I consider?
Pretty much all of them. Forsyth is simply superb at what he does, and I’d say you’ll probably enjoy all of this published work.
Dogs of War seemed ridiculous to me when I read it. But it turns out Forsyth’s research was so meticulous he was actually accused of planning a coup; and there was a foiled coup in the 70’s that involved very similar plans.
I’ve read most, (not all) of Forsythe’s books and have never been disappointed. They’re all good. I think The Dogs of War remains his best work, with Icon a close second, but of course those are personal preferences and may not reflect the actual literary merits of the books. Can also recommend No Comebacks, a collection of short stories set mostly in Ireland. Very well-written, and most of them have suprise “O. Henry”- type endings which Forsythe does very well.
Also, check out the very interesting back story to The Dogs of War. The novel depicts a British mercenary hired by a wealthy industrialist to plan & execute a coupe de tat in a small African nation, installing a puppet government which will then give the industrialist a billion-dollar mining franchise in that country. Not long after the novel was published, an actual coup was attempted in Equatorial Guinea, which nearly mirrored the novel…a case of life imitating art. It has been repeatedly rumored that the author had actually had a hand in planning the exercise, and written the book after the fact although his actual degree of participation has never been established.
SS
ETA; ninja’d by Tellyworth :o
The Odessa Files is fantastic.
I think there’s a good case to be made that The Devil’s Alternative is the best thriller ever written (and The Day of the Jackal is a close second).
In addition to the ones already mentioned, I really liked The Fist of God and The Deceiver. I didn’t really care for either The Afghan or Avenger. The Fourth Protocol was all right.
In my first web chat I got to compliment him on how, in “Day of the Jackal,” the plot and reality were so intertwined that I had to do research of my own to twist them apart.
Haven’t read them all, but I’d give **Dogs of War **and Devils Alternative my top markds.
I don’t know if anyone can do twists like he can. Place a seemingly meaningless bit of information in the beginning and have the whole plot turn on it later on.
I want to throw in a plug for his collection of short stories, No Comebacks.
And, btw, it’s “Forsyth” without an ending “e” as Google just informed me.
Noted. :smack: And thank you. I hate careless spelling, especially my own.
Hrm, I might have to check him out more. Day of the Jackal was probably the first ‘spy-espionage-war’ type novel I ever read; think I was 8 or 10. Really liked it.
Read “The Shepherd”. Or if you’re a CBC fan, you’ve heard it read on “As It Happens” every late December…
The only Forsyth I ever read was Icon, and I didn’t much like it:
The good guys never really seemed to face a challenge, remaining constantly one step ahead of the bad guys, so there was no tension.
Is this a common feature of his books, or is it a flaw peculiar to this one? If someone can recommend a book by him without that flaw, I’d love to give him another chance.
I loved The Fist of God. Definitely my favorite. It’s also interesting for pointing out (in a long memo) what a clusterfuck an invasion of Iraq would be. Mr Forsyth seems to have nailed that one.
I was also partial to the quasi-sequel The Afghan. The only thing that brings that one down is a very random plot contrivance right near the end.
Avenger was good too if you like revenge stories.
The Cobra was weird. There was almost no characterization in it. Very little dialog, just scene after scene of things happening. It almost seems to be an outline more than a book, as if Forsythe just began to flesh out the idea of “what if US and UK special forces took covert and direct action against the cocaine cartels?” But it reads like he wrote a 250 page proposal for it and then decided to publish it as is. I still liked it but felt it was really missing something.
All of them except The Phantom in Manhattan. Forsythe’s attempt to wriote a sequrel to The Phantom of the Opera (actually, to the Abdrew Lloyd Webber musical, not Gaston Leroux’s original novel) falls pretty flat, and is nothing like his other books.
IMHO, his earliest efforts were his best – the initial trilogy of Day of the Jackal, The ODESSA File, and Dogs of War, along with the short story anthology No Comebacks.
Much of that was filmed – Fred Zinneman’s film Day of the Jacksal is great. Ignore the awful remake. The Odessa File was good, but could have been a lot better. Dogs of War was just OK. They did a decent job of filming The Careful Man from the anthology, but it’s hard to find.
His later stuff isn’t quite as good, although I agree (and have often said on this Board) that The Devil’s Alternative would’ve made a hell of a miniseries.
That much I knew already. DOTJ is a movie that has held up perfectly well over time; DOTJ.2 is a prime example of an unnecessary remake that is “updated” dumbed-down junk.
All you people singing his praises: Have you read The Phantom of Manhattan.
I found this book on a bus, brought it home and read it. I was overcharged.
See the second post ahead of yours.