Claude Lebel is introduced to the audience as “the best detective in France” (186). He is the protagonist of the novel, the conduit through which the audience follows the investigation into the Jackal, yet he is largely absent from Part 1 of The Day of the Jackal. Lebel’s absence is entirely fitting. He is a quiet, unassuming man who has no interest in imposing himself on situations. His immense skill as a detective means that he is often overlooked in favor of his louder, more socially acceptable peers. The men who lead the French security services are notably different in personality terms compared to Lebel. A man like the pompous Colonel Saint-Clair de Villauban, for example, is the diametric opposite of Lebel. When everyone else fails, when the system is at a loose end, when de Gaulle seems doomed to die at the hands of an assassin, only then does Lebel make his unremarkable entrance.

The contrasts between the men in the security services and Lebel is an important part of Lebel’s character. He is the consummate detective, someone who excels at the professional part of his job but not at the social aspect.