If you like ‘The Day of the Jackal’... you’ll love this
Editor’s note: Frederick Forsyth’s 1971 novel ‘The Day of the Jackal’ almost birthed a subgenre of its own—the political thriller with a charismatic villain as the main character—and the headlong manhunt to find him before he does something really bad (in this case, assassinate French President Charles de Gaulle). Many classics on Sneha Pathak’s list have been adapted for the big and small screens. They offer a timely reminder that the book is most often better than the movie:)
Written by: Sneha Pathak is a freelance writer and translator. Her works have appeared in The Telegraph, Deccan Herald, Strange Horizons, and The Chakkar. You can follow her on Instagram.
Frederick Forsyth’s ‘The Day of the Jackal’ is one of the most successful and thrilling novels that continues to enthral and entertain readers today, more than four decades after it first appeared. Here is a list of some more such books for readers who enjoyed Forsyth’s thrilling tale of international intrigue.
The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon: This 1959 book is most similar to the Forsyth novel—a taut thriller about international conspiracy and espionage. It is the story of a man who is brainwashed by the Russians and then sent back to the US as a ‘sleeper agent’, ready to do his master’s bidding when asked. The book is both a tense thriller and a psychological study in mind control. Adapted twice for the big screen, ‘The Manchurian Candidate’ remains a compelling and relevant read in these tumultuous times.
The Sympathiser by Viet Thanh Nguyen: Set in the years after the Vietnam War, the novel shows its readers a new side to the war and its aftermath. Told in the form of the confessions of a spy, a man of two faces, ‘The Sympathiser’ has elements of not just spy narratives but also muses on the nature of politics, war, identity, and duality. It was also the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2016.
Bamboo and Blood by James Church: In this third novel in the Inspector O series, the North Korean police inspector investigates the death of a diplomat’s wife in Pakistan–back in the 1990s. The case takes Inspector O from secretive Pyongyang to the streets of New York and the shores of Lake Geneva—-where the Inspector discovers he is mired in a case that is about the one thing he is not allowed to investigate: missiles, ‘Bamboo and Blood’’s unusual setting is what makes it an especially compelling read. That, and the fact that James Church is the pseudonym of a former Western intelligence officer who is said to have spent time in Korea.
Slow Horses by Mick Herron: Set in contemporary England, the book, now a major series on Apple TV+, is the story of a bunch of MI5 agents stationed at Slough House, a place where the has-beens of the force are sent. A young boy is kidnapped and his kidnappers threaten to behead him on the internet. Soon these ‘slow horses’---led by their obnoxious troll of a boss, TKTKTK—-are dragged into the case. The story of the down-and-outs reclaiming their glory is a well-loved trope. ‘Slow Horses’ reinvents and relocates the cliché with great panache.
Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene: In this classic spy novel, Jim Wormold, a vacuum cleaner salesman, is approached by MI6 agents to become a spy—at the height of the Cold War in the 1950s. But Wormold is not exactly spy material and begins to send London invented reports to keep his bosses happy. Unexpectedly, his fiction turns into reality—and leads soon to tragedy. As with other Greene novels, there are no heroes in ‘Our Man in Havana’---only humans trapped in a geopolitical game that destroys their lives.
Berlin Game by Len Deighton: This book is a part of Deighton’s ‘Game, Set and Match’ trilogy. Set in the 1980s, the story follows Bernard Samson, an aging MI6 man is tasked with extracting an agent working in East Berlin. The mission becomes even more dangerous when Samson realises that there is a high-ranking mole in the mix. Tense and thrilling, ‘Berlin Game’ is considered to be one of the finest books by Deighton, a writer who not only wrote spy novels but also cook books and works of history.
A Coffin for Dimitrios by Eric Ambler: Also published under the title ‘Mask of Dimitrios’, this novel was first published in 1939 and is considered to be one of the earliest spy thrillers. It is one of the first books to use the trope of an innocent man who gets entangled in international intrigue. The story is of a small-time writer, Charles Latimer, who gets embroiled in a mystery of far greater proportions than he realises after he becomes curious about Dimitrios, a wanted man recently killed in Turkey. Set mostly in Eastern Europe after the First World War, ‘A Coffin’ also offers readers a glimpse of the tumultuous years in the region.
Gabriel’s Moon by William Boyd: Set in the early 1960s, this novel follows Gabriel Dax, a somewhat successful travel writer haunted by his past. When he is in Congo, Dax interviews the new president, who claims that he is in risk of being assassinated. When he is actually killed a few days later, the tapes and notes of his interview become hot property for unknown enemies. Dax soon turns into a reluctant spy, an ordinary man caught by forces beyond his control,
Ashenden by W Somerset Maugham: Maugham’s more memorable novels like ‘The Razor’s Edge’, and ‘Of Human Bondage’ are character study—set far beyond the world of espionage. Few know that Maugham himself worked undercover for his country’s intelligence during World War I—using his fame as a writer as his disguise. These real-life experiences inspire ‘Ashenden’, a collection of short stories about an undercover agent working in Switzerland. This is one of the few books that remain true to the unglamorous work of espionage. It is said to have inspired future legends such as Eric Ambler and John le Carré (whom I have not recommended as he hardly needs introduction).
