The last word

His pacy crime thrillers have ushered generations of readers into the world of adult reading. His latest, End Game, wraps up the popular William Warwick series. His next will be his last, says Jeffrey Archer. What will he do when he isn't writing novels? And what has it been like, trying to keep pace with crime and detection in our world? 'Oh, I stay right up-to-date,' he says, chuckling. 'The readers mustn't know I'm 85'

- Christalle Fernandes

At 85, Jeffrey Archer says he is writing his last novel.

His latest is End Game, the eighth and last book in the William Warwick crime thriller series. It was released on September 23.

"The one after this will be bigger than Kane and Abel," Archer says (referring to his 1979 bestseller and one of the titles for which he is best-known). "I wrote a 100-page outline for it six years ago, but I wanted to take my time and finish the Warwick series first."

What happens after it is done? "I will be writing... short stories, plays and screenplays. You can't take stories out of me. It's what I do best," he says.

That's good news for fans who have followed his work for nearly half a century, ever since his first novel, the revenge thriller Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less (1976).

His life, of course, has had twists and turns of its own. What does the bestselling author and former UK Member of Parliament (who resigned in 1986 amid a case that ended in a conviction for perjury) feel when he looks back, on his trail of bestsellers and decisions made and remade? "I've had a long and privileged career. I got lucky, and I'm grateful for that," he says.

For now, the focus is on Warwick. In the years since he began writing his thrillers, terror has struck London. Digital surveillance and artificial intelligences have invaded the streets.