The Day of the Jackal

Deputy Commissaire Claude Lebel is in a race against time to catch the cold-blooded assassin known only as "The Jackal," who is hired to kill France's president, Charles de Gaulle. This classic thriller translates well to audio. The clear timeline and step-by-step presentation of the backstory and the investigation are tense but easy to follow. Narrator Simon Prebble is the perfect complement to Forsythe's matter-of-fact style of writing. Prebble's steady delivery allows the plot to unfold without descriptive sections becoming boring, and his subtle characterizations are all that is required to distinguish the key players. Prebble's clipped English accent helps to conjure the atmosphere of Europe in the 1960s. K.J.P. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine