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A curious chain of events links two books written in different periods by two different authors who I don’t know how much they had to do with each other.
One of the books is Ludlum's novel in question, the other is Frederick Forsyth's novel titled “The Day of the Jackal.” The reference to the second in the title of the first Rizzoli edition of Ludlum’s book was probably intentional, and even though realizing it makes it somewhat less intriguing, the story behind it seems interesting to me nonetheless.
The two jackals mentioned in the titles are two different characters, both of whom are international terrorists.
The one in Ludlum's novel is the fictionalized version of a real person named Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, code-named “Carlos,” who has managed to make quite a name for himself in his “particular” profession and is currently serving a life sentence while in his spare time he titillates communist consciences with an account on De Baser.
Forsyth's novel precedes the real Carlos's exploits, and what should be considered the original “Jackal” (who in the book is tasked with killing Charles de Gaulle) is a completely fictional character with nothing to do with the real terrorist.
Carlos (the real one) was nicknamed the "Jackal" when a copy of Frederick Forsyth's novel was found among his personal effects in a Parisian hideout after a failed capture attempt, and here the circle closes.
In addition to the nickname of the two characters mentioned, both books are also united by the elegance of the two authors' writing. Ludlum’s style is perhaps a bit more commercial than Forsyth’s, which has a dry, journalistic approach, but we are nevertheless far from the pure-bred American style school crudeness like that of late Clive Cussler (thank you good ol' Clive for the hours of blissfully mindless entertainment you gave me).
“The Return of the Jackal,” currently published in Italy under the original title “The Bourne Ultimatum,” concludes the trilogy dedicated to the character of Jason Bourne, an assassin trained by Americans to be Carlos's nemesis, and is probably better known for the film series in which he stars rather than Ludlum’s books.
The film series, after a beginning that roughly traces that of Ludlum’s trilogy, then takes completely different paths. There is no mention of the rivalry between Bourne and Carlos, and the Jason Bourne character himself assumes very different connotations in the two cases.
In the novels, when the protagonist is not forced to assume the role of the assassin Jason Bourne, he leads a “normal” life, goes by the name David Webb, has a family, and works as a university professor. He is integrated into society, whereas in the films, if I recall correctly, he constantly lives on its fringes.
Personally, I watched the films some time after having read the books and the character with the eternally youthful face of Matt Damon seemed very out of tune with the idea I had formed of Jason Bourne.
In the book in question, Carlos reemerges, and the showdown that takes place between the two enemies is, in my opinion, very well managed by the writer. The book is engaging and flows as smoothly as oil, and can serve well to pass a few pleasant hours without demanding too much intellectual effort.
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