Anything by novelist Frederick Forsyth would be a go-to book for anyone who loves heart-pounding geopolitical intrigue, action-packed spy stories, and/or complex assassination thrillers. His works were powerful because he didn’t just conjure these stories out of thin air. Like many of the great storytellers who came before him, he wrote his real life into his stories. For a fighter pilot, war correspondent, and spy, that makes for some pretty great nail-biters.
He published some 24 books over a career that spanned more than 50 years. In that time, more than a dozen were adapted into films, television series, stage shows, and even a video game. They all incorporate elements of his life, including his time in the Royal Air Force, as a correspondent for Reuters and the BBC, and his tenure in MI6, Britain’s foreign intelligence agency.
His career was far from ended. A sequel to his 1972 classic “The Odessa File” will be released in September 2025. Unfortunately, he died after a brief illness at his home in Buckinghamshire on June 9, 2025. He was 86.
Frederick McCarthy Forsyth was born in Kent on August 25, 1938. He was educated at the prestigious private Tonbridge School, and after graduation, joined the RAF. He was only 18, but became a pilot officer in 1956, gaining his permanent status as a fighter pilot the following year.
After his national service ended, he would eventually join the staff of Reuters as a foreign correspondent. It was during his time at Reuters that he witnessed the 1962 assassination attempt on French President Charles de Gaulle in Paris.
Three years later, he was reporting with the BBC in Africa. There, he covered the Nigerian Civil War, as the separatist government of Biafra tried to secure its independence from the repressive government in Lagos.
When the BBC tried to pull him out of Biafra, he decided to stay and continue his coverage. It would not only be the subject of a later book, but would also lead to Forsyth operating as an agent for MI6.
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The end of his journalism career necessitated a new profession. He continued writing, but this time he began writing books. As he wrote in the author’s note to a 2012 re-issue of “Day of the Jackal,” he was “broke.”
He drew on his many real-world experiences for events in his works. The attempted assassination of Charles de Gaulle, for example, became a central event in “Day of the Jackal.” It became a global bestseller and has been adapted into two films and a television series.
He not only drew on his real experiences, but he also threw himself into the research for his books the way a seasoned journalist would. Forsyth became so knowledgeable about spycraft that some in the British government were forced to admit his storybook tactics had actually been deployed in espionage missions.
“The Odessa File” felt so real, his readers believed an underground group of former SS officers really existed. Because of Forsyth’s work, Eduard Roschmann (also known as “The Butcher of Riga”) could no longer evade justice and Swiss authorities recovered more than £1 billion in stolen Nazi gold.
His books may have come at the right time, when Cold War paranoia was at a fever pitch, but Forsyth’s stories endured because they are serious, intelligent thrillers that happen to be incredibly entertaining.
READ: 4 mind-boggling facts about the Cold War
He brought a formula to thrillers without becoming formulaic; changing the focus from who the criminal was to how they intended to commit their crime. All while he blurred the lines between fiction and real events in the same way he blurred the lines between heroes and villains.
Without Frederick Forsyth, there could be no Robert Ludlum, no Tom Clancy, no Lee Child, and an unending list of other writers and their beloved characters. Imagine a world without Alex Cross, Jack Reacher, or even Jack Ryan… no thanks.
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