# Frederick Forsythe **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 5, 2012, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frederick-forsythe/624196 "2012-06-05T21:10:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frederick-forsythe/624196/21 "2012-06-08T04:44:28Z")
> [@Lare](#): > > I want to throw in a plug for his collection of short stories, _No Comebacks._ _The Emperor_ is a fantastic short story out of that book. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frederick-forsythe/624196/22 "2012-06-08T12:04:52Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > 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. Look two posts before yours. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frederick-forsythe/624196/23 "2012-06-08T12:33:07Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > The Cobra was weird […] 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. I thought something like this too. I enjoyed it, but couldn’t shake the feeling his publishers had been on the phone saying something like “Fred, mate, where’s that book you promised us? Whatever you’ve got’s fine, we really need to get it to the printers sharpish” when he was trying to finish it. Otherwise, pretty much everything else he’s written is excellent (although, to be fair, I haven’t read the Phantom sequel he did). _The Dogs Of War_ is brilliant (although the movie is just OK), the original _Day Of The Jackal_ is, IMHO, the textbook example of how to adapt a book to film, and his various short stories are excellent too. Interestingly, quite a few of them were filmed for TV some years ago (Brian Dennehy was in one about a spy being sent back across the Berlin Wall for One Last Job) and they were very well done, although one of them (a murder mystery on a Caribbean island) omitted a crucial point from the original story necessary for the ending to make any sense. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frederick-forsythe/624196/24 "2012-06-08T13:14:02Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Look two posts before yours. Oh yeah? Well, YOU look two posts before YOURS! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frederick-forsythe/624196/25 "2012-06-08T13:36:01Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Oh yeah? Well, YOU look two posts before YOURS! 😉 I don’t see nothin’ 'bout no Phantom in your post. Added – okay, I was looking two before my first post (which was yours) ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frederick-forsythe/624196/26 "2012-06-08T13:42:05Z")
> [@Patch](#): > > _The Emperor_ is a fantastic short story out of that book. “Good on yer, Murgatroyd!” ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frederick-forsythe/624196/27 "2012-06-08T14:37:27Z")
> [@Lare](#): > > 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. I came in here to add this one. I’ve read most of Forsyth’s books, but my all time favorite is No Comebacks. A collection of 10 short stores with great plot twists. I haven’t thought of FF in forever. I’m going to see if I can Kindle No Comebacks right now. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frederick-forsythe/624196/28 "2012-06-08T17:55:32Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I don’t see nothin’ 'bout no Phantom in your post. > Added – okay, I was looking two before my first post (which was yours) (whimpering) I’m confused. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frederick-forsythe/624196/29 "2012-06-08T18:02:30Z")
It’s all a plot, I tell ya! ---
**Author:** ![BrassyPhrase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@BrassyPhrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrassyPhrase)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frederick-forsythe/624196/30 "2012-06-08T18:47:56Z")
> [@Patch](#): > > _The Emperor_ is a fantastic short story out of that book. Big fan of Forsyth, and I agree that **No Comebacks** is a great collection of short stories. Two I really remember loving \ one I think was called _Here Be Snakes_ and one about this kinda browbeaten British dude spending a day catching a famous local swordfish. “Good on yer, Murgatroyd!” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frederick-forsythe/624196/31 "2012-06-08T20:58:59Z")
When you finish Forsyth, I recommend you check out A.J. Quinnell. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frederick-forsythe/624196/32 "2012-06-08T23:15:48Z")
> [@BrassyPhrase](#): > > Big fan of Forsyth, and I agree that **No Comebacks** is a great collection of short stories. Two I really remember loving \ one I think was called _Here Be Snakes_ and one about this kinda browbeaten British dude spending a day catching a famous local swordfish. > > “Good on yer, Murgatroyd!” The first one is, IIRC, _There are no Snakes in Ireland_ ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2012, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frederick-forsythe/624196/33 "2012-06-09T15:34:37Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > 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. Not really a bad book, but the only one I felt wasn’t up to par with his others. In particular, arbitrarily allowing a member of the Imperial family to be whacked seemed just so … nonessential? I got the impression the book was cranked out in a hurry to meet a millennium deadline, or possibly in anticipation of Yeltsin being forced out of office (which he soon was). Forsyth’s research on Moscow certainly wasn’t as thorough as for, say, London or Paris (example: you just don’t “wait for the light” and then walk across Tverskaya St; you have to use pedestrian tunnels). I think my favorites are _Day of the Jackal_, _The Odessa File_, and _The Deceiver_. All are superb! ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frederick-forsythe/624196/34 "2012-06-11T17:42:35Z")
I first read _The Day of the Jackal_ back around 1986, at the recommendation of my high school French teacher. _ **Loved it.** _ Just this past year I picked up a copy from the library to see if it was as magical as I remembered. Just as before, once picked up I couldn’t put it down again. Utterly spellbinding. I’ve read most of his other books over the years with varying degrees of appreciation. _No Comebacks_ I highly recommend, along with _The Fist of God_. Forsyth’s masterpiece, though, is _The Devil’s Alternative_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frederick-forsythe/624196.md?page=1)