Revealed to be a former British Army sniper from a 2013 tour in Afghanistan.

During this day, Egyptians would often perform rituals and ceremonies to honor Anubis and the jackal, seeking protection and guidance for themselves and their loved ones. These rituals might involve:

In fact, the "villain" of the first half of the story might actually be French bureaucracy. It takes the near-collapse of the state apparatus for Lebel to be given the authority to hunt the ghost. This creates a dual tension: Will the Jackal hit his target? And will the French government destroy itself through pride before the Jackal even fires a shot?

The most daring literary device of The Day of the Jackal is its point of view. We never learn the assassin’s real name; he is merely the Jackal (played with reptilian grace by Edward Fox in the 1973 film and reinvented for a modern audience by Redmayne). He is meticulous, patient, and utterly ruthless.