Frederick Forsyth
Encyclopedia
Frederick Forsyth, CBE
(born 25 August 1938) is an English author and occasional political commentator. He is best known for thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal
, The Odessa File
, The Fourth Protocol
, The Dogs of War, The Devil's Alternative
, The Fist of God
, Icon
, The Veteran
, Avenger, The Afghan
and The Cobra
.
. He was educated at Tonbridge School
and later attended the University of Granada
in Spain. He became one of the youngest pilots in the Royal Air Force
at the age of 19, where he served on National Service
from 1956 to 1958. Becoming a journalist, he joined Reuters
in 1961 and later the BBC in 1965, where he served as an assistant diplomatic correspondent. From July to September 1967, he served as a correspondent covering the Nigerian Civil War
between the region of Biafra
and Nigeria. He left the BBC in 1968 after controversy arose over his alleged bias towards the Biafran cause and accusations that he falsified segments of his reports. Returning to Biafra as a freelance reporter, Forsyth wrote his first book, The Biafra Story in 1969.
, was published in 1971 and became an international bestseller and gained its author the Edgar Allan Poe Award
for Best Novel. In this book, the Organisation Armée Secrète
(a real-life terrorist group) hires an assassin to kill then-French President Charles de Gaulle
. It was made into a film of the same name
.
In Forsyth's second full-length novel, The Odessa File
(1972), a reporter attempts to track down a certain ex-Nazi SS
officer in modern Germany. The reporter discovers him via the diary of a Jewish Holocaust survivor who committed suicide earlier, but he is being shielded by an organization that protects ex-Nazis, called ODESSA
. This book was later made into a movie with the same name, starring Jon Voight
, but there were substantial alterations.
In The Dogs of War (1974) a British mining executive hires a group of mercenaries to overthrow the government of an African country so that he can install a puppet regime that will allow him cheap access to a colossal platinum-ore reserve. This book was also adapted to film, in 1981, starring Christopher Walken
and Tom Berenger
.
The Shepherd
was an illustrated novella published in 1975. It tells of a nightmare journey by an RAF pilot while flying home for Christmas in the late 1950s. His attempts to find a rational explanation for his eventual rescue prove as troublesome as his experience.
Following this came The Devil's Alternative
in 1979, which was set in 1982. In this book, the Soviet Union
faces a disastrous grain harvest. The US is ready to help for some political and military concessions. A Politburo faction fight ensues. War is proposed as solution. Ukrainian
freedom fighters complicate the situation later. In the end, a Swedish oil tanker built in Japan, a Russian airliner hijacked to West Berlin
and various governments find themselves involved.
In 1982, No Comebacks
, a collection of ten short stories, was published. Some of these stories had been written earlier. Many were set in the Republic of Ireland
where Forsyth was living at the time. One of them, There Are No Snakes In Ireland, won him a second Edgar Allan Poe Award, this time for best short story.
The Fourth Protocol
was published in 1984 and involves renegade elements within the Soviet Union
attempting to plant a nuclear bomb near an American airbase in the UK, intending to influence the upcoming British elections and lead to the election of an anti-NATO, anti-American, anti-nuclear, pro-soviet Labour
government. The Fourth Protocol was later filmed, starring Pierce Brosnan
and Michael Caine
, in 1987. Almost all of the political content was removed from the film.
Forsyth's tenth book came in 1989 with The Negotiator
, in which the American President's son is kidnapped and one man's job is to negotiate his release.
Two years later, in 1991, The Deceiver was published. It includes four separate short stories reviewing the career of British secret agent Sam McCready. At the start of the novel, the Permanent Under-Secretary of State (PUSS) of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office requires the Chief of the SIS to push Sam into early retirement. The four stories are presented to a grievance committee in an attempt to allow Sam to stay on active duty with the SIS.
In 1994, Forsyth published The Fist of God
, a novel which concerns the first Gulf War
. Next, in 1996, he published Icon
, about the rise of fascists to power in post-Soviet Russia.
