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Ilich Ramirez Sanchez once called himself a "professional revolutionary." During a career in international terrorism lasting more than two decades, Sanchez--better known as Carlos the Jackal--murdered 83 people by his own count, once held several dozen oil ministers hostage during an OPEC meeting, and "freelanced" for, among others, Muammar al-Qaddafi, Saddam Hussein, Fidel Castro, and the Italian Red Brigade. Before his eventual capture in 1994 and subsequent trial and imprisonment in France, the Jackal's reputation as a "terrorist's terrorist" was unsurpassed. Dozens of hijackings, bombings, and assassinations were blamed on him, whether or not he was involved (which led him to stand before a French court and accuse everyone within view of libel).
From his fervent Communist upbringing in Venezuela, Carlos was set upon the revolutionary path at an early age. He was allegedly given training in guerilla warfare in Cuba while still a teenager, and soon thereafter studied in the Soviet Union. Jackal breathlessly follows Sanchez's rapid rise up the world's ladder of professional brigands and cutthroats and his international playboy lifestyle, but seldom reveals a private side to the man--perhaps, one guesses, because Carlos the Jackal never had the time or inclination to cultivate one. Follain attempts to make an icon of Carlos ("I will stay inside jail forever or I will be shot dead if I get out," he mused to a reporter while imprisoned in France) in a valiant effort to lend a moral hook to his story, but, as he finally admits, "revolution for Carlos meant a state of mindless euphoria, chasing after women, and luxurious living." --Tjames Madison
From Publishers Weekly
Biographies come in various degrees of difficulty: there are subjects about whom much is known and those about whom little is known. And then there are a handful of subjects such as the international terrorist Carlos the Jackal, whose life has been based on elaborate deception. Carlos, born Ilich Ramirez Sanchez 49 years ago in Venezuela, led a childhood and youth so outlandish that even a novelist might have shunned such incredible material. While still in his teens, Carlos achieved the status of a highly trained revolutionary with the encouragement of his leftist father. Linking himself to Palestinian terrorists, Carlos began accepting murderous assignments throughout the world, killing innocent people because of their religious affiliations or their political views. After detailing Carlos's crimes, Follain turns to the campaign by various intelligence agencies (including the CIA) to capture the terrorist, a campaign that resulted in his capture in the Sudan by French counterespionage agents in 1994. (He is currently imprisoned in France.) French journalist Follain (A Dishonoured Society) can be applauded for attempting such an ambitious project, but huge (if often understandable) gaps in his research, far-fetched psychologizing and clunky writing sabotage this biography of a saboteur. (Nov.) FYI: Carlos is identified as "the most feared international terrorist" of the 20th century in Jay Robert Nash's Terrorism in the 20th Century: A Narrative Encyclopedia from the Anarchists through the Weathermen to the Unabomber. (M. Evans, $24.95 paper 456p ISBN 0-87131-855-5; Dec.)Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
For over two decades beginning in the early 1970s, Carlos the Jackal (a.k.a. Illich Ramirez Sanchez) terrorized the Western world. No one really knew who he was or when he would strike, and with every incident his stature grew. Investigative journalist Follain details the life and philosophy of the Jackal. Originally from Venezuela, he was weaned on communism and eventually joined the Popular Front, a pro-Palestinian group. He took their training and struck out on his own, achieving notoriety in 1975 when he successfully kidnapped 11 OPEC oil ministers in Vienna. He owed his success to several factors: he maintained safe havens in Eastern Europe and in Syria and the Sudan, his organization was extremely small and difficult to infiltrate, and his missions were unpredictable. In 1994, Carlos was tricked by the Sudanese into being captured by the French and tried in France. Thoroughly researched, this is the first definitive biography of the man who was able to hold the world at bay for over two decades. Recommended.?Michael Sawyer, Northwestern Regional Lib., Elkin, NCCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
Reuters journalist Follain relates the life, crimes, and capture of the worlds best-known terrorist. Yet the Jackal eludes him, refusing to open his mind and motivation to the author. Carlos the Jackal was born in Venezuela to an affluent family whose father was a committed Marxist. He went on to be educated in London and Paris, and then in Moscow. His career as a terrorist began in Moscow when he made contact with the radical organization the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. On behalf of the Popular Front, Carlos carried out a series of bombings and assassinations, culminating in the kidnapping of 11 OPEC oil ministers in Vienna in 1975. After being expelled from the Popular Front for insubordination, Carlos became more or less a freelance revolutionary. He established a small army of followers that killed 24 people and wounded another 257. He was finally captured in 1994 by French authorities in Sudan and is serving a life sentence in France. That Carlos was able to elude capture for 20 years had to do, explains the author, both with the willingness of certain nations, particularly Libya, to shelter him and fund his activities, and with the inept attempts by Western security services to capture him. Indeed, the book is at its best when discussing these topics, but Carlos himself remains an enigmatic figure. Overweight and something of a dandy, he does not fit the mold of hardened terrorist. Despite his Marxist background, he seems anything but doctrinaire, having little to say on his political motivations. Undisciplined and aloof, he was hardly a tool for the Soviet Union. But despite Follains having a limited correspondence with Carlos, the Jackal refused to reveal himself and his motives, and even after efforts to interview those who knew him firsthand, Carlos remains a shadowy figure. A good factual account that fails to delve deeper into the enigma that was Carlos the Jackal. (b&w photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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