Holmes. Faulkner is too well off to be bought, so the Russians play to his vanity by promising him a priceless Van Gogh, temporarily on display at an English museum. That prize is enough to tempt Faulkner, a fine arts patron.

End Game is a direct descendant of Frederick Forsyth’s brilliant thriller, Day of the Jackal. In Forsyth’s novel, a master assassin plots to kill French President Charles de Gaulle. From the beginning, readers know the Jackal’s plan will fail, just as they know the villains’ ultimate scheme in End Game will fail. What made Day of the Jackal so engrossing for readers was watching the Jackal execute his intricate scheme step by step while the authorities tried to figure out what was going on. Unlike in Jackal, in End Game readers don’t know the villains’ ultimate plan, making the book even more suspenseful.

The villains in End Game have orchestrated a series of disruptions, and Warwick and his team must stop each one. In that regard, the novel resembles a series of episodes of a TV series like FBI, with Warwick at his command post directing his officers and detectives in the field. End Game is the eighth in the series of Warwick novels, and many characters have appeared in several earlier novels, giving the book an extended-family feel. I haven’t read any of Warwick’s previous novels, and I’m sure the emotional impact of the events in this book would have been greater if I had. However, End Game reads quite well as a standalone thriller.

Besides Warwick’s official team, his son and daughter, now in their early 20s, play significant roles. Warwick’s daughter, Artemisia, is a fledgling newspaper reporter who gets behind the scenes at the Olympic Village and becomes deeply involved in one of the book’s subplots. His son, Peter, a solicitor, also provides a vital clue. Finally, Warwick’s wife, Beth, the director of the museum where the Van Gogh is on display, spots Faulkner’s interest in the painting. End Game also features some political infighting among the police higher-ups, as Warwick vies with an unlikable rival for a possible promotion to Commissioner after the Olympics. This type of infighting is quite familiar to anyone who has read a similar police procedural, but the author doesn’t overdo it.

The author has meticulously researched the factual background of End Game and provides this information to readers organically throughout the book. For example, by discussing Miles Faulkner’s efforts to get the Van Gogh, the author will help readers learn a good bit about the fine art world today without being subjected to ungainly information dumps. The author provides similar information on other subjects throughout the book, which I can’t reveal to avoid spoilers.

At the conclusion of End Game, the author turns his research into a challenge to readers. He identifies 22 incidents in the book and informs readers that 13 of them actually occurred in and around the Games. The author then challenges readers to identify what was fact and what was fiction. (He does not provide any answers.) I found this exercise to be rather silly. Fortunately, the author only includes it as an addendum, which readers can ignore.

Jeffrey Archer is over 80 years old and approaching his own endgame. He announced before this book’s publication that it would be the last novel in the Warwick series. (He plans one more novel.) Even without that note of finality, End Game is a top-notch thriller and a worthy successor to Day of the Jackal. Because the villains’ plans involve multiple disruptions, the action keeps moving as the Games progress. Several crucial events involving the series’ core characters occur after the Olympics conclude, giving this book a sense of closure apart from the author’s pre-publication declaration. End Game is a fitting conclusion to the Warwick series and a great farewell to one of today’s best thriller writers.

NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.