In 1999, Forsyth published The Phantom of Manhattan
, a sequel to The Phantom of the Opera
. It was intended as a departure from his usual genre; Forsyth's explanation was that "I had done mercenaries, assassins, Nazis, murderers, terrorists, special forces soldiers, fighter pilots, you name it, and I got to think, could I actually write about the human heart?" However, it did not achieve the same success as his other novels, and he subsequently returned to modern-day thrillers.
In 2001, The Veteran
, another collection of short stories, was published, followed by Avenger
, published in September 2003, about a Canadian billionaire who hires a Vietnam veteran
to bring his grandson's killer to the US. Avenger was released as a film starring Sam Elliot and Timothy Hutton.
The Afghan
, published in August 2006, is an indirect sequel to The Fist of God
. Set in the very near future, the threat of a catastrophic assault on the West, discovered on a senior al-Qaeda member's computer, compels the leaders of the US and the UK to attempt a desperate gambit—to substitute a seasoned British operative, retired Col. Mike Martin (of The Fist of God
), for an Afghan Taliban commander being held prisoner at Guantánamo Bay.
The Cobra, published in 2010, features some of the characters previously featured in Avenger
, and has as its subject an attempt to destroy the world trade in cocaine
.
Forsyth's novels typically show the ways in which spies, gangsters, assassins, mercenaries, diplomats, business leaders and politicians go about their business behind-the-scenes; the sort of things that the average reader would not suspect while reading a simple headline. The Jackal does not just go out and shoot at Charles de Gaulle: he does meticulous research on the man at the library of the British Museum
; obtains papers for his false identities; travels around Paris to find a good location for a sniper's nest; and buys and tests his weapons.
Also a subtle twist at the end of the novel can reveal that a lot more was going on than the reader initially suspected: Cat Shannon, the central figure of The Dogs of War, turns out to have had his own agenda all the time; Adam Munro of The Devil's Alternative finds out that he was not a player but a pawn to people in high places; in The Odessa File, the reporter's true motivation is revealed at the end, and a number of events in Icon turn out to have been committed by people other than those who the reader had been led to suppose. In Avenger, one of the events that allows the Avenger to escape is unexplained until the last few paragraphs.
Forsyth's novels also feature famous personalities and political leaders as characters—The Day of the Jackal features the French president Charles de Gaulle and his interior minister, Roger Frey
, who heads the government search for the assassin—the opening chapter is based on an actual attempt by the OAS to kill de Gaulle. The Odessa File features the real-life Nazi murderer Eduard Roschmann and the Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal
. The Fourth Protocol and Icon involve several chapters indirectly featuring former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher
and former US president George H. W. Bush
. Although unnamed or of fictional identity, the leader of the Soviet Union is portrayed as the lead antagonist in several novels. Other real life characters are thinly disguised. For example, real life suspected Russian arms dealer Victor Bout is portrayed as "Vladimir Bout" in Avenger.
Conservative
. He is Patron of Better Off Out
, an organisation calling for Britain's withdrawal from the European Union. In 2003, he was awarded the One of Us Award from the Conservative Way Forward
group for his services to the Conservative movement in Britain. He is also a patron of the Young Britons' Foundation
. In 2005, he came out in opposition to Kenneth Clarke
's candidacy for the leadership of the Conservative Party
, calling Clarke's record in government "unrivalled; a record of failure which at every level has never been matched". Instead, he endorsed and donated money to David Davis's
campaign.
He is a strong supporter of the British monarchy. In his book Icon, he recommended a constitutional monarchy
as a solution to Russia's political problems following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
He is an occasional radio broadcaster on political issues, and has also written for newspapers throughout his career, including a weekly page in the Daily Express
. In 2003, he criticised "gay-bashers in the churches" in The Guardian
newspaper. He has narrated several documentaries, including Jesus Christ Airlines, Soldiers, a history of men in battle
and I Have Never Forgotten You: The Life & Legacy of Simon Wiesenthal.
