3 w. ago ‘He changed the rules for all of us who came after’: Lee Child remembers Frederick Forsyth

Forsyth did away with the conventions of thriller-writing and still kept readers enthralled. He reset the whole genre, the author of the Jack Reacher novels writes• Frederick Forsyth, Day of the Jackal author and former MI6 agent, dies aged 86I remember two things about the first full week of January 1972. I passed my driving test on the Monday, and on the Friday I made my weekly trip to the library and borrowed The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth. I had no idea I would one day be a writer myself – at that point I was merely an insatiable reader – but in retrospect that Friday marked an important way station on the journey from one to the other.I gobbled up the book and thought it was fantastic – fast, pacy, exciting, suspenseful and laced with detail and intrigue. Then I thought, wait, what? How was this book working? It was a twin-track thriller – an assassin hunts his target while law enforcement hunts the assassin. But the intended victim was Charles de Gaulle, a real per...

Politics

3 w. ago Frederick Forsyth interview: ‘I’ve always been a loner’ – archive, 1973

The Guardian meets the author of the bestseller The Day of the Jackal as it is about to open as a filmFrederick Forsyth dies aged 869 June 1973 Continue reading...

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3 w. ago Frederick Forsyth, The Day of the Jackal author, dies aged 86

British novelist and former MI6 agent died after a brief illness

Events

3 w. ago Frederick Forsyth dies: Day of the Jackal author and former MI6 agent passes away aged 86

Day of the Jackal author Frederick Forsyth has died after a brief illness at the age of 86.

Events

3 w. ago Frederick Forsyth dead aged 86 as tributes paid to The Day of The Jackal author

Famous journalist, turned author, Frederick Forsyth has passed away, with several fans rushing to social media to share their condolences and sadness after hearing the news

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3 w. ago Frederick Forsyth dead: The Day of The Jackal author dies, aged 86

We'll be bringing you the very latest updates, pictures and video on this breaking news story.

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3 w. ago Frederick Forsyth, Day of the Jackal author and former MI6 agent, dies aged 86

Writer used his experience reporting on De Gaulle’s France to plot his thriller, and continued to draw on real-world research for subsequent bestsellersFrederick Forsyth, the author who turned his adventures as a journalist and work with MI6 into bestselling thrillers, has died after a brief illness aged 86.Forsyth brought a reporter’s eye to his fiction, transforming the thriller genre with a series of novels including The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File and The Dogs of War. Combining meticulous research with firecracker plots, he published a series of novels that sold more than 75m copies around the world, and won him honours including a CBE in 1997 and the Crime Writers’ Association Diamond Dagger award. Continue reading...

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