The end for Horowitz has a twist in the tale

‘I leave a letter for my wife about how the book ends in case I’m run over by a bus’

WRITER Anthony Horowitz has revealed he leaves letters for his wife telling her how his unfinished novels end, in case he dies unexpectedly.

The author says he is so “haunted by the possibility” he could die before he finishes a book, he goes to extreme lengths to make sure his work doesn’t go to waste.

Horowitz, 66, said it would be “so wretchedly annoying” if he was “run over by a bus or something” with just a few chapters to go.

Speaking on Paul Mckenna’s Positivity podcast, he said: “When I’m writing a book I always leave a letter on the windowsill for my wife, which tells her how the book ends and what happens in the last 10 chapters, just in case my world ends and I’m run over by a bus or something.

“I’m always haunted by the possibility … that just two chapters or three chapters until the end, to die would be so wretchedly annoying because all that work would then go to waste. So it is important that my publishers should know enough material to be able to [finish it].”

Horowitz was chosen to write James Bond novels by the Ian Fleming estate, starting with Trigger Mortis in 2015 and Forever and a Day three years later. His third is due to be released next year.

He said: “I wrote the letter about it only last night actually because I suddenly thought, ‘Wow, this is going really, really well. It would be awful now if I go swimming and drown or something and nobody knows how Bond gets out of it at the end.’”