In August 2006, Forsyth appeared on the ITV
gameshow Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
to raise funds for charity. On 8 February 2007, Forsyth appeared on BBC's political panel show Question Time
. On it, he expressed scepticism on the subject of anthropogenic climate change
. On 26 March 2008, he also appeared on BBC's The One Show
. On 17 June 2008, Forsyth was interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live Midday News in relation to the restoration of the Military Covenant
.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 25 August 1938) is an English author and occasional political commentator. He is best known for thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal
The Day of the Jackal
The Day of the Jackal is a thriller novel by English writer Frederick Forsyth, about a professional assassin who is contracted by the OAS, a French terrorist group of the early 1960s, to kill Charles de Gaulle, the President of France....
, The Odessa File
The Odessa File
The Odessa File is a thriller by Frederick Forsyth, first published in 1972, about the adventures of a young German reporter attempting to discover the location of a former SS concentration-camp commander....
, The Fourth Protocol
The Fourth Protocol
The Fourth Protocol is a novel written by Frederick Forsyth and published in August 1984.-Explanation of the novel's title:The title refers to the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which contained four secret protocols. The fourth, of the protocols, was meant to prohibit the non-conventional...
, The Dogs of War, The Devil's Alternative
The Devil's Alternative
The Devil's Alternative is a novel by British writer Frederick Forsyth first published in 1979. It was his fourth full-length novel and marked a new direction in his work, setting the story several years in the future rather than in the recent past.-Plot summary:The story opens with the discovery...
, The Fist of God
The Fist of God
The Fist of God is a 1994 novel by Frederick Forsyth, mixing known fact with fiction to tell a story of the coalition forces in the Persian Gulf War racing against time to discover the true nature of Saddam Hussein's secret weapon, 'The Fist of God.'...
, Icon
Icon (novel)
Icon is an thriller novel by British author Frederick Forsyth. Its plot centres around the politics of the Russian Federation in 1999, with an extremist party close to seizing power...
, The Veteran
The Veteran (short story collection)
The Veteran is a short story collection by Frederick Forsyth, it is a collection of five of his short stories:-Stories:*"The Veteran"*"The Art of the Matter"*"The Miracle"*"The Citizen"*"Whispering Wind"...
, Avenger, The Afghan
The Afghan
The Afghan is a 2006 thriller novel by Frederick Forsyth, and concerns a planned Al Qaeda terrorist attack to take place against an unspecified target. As with other Forsyth novels, the full details of the plot are not revealed until the end...
and The Cobra
The Cobra (novel)
The Cobra is a 2010 thriller novel by Frederick Forsyth about the international cocaine trade. In it an unnamed Obama-like U.S...
.
Early life and education
The son of a furrier, Forsyth was born in Ashford, KentAshford, Kent
Ashford is a town in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England. In 2005 it was voted the fourth best place to live in the United Kingdom. It lies on the Great Stour river, the M20 motorway, and the South Eastern Main Line and High Speed 1 railways. Its agricultural market is one of the most...
. He was educated at Tonbridge School
Tonbridge School
Tonbridge School is a British boys' independent school for both boarding and day pupils in Tonbridge, Kent, founded in 1553 by Sir Andrew Judd . It is a member of the Eton Group, and has close links with the Worshipful Company of Skinners, one of the oldest London livery companies...
and later attended the University of Granada
University of Granada
The University of Granada is a public university located in Granada, Spain that enrolls approximately 80,000 students. The university also has campuses in Ceuta and Melilla. Every year, over 2,000 European students enroll in the UGR through the Erasmus Programme, making it the most popular...
in Spain. He became one of the youngest pilots in the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
at the age of 19, where he served on National Service
National service
National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...
from 1956 to 1958. Becoming a journalist, he joined Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
in 1961 and later the BBC in 1965, where he served as an assistant diplomatic correspondent. From July to September 1967, he served as a correspondent covering the Nigerian Civil War
Nigerian Civil War
The Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Nigerian-Biafran War, 6 July 1967–15 January 1970, was a political conflict caused by the attempted secession of the southeastern provinces of Nigeria as the self-proclaimed Republic of Biafra...
between the region of Biafra
Biafra
Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a secessionist state in south-eastern Nigeria that existed from 30 May 1967 to 15 January 1970, taking its name from the Bight of Biafra . The inhabitants were mostly the Igbo people who led the secession due to economic, ethnic, cultural and religious...
and Nigeria. He left the BBC in 1968 after controversy arose over his alleged bias towards the Biafran cause and accusations that he falsified segments of his reports. Returning to Biafra as a freelance reporter, Forsyth wrote his first book, The Biafra Story in 1969.
