British writer Frederick Forsyth, author of 'The Day of the Jackal' and 'The Odessa File', dies at 86.

British writer Frederick Forsyth, author of "The Day of the Jackal" and "The Odessa File," among others, has died at the age of 86 , AFP reports, citing the Curtis Brown agency. "We mourn the passing of one of the world's finest thriller writers," said his agent, Jonathan Lloyd.

Forsyth died at his home on Monday morning, surrounded by his family after a brief illness, according to his agents.

Author of more than twenty novels with nearly 70 million copies sold worldwide, Forsyth was also a pilot, reporter and secret agent.

He wrote his first novel at the age of 31 , on a break from journalism and in need of money to finance his passion for travel.

"After returning from an African war, completely ruined, with no job and no prospect of finding one, I came up with the idea of ​​writing a novel to pay off my debts," he wrote in his autobiography, published in 2015.

In addition to novels, Forsyth devoted his attention to British politics, writing a column in the Daily Express. He also wrote articles on counterterrorism, military affairs, and foreign policy.

Despite his successful writing career, he admitted in his memoirs that it hadn't been his first choice . He trained as a Royal Air Force pilot before joining the Reuters news agency in 1961 and later working for the BBC.

But after writing "The Day of the Jackal," another career path opened up for him. "My editor told me, to my complete surprise, that I looked like I could tell a good story. And that's what I've done for the past 45 years," he recalled in his autobiography.