The Day of the Jackal: where to start reading
Adapts The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth. Say how far you watched, and pick the book up exactly there.
The show keeps Forsyth's core idea (a lone assassin pursued by an intelligence officer) but reconceives it for a contemporary political setting with a new target and a fuller portrait of the Jackal himself. Eddie Redmayne called it 'a completely different piece.' Read the novel as its own standalone Cold-War-era thriller; the series does not track its plot.
Start reading at The Day of the Jackal (the original 1971 novel)- 1The Day of the Jackal1971
The 2024 series takes the novel's premise (a professional assassin hunted by an intelligence officer) but relocates it to a contemporary setting with a new target, so it is a loose modern reimagining rather than a faithful adaptation.
Spoiler-safe ratings are coming. You will rate and read reviews only up to your place in the story, never a hint of what is ahead.