Works
Forsyth decided to write a novel using similar research techniques to those used in journalism. His first full length novel, The Day of the JackalThe Day of the Jackal
The Day of the Jackal is a thriller novel by English writer Frederick Forsyth, about a professional assassin who is contracted by the OAS, a French terrorist group of the early 1960s, to kill Charles de Gaulle, the President of France....
, was published in 1971 and became an international bestseller and gained its author the Edgar Allan Poe Award
Edgar Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...
for Best Novel. In this book, the Organisation Armée Secrète
Organisation armée secrète
The Organisation de l'armée secrète was a short-lived, French far-right nationalist militant and underground organization during the Algerian War . The OAS used armed struggle in an attempt to prevent Algeria's independence...
(a real-life terrorist group) hires an assassin to kill then-French President Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
. It was made into a film of the same name
The Day of the Jackal (film)
The Day of the Jackal is a 1973 Anglo-French film, set in August 1963 and based on the novel of the same name by Frederick Forsyth. Directed by Fred Zinnemann, it stars Edward Fox as the assassin known only as "the Jackal" who is hired to assassinate Charles de Gaulle.- Synopsis :The film opens...
.
In Forsyth's second full-length novel, The Odessa File
The Odessa File
The Odessa File is a thriller by Frederick Forsyth, first published in 1972, about the adventures of a young German reporter attempting to discover the location of a former SS concentration-camp commander....
(1972), a reporter attempts to track down a certain ex-Nazi SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
officer in modern Germany. The reporter discovers him via the diary of a Jewish Holocaust survivor who committed suicide earlier, but he is being shielded by an organization that protects ex-Nazis, called ODESSA
ODESSA
The ODESSA, from the German Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen, meaning “Organization of Former SS Members,” is believed to have been an international Nazi network set up toward the end of World War II by a group of SS officers...
. This book was later made into a movie with the same name, starring Jon Voight
Jon Voight
Jonathan Vincent "Jon" Voight is an American actor. He has received an Academy Award, out of four nominations, and three Golden Globe Awards, out of nine nominations. Voight is the father of actress Angelina Jolie....
, but there were substantial alterations.
In The Dogs of War (1974) a British mining executive hires a group of mercenaries to overthrow the government of an African country so that he can install a puppet regime that will allow him cheap access to a colossal platinum-ore reserve. This book was also adapted to film, in 1981, starring Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken is an American stage and screen actor. He has appeared in more than 100 movies and television shows, including Joe Dirt, Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, The Prophecy trilogy, The Dogs of War, Sleepy Hollow, Brainstorm, The Dead Zone, A View to a Kill, At Close Range, King of New...
and Tom Berenger
Tom Berenger
Tom Berenger is an American actor known mainly for his roles in action films.-Early life:Berenger was born as Thomas Michael Moore in Chicago to an Irish Catholic family. Berenger's father was a printer for the Chicago Sun-Times. Berenger has a sister, Susan...
.
The Shepherd
The Shepherd
The Shepherd is a 1976 novella by Frederick Forsyth.The Shepherd relates the story of a De Havilland Vampire pilot, going home on Christmas Eve 1957, whose aircraft suffers a complete electrical failure en route from RAF Celle in northern Germany to RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk...
was an illustrated novella published in 1975. It tells of a nightmare journey by an RAF pilot while flying home for Christmas in the late 1950s. His attempts to find a rational explanation for his eventual rescue prove as troublesome as his experience.
