India, June 15 -- Dear Reader,

The news of Frederick Forsyth's passing sends me upstairs to my grandfather's study. There, through the wood-panelled little room with its writer's leather-topped desk and well worn divan, I head for the bookshelf.

Nestled among Wilbur Smith's adventures, Len Deighton thrillers and Desmond Bagley novels, I find what I am looking for-three yellowed paperbacks with crumbling pages. The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File and The Devil's Alternative. Their author, the journalist-turned-novelist who redefined the geopolitical thriller, has died at 86.

Looking at these paperbacks, I am back thirty years, to my summer holidays in this house, riveted by Frederick Forsyth. This master thriller writer got me to com...