The Jackal

The spectacular rise and dramatic fall of super-assassin Carlos the Jackal—one of history's most infamous terrorist masterminds and the inspiration for numerous celebrated works of pop culture—told with new revelations from the Jackal himself, by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Black Flags.

A black-bereted, gun-slinging avatar of one of the most turbulent eras in global politics, Carlos the Jackal burst onto the world stage in 1975 as the first true celebrity terrorist. In a bloody career that would ultimately span three decades, Carlos innovated a new kind of spectacular terrorism, one that embraced hijackings, hostage crises, airport bombings and international assassinations. He personally masterminded one of the most shocking operations of the era: the kidnapping of an entire conference of world oil ministers for ransom in Vienna. The polar opposite of today's most infamous terrorists, Carlos was a hard-drinking libertine and self-styled romantic who entranced dozens of beautiful women and murdered his victims with callous disregard, often with his own hand.

But Carlos was not all that he seemed to be.

Through newly declassified archives, secret witness accounts and a rare interview with the Jackal himself, acclaimed journalist Joby Warrick reveals a previously hidden side of the man born Ilich Ramírez Sánchez—an ideologically driven figure whose myth was as carefully constructed as his attacks were deadly.

As he did in his Pulitzer Prize-winning Black Flags, Warrick delivers a powerful and highly cinematic tale that explains and illuminates the root causes, and founding personalities, behind one of the great conflicts of our time.

"BRIMS WITH AUTHENTICITY EVEN AS IT DELIVERS THE ROLLERCOASTER-LIKE RUSH OF A TAUT THRILLER. The Jackal is a riveting portrait of the larger-than-life man who invented the role of celebrity terrorist—and of the journalists, ideologues, spymasters, and dictators who helped elevate him to prominence. Not to be missed." - David McCloskey, former CIA analyst and bestselling author of London Station

"PULSATING AND THOUGHT-PROVOKING, The Jackal is a meticulously reported page-turner from one of our finest chroniclers of terrorists and their pursuers." - Steve Coll, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Ghost Wars, Directorate S, and The Achilles Trap

"EXTRAORDINARY. In a globe-spanning quest, Warrick appears to have tracked down nearly everyone involved in the hunt for the notorious Carlos. Fans of spy-thrillers will be in absolute heaven knowing this is all true." - Scott Anderson, bestselling author of Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly, and the Making of the Modern Middle East