Following this came The Devil's Alternative
The Devil's Alternative
The Devil's Alternative is a novel by British writer Frederick Forsyth first published in 1979. It was his fourth full-length novel and marked a new direction in his work, setting the story several years in the future rather than in the recent past.-Plot summary:The story opens with the discovery...
in 1979, which was set in 1982. In this book, the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
faces a disastrous grain harvest. The US is ready to help for some political and military concessions. A Politburo faction fight ensues. War is proposed as solution. Ukrainian
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
freedom fighters complicate the situation later. In the end, a Swedish oil tanker built in Japan, a Russian airliner hijacked to West Berlin
West Berlin
West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...
and various governments find themselves involved.
In 1982, No Comebacks
No Comebacks
No Comebacks is a 1982 collection of short stories by Frederick Forsyth. Each story takes place in a different setting and ends with a plot twist. Several of them involve a central male character who is henpecked or persecuted by others in the story, cleverly getting his revenge and comeuppance at...
, a collection of ten short stories, was published. Some of these stories had been written earlier. Many were set in the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
where Forsyth was living at the time. One of them, There Are No Snakes In Ireland, won him a second Edgar Allan Poe Award, this time for best short story.
The Fourth Protocol
The Fourth Protocol
The Fourth Protocol is a novel written by Frederick Forsyth and published in August 1984.-Explanation of the novel's title:The title refers to the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which contained four secret protocols. The fourth, of the protocols, was meant to prohibit the non-conventional...
was published in 1984 and involves renegade elements within the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
attempting to plant a nuclear bomb near an American airbase in the UK, intending to influence the upcoming British elections and lead to the election of an anti-NATO, anti-American, anti-nuclear, pro-soviet Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
government. The Fourth Protocol was later filmed, starring Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brendan Brosnan, OBE is an Irish actor, film producer and environmentalist. After leaving school at 16, Brosnan began training in commercial illustration, but trained at the Drama Centre in London for three years...
and Michael Caine
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
, in 1987. Almost all of the political content was removed from the film.
Forsyth's tenth book came in 1989 with The Negotiator
The Negotiator (novel)
The Negotiator is a crime novel by Frederick Forsyth first published in 1989. The story includes a number of threads that are slowly woven together. The central thread concerns a kidnapping and the negotiator's attempts to solve the crime.-Synopsis:...
, in which the American President's son is kidnapped and one man's job is to negotiate his release.
Two years later, in 1991, The Deceiver was published. It includes four separate short stories reviewing the career of British secret agent Sam McCready. At the start of the novel, the Permanent Under-Secretary of State (PUSS) of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office requires the Chief of the SIS to push Sam into early retirement. The four stories are presented to a grievance committee in an attempt to allow Sam to stay on active duty with the SIS.
In 1994, Forsyth published The Fist of God
The Fist of God
The Fist of God is a 1994 novel by Frederick Forsyth, mixing known fact with fiction to tell a story of the coalition forces in the Persian Gulf War racing against time to discover the true nature of Saddam Hussein's secret weapon, 'The Fist of God.'...
, a novel which concerns the first Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
. Next, in 1996, he published Icon
Icon (novel)
Icon is an thriller novel by British author Frederick Forsyth. Its plot centres around the politics of the Russian Federation in 1999, with an extremist party close to seizing power...
, about the rise of fascists to power in post-Soviet Russia.
In 1999, Forsyth published The Phantom of Manhattan
The Phantom of Manhattan
The Phantom of Manhattan, a 1999 novel by Frederick Forsyth, is a sequel to the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical The Phantom of the Opera, itself based on the original book by Gaston Leroux....
, a sequel to The Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera
Le Fantôme de l'Opéra is a novel by French writer Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serialisation in "Le Gaulois" from September 23, 1909 to January 8, 1910...
. It was intended as a departure from his usual genre; Forsyth's explanation was that "I had done mercenaries, assassins, Nazis, murderers, terrorists, special forces soldiers, fighter pilots, you name it, and I got to think, could I actually write about the human heart?" However, it did not achieve the same success as his other novels, and he subsequently returned to modern-day thrillers.
In 2001, The Veteran
The Veteran (short story collection)
The Veteran is a short story collection by Frederick Forsyth, it is a collection of five of his short stories:-Stories:*"The Veteran"*"The Art of the Matter"*"The Miracle"*"The Citizen"*"Whispering Wind"...
