How about
The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth? I remember reading this under the covers with a flashlight when I was a kid, and couldn't put it down then just for the action, didn't really understand the politics/world affairs. I reread it not long ago when I got the ebook, and enjoyed it even more, since I now understand the background, as well as the action.
The blurb (without reviews
) on Amazon is underwhelming and not really representative of the book...
Quote:
The Jackal. A tall, blond Englishman with opaque, gray eyes. A killer at the top of his profession. A man unknown to any secret service in the world. An assassin with a contract to kill the world's most heavily guarded man.
One man with a rifle who can change the course of history. One man whose mission is so secretive not even his employers know his name. And as the minutes count down to the final act of execution, it seems that there is no power on earth that can stop the Jackal.
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...so here's a link to Wikipedia too:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_of_the_Jackal
Per
SYKM, it won the 1972 Edgar Award for Best Mystery.
One downside - it's pricey, $14.99 at Amazon US right now, but for those who travel, it's only £3.99 at Amazon UK. And it's also available at two of the three libraries I belong to.
So there's my nomination - hopefully it hasn't been done before!
Oh yeah, 4.25 on Goodreads, if you follow that sort of thing...