Three Lessons From THE DAY OF THE JACKAL.

The Day of The Jackal is a political thriller written by English author Frederick Forsyth and published in 1971. This novel was recommended to me by an English friend. In his own words: “As a Frenchman, you will certainly enjoy this. The movie adaptation is fantastic but the novel is exceptional. I suggest you start with the book.” I was sceptical at first since I had just finished reading another novel called The Sicilian which was written by Mario Puzo. Having spent weeks in the mafia universe of The Sicilian, I wondered if diving into a political thriller was the proper transition. However, the plot of The Day of The Jackal was very intriguing and I was assured that the book is a great classic among highly suspenseful novels that are built around political assassinations. This assessment was right: the novel is absolutely brilliant and easily holds its ground against more contemporary books in the same category.

The plot is fairly simple yet incredibly effective: a foreign mercenary nicknamed The Jackal is hired by the Organisation Armée Secrète (Secret Armed Organisation), a former far-right French dissident paramilitary organisation during the Algerian war, to assassinate President Charles de Gaulle. Having exhausted every actionable option to kill the French leader, the OAS comes to the following conclusion: the only way for them to achieve their goal is to use a foreign mercenary who is unknown to the French secret services and who will be able to navigate through the complex security web around Charles de Gaulle. The Jackal seems to be the perfect candidate. He is young, highly organised, experienced in such endeavours, and utterly ruthless. Oh, and he is also English. This feature is very important in the story. When the French secret services learn that President Charles de Gaulle’s life is threatened, no one suspects that an Englishman would dare carry out such a coup.

Ultimately, and quite predictably, the Jackal fails. He comes very close to landing a bullet into the French President’s head but fate intervenes and leads him to a final confrontation against Claude Lebel, the French inspector tasked with stopping him. Lebel shoots the Jackal and has him buried in an unnamed grave somewhere in Paris. The killer, who was always several steps ahead of the French police, finally met his match and lost everything in the biggest gamble of his career. The Day of The Jackal is an edge-of-the-seat drama with a known ending, but whose twists and turns make it outstanding.

So what can we learn from the Jackal and from the various characters present in the novel? Below are three suggestions.

1. When it comes to high-stakes missions, prepare, prepare and prepare even more.

The Day of The Jackal has three parts: Anatomy of a plot, Anatomy of a manhunt and Anatomy of a kill. The first part is essentially about the Jackal's elaborate preparations to kill Charles de Gaulle after his meeting with the leaders of the OAS. As ruthless as he is as a person, he is even more ruthless when it comes to proving that he is the best at what he does. His preparations are a combination of experience, genius and unrelenting focus. As bad as his motives are, it is abundantly clear that he takes his job very seriously. Nothing, absolutely nothing, is left to chance. The Jackal knows what the OAS expects from him but his own expectations surpass those of his employers. He goes to great lengths to secure every critical element that can improve the odds of his success and is merciless when it comes to eliminating those who stand in his way. His efficiency and precision are such that he baffles and intimidates the best agents who work tirelessly to stop him. The Jackal's "one-man army" attitude can be summarised as follows: If you bet on yourself, go all in. Key lesson: When working towards a goal, eliminate the moving parts and set your own terms for the foundation that will facilitate the outcome.

2. Arrogance is very costly.

While struggling to catch the Jackal, it suddenly dawns on inspector Claude Lebel that the killer is far too lucky even with the best of preparations. Twice he manages to escape the police hours before they converge on him. Even if Lebel believes that the Jackal is exceptionally skilled, he cannot possibly be that lucky. The inspector quickly suspects that an informant must be working behind the scenes of French power to help the killer. Lebel uses his powers to wiretap the phones of the officials to whom he must report his progress. One of them is Colonel Saint-Clair de Villauban. A product of the French elite with aristocratic roots, Saint-Clair is as arrogant as one can get as a high-ranking official and is very dismissive of the mild-mannered Lebel who he views as unfit for the job of arresting the Jackal. What Saint-Clair does not know is that it is his own mistress, Jacqueline, who is the secret informant. Having perfectly understood the weaknesses of the colonel, Jacqueline skillfully extracts valuable information from him and transfers them to the OAS. The latter hired her for this very purpose. When Lebel uncovers Jacqueline, he brings a recording of one of her conversations with the OAS to the meeting. Colonel Saint-Clair leaves in shame and is forced to resign the same day. Key Lesson: Learn to keep your pride in check when dealing with someone who is very good at what he or she does. That person can strike back in ways that you least suspect.

3. Do not let the best members of a team leave until every critical goal has been reached.

Towards the end of the novel, the French officials believe that Claude Lebel has made enough progress for the Jackal to be easily caught. They are very happy with his work and tell him that his job is done. Lebel leaves and goes back to his usual business and quiet private life. Forty-eight hours later, Claude Lebel is summoned by the Interior Minister. The latter wearily admits that the Jackal is impossible to find and that Lebel's advice would be highly appreciated. In the words of the Minister: "I don't think we ever really had any idea what kind of man you have been pursuing these past two weeks". This admission is as difficult as it is painful since the killer manages to escape the whole French force. They simply do not know how to deal with the Jackal and the Minister realises that it takes a man of Lebel's caliber to prevent one of the worst events in the history of France. Lebel understands the situation and accepts to get back into the chase although not in the way that the Minister would have wanted. He proposes to "just wander round each of the ceremonies" that President Charles de Gaulle will be attending and see if he can spot the Jackal. As simple as this plan seems, Lebel clearly knows what he is doing. He manages to get back on the Jackal's trail and kills him right after the mercenary's first attempt to shoot Charles de Gaulle fails. The second one would have succeeded had Lebel not arrived just in time. Key Lesson: You never know how much the best members of a team are contributing to a positive momentum until they become absent. Keep them around until goals are firmly achieved.

Conclusion: I am tempted to say that every French person should read The Day of The Jackal just to get the amazing perspective of a brilliant author such as Frederick Forsyth. Obviously, this suggestion is applicable to every nationality. This novel is exceptionally well-crafted and I will leave it to you to determine the lessons that can learned from the Jackal and inspector Lebel.

Good luck,

Ashley Boolell | www.ashleyboolell.com

Trailer of The Day of The Jackal (1973 movie)