, another collection of short stories, was published, followed by Avenger
Avenger (book)
Avenger is a political thriller novel by Frederick Forsyth published in September 2003.This was adapted for television in 2006, starring Sam Elliott.-Plot summary:...
, published in September 2003, about a Canadian billionaire who hires a Vietnam veteran
Vietnam veteran
Vietnam veteran is a phrase used to describe someone who served in the armed forces of participating countries during the Vietnam War.The term has been used to describe veterans who were in the armed forces of South Vietnam, the United States armed forces, and countries allied to them, whether or...
to bring his grandson's killer to the US. Avenger was released as a film starring Sam Elliot and Timothy Hutton.
The Afghan
The Afghan
The Afghan is a 2006 thriller novel by Frederick Forsyth, and concerns a planned Al Qaeda terrorist attack to take place against an unspecified target. As with other Forsyth novels, the full details of the plot are not revealed until the end...
, published in August 2006, is an indirect sequel to The Fist of God
The Fist of God
The Fist of God is a 1994 novel by Frederick Forsyth, mixing known fact with fiction to tell a story of the coalition forces in the Persian Gulf War racing against time to discover the true nature of Saddam Hussein's secret weapon, 'The Fist of God.'...
. Set in the very near future, the threat of a catastrophic assault on the West, discovered on a senior al-Qaeda member's computer, compels the leaders of the US and the UK to attempt a desperate gambit—to substitute a seasoned British operative, retired Col. Mike Martin (of The Fist of God
The Fist of God
The Fist of God is a 1994 novel by Frederick Forsyth, mixing known fact with fiction to tell a story of the coalition forces in the Persian Gulf War racing against time to discover the true nature of Saddam Hussein's secret weapon, 'The Fist of God.'...
), for an Afghan Taliban commander being held prisoner at Guantánamo Bay.
The Cobra, published in 2010, features some of the characters previously featured in Avenger
Avenger (book)
Avenger is a political thriller novel by Frederick Forsyth published in September 2003.This was adapted for television in 2006, starring Sam Elliott.-Plot summary:...
, and has as its subject an attempt to destroy the world trade in cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
.
Style
Forsyth eschews psychological complexity in favour of meticulous plotting, based on detailed factual research. His books are full of information about the technical details of such subjects as money laundering, gun running and identity theft. His novels read like investigative journalism in fictional guise. His moral vision is a harsh one: the world is made up of predators and prey, and only the strong survive.Forsyth's novels typically show the ways in which spies, gangsters, assassins, mercenaries, diplomats, business leaders and politicians go about their business behind-the-scenes; the sort of things that the average reader would not suspect while reading a simple headline. The Jackal does not just go out and shoot at Charles de Gaulle: he does meticulous research on the man at the library of the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
; obtains papers for his false identities; travels around Paris to find a good location for a sniper's nest; and buys and tests his weapons.
Also a subtle twist at the end of the novel can reveal that a lot more was going on than the reader initially suspected: Cat Shannon, the central figure of The Dogs of War, turns out to have had his own agenda all the time; Adam Munro of The Devil's Alternative finds out that he was not a player but a pawn to people in high places; in The Odessa File, the reporter's true motivation is revealed at the end, and a number of events in Icon turn out to have been committed by people other than those who the reader had been led to suppose. In Avenger, one of the events that allows the Avenger to escape is unexplained until the last few paragraphs.
Forsyth's novels also feature famous personalities and political leaders as characters—The Day of the Jackal features the French president Charles de Gaulle and his interior minister, Roger Frey
Roger Frey
Roger Frey was a French politician. He was Minister of the Interior and president of the Constitutional Council of France.-Monokini prosecution:...
, who heads the government search for the assassin—the opening chapter is based on an actual attempt by the OAS to kill de Gaulle. The Odessa File features the real-life Nazi murderer Eduard Roschmann and the Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal
Simon Wiesenthal
Simon Wiesenthal KBE was an Austrian Holocaust survivor who became famous after World War II for his work as a Nazi hunter....
