Frederick Forsyth, Master of the British Thriller, Dies

Frederick Forsyth, the British author of The Day of the Jackal and other bestselling thrillers, has died after a brief illness, his literary agent said Monday. He was 86.

Jonathan Lloyd, his agent, said Forsyth died at home early Monday surrounded by his family.

"We mourn the passing of one of the world's greatest thriller writers," Lloyd said.

Forsyth published more than 25 books, also including The Odessa File and The Dogs of War, and sold 75 million copies around the world, he said.

'Spectacular luck'

Forsyth's most famous work was about a fictional assassination attempt on former French President Charles de Gaulle by right-wing extremists 35 days after falling on hard times.

The Jackal went on to be made into a hit film starring Edward Fox as the assassin. A Netflix remake, with Eddie Redmayne in the lead role, was released last year.

Forsyth attributed much of this success to "luck," recalling how a bullet narrowly missed him while he was covering the bloody Nigerian civil war between 1967 and 1970.

"I have had the most spectacular luck all through my life," he told British newspaper The Times last November in an interview.

"Right place, right time, right person, right contact, right promotion — and even just turning my head away when that bullet went past," he said.

Final novel to be released in August

Forsyth was a former journalist and pilot and saw many of his novels were also turned into films.

"After serving as one of the youngest ever RAF pilots, he turned to journalism, using his gift for languages in German, French and Russian to become a foreign correspondent in Biafra (in Nigeria)," Lloyd explained in announcing Forsyth's death.

"Appalled at what he saw and using his experience during a stint as a secret service agent, he wrote his first and perhaps most famous novel, The Day Of The Jackal," he added.

I’ve been told that my iPhone change Rest in Peace to Rest in Peach

Ordinarily I’d delete & post again, but in honour of Freddie I’m going to leave as is: he once told me how not a single word of his Day of the Jackal manuscript was ever changed & I reckon he’d enjoy the irony!

— Tony Kent (@TonyKent_Writes) June 9, 2025

A sequel to The Odessa File, entitled Revenge Of Odessa, which he co-wrote with Tony Kent, is due to be published in August, his publisher Bill Scott-Kerr said.

"His journalistic background brought a rigour and a metronomic efficiency to his working practice and his nose for and understanding of a great story kept his novels both thrillingly contemporary and fresh," Scott-Kerr added.

Forsyth had two sons by his first wife. His second wife, Sandy, died last year.

This article first appeared on DW.

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