Jackal writer Frederick Forsyth calls it a day

THRILLER writer Frederick Forsyth has announced that he has written his last novel, saying he has lost the ‘lust’ and ‘energy’ needed to pen another bestseller.

Mr Forsyth, who turned 80 last month, said The Fox, which will be published next month, would be his final work in a 47-year writing career.

He told The Times: ‘I am not writing any more novels. The lust has gone. Even the interest has gone. Who wants to bore himself into his grace? One can’t go on for infinity without the quality going. Writing [The Fox] was much harder for me than 20 years ago. It drained me completely.’

The author, whose first thriller, The Day of The Jackal, was released in 1971 and was turned into a hit movie starring Edward Fox, said he would rather spend time with his wife, Sandy, and their three Jack Russell terriers at their home in Buckinghamshire, southeast England.

He added: ‘Do I need the money? No. I was never compulsive about writing. I don’t have a message for the human race.’