. The Fourth Protocol and Icon involve several chapters indirectly featuring former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
and former US president George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
. Although unnamed or of fictional identity, the leader of the Soviet Union is portrayed as the lead antagonist in several novels. Other real life characters are thinly disguised. For example, real life suspected Russian arms dealer Victor Bout is portrayed as "Vladimir Bout" in Avenger.
Public life
Forsyth is a EuroscepticEuroSceptic
EuroSceptic is the second album of British singer Jack Lucien. It was released in October 2009.Due to being an album influenced by Europop, it features songs with parts in different languages...
Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
. He is Patron of Better Off Out
Better Off Out
Better Off Out is the name of a non-party campaign run by The Freedom Association to call for the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union...
, an organisation calling for Britain's withdrawal from the European Union. In 2003, he was awarded the One of Us Award from the Conservative Way Forward
Conservative Way Forward
Conservative Way Forward is a British campaigning group that operates within the Conservative Party. It is a Thatcherite group in outlook and agenda, and Baroness Thatcher herself is the President....
group for his services to the Conservative movement in Britain. He is also a patron of the Young Britons' Foundation
Young Britons' Foundation
The Young Britons' Foundation, abbreviated to YBF, is a British right wing not-for-profit training, education and research think-tank, established in July 2003 to "help train tomorrow's centre-right leaders and activists today"....
. In 2005, he came out in opposition to Kenneth Clarke
Kenneth Clarke
Kenneth Harry "Ken" Clarke, QC, MP is a British Conservative politician, currently Member of Parliament for Rushcliffe, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice. He was first elected to Parliament in 1970; and appointed a minister in Edward Heath's government, in 1972, and is one of...
's candidacy for the leadership of the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK) leadership election, 2005
The 2005 Conservative leadership election was called by party leader Michael Howard on 6 May 2005, when he announced that he would be stepping down as leader in the near future. However, he stated that he would not depart until a review of the rules for the leadership election had been conducted,...
, calling Clarke's record in government "unrivalled; a record of failure which at every level has never been matched". Instead, he endorsed and donated money to David Davis's
David Davis (British politician)
David Michael Davis is a British Conservative Party politician who is the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Haltemprice and Howden...
campaign.
He is a strong supporter of the British monarchy. In his book Icon, he recommended a constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...
as a solution to Russia's political problems following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
He is an occasional radio broadcaster on political issues, and has also written for newspapers throughout his career, including a weekly page in the Daily Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
. In 2003, he criticised "gay-bashers in the churches" in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
newspaper. He has narrated several documentaries, including Jesus Christ Airlines, Soldiers, a history of men in battle
Soldiers, A History of Men in Battle
Soldiers, a history of men in battle was a BBC television documentary series about the history of warfare from antiquity to the Falklands War. Each episode looked at warfare from the perspective of different participants: infantryman, artillerist, cavalryman, tanker, airman, guerrilla, surgeon,...
and I Have Never Forgotten You: The Life & Legacy of Simon Wiesenthal.
In August 2006, Forsyth appeared on the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
gameshow Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (UK game show)
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is a British television quiz show which offers a maximum cash prize of one million pounds for correctly answering successive multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty...
to raise funds for charity. On 8 February 2007, Forsyth appeared on BBC's political panel show Question Time
Question Time (TV series)
Question Time is a topical debate BBC television programme in the United Kingdom, based on Any Questions?. The show typically features politicians from at least the three major political parties as well as other public figures who answer questions put to them by the audience...
. On it, he expressed scepticism on the subject of anthropogenic climate change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
. On 26 March 2008, he also appeared on BBC's The One Show
The One Show
The One Show is a topical magazine-style daily television programme broadcast live on BBC One and BBC One HD, hosted by Alex Jones and Matt Baker. Chris Evans joins Jones to present the programme on Friday...
. On 17 June 2008, Forsyth was interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live Midday News in relation to the restoration of the Military Covenant
Military Covenant
The Military Covenant is a term introduced in 2000 into British public life to refer to the mutual obligations between the nation and its Armed Forces....
.
External links
- "They Take The Mind, and What Emerges is Just Tapioca Pudding": [Spiegel interview with F. Forsyth].