London, April 10 : Henry Patterson, the author of bestselling novel ‘The Eagle Has Landed’, has passed away at the age of 92. His publisher HarperCollins said that the writer died at his home in Jersey surrounded his family. The author, more famous by his pseudonym Jack Higgins, has penned 85 novels, mainly thrillers. His book ‘The Eagle Has Landed’, published in 1975, was set during the World WarII. Around 50 million copies of the book were sold and was even adapted into a British film of the same name starring Sir Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland, Jenny Agutter and Robert Duvall. The Guardian quoted HarperCollins chief executive Charlie Redmayne as saying, “I’ve been a fan of Jack Higgins for longer than I can remember. He was a classic thriller writer: instinctive, tough, relentless. “The Eagle Has Landed and his other Liam Devlin books, his later Sean Dillon series, and so many others were and remain absolutely unputdownable. “Being part of his publishing for even part of his career has been a privilege – his passing marks the end of an era.” Patterson was born on 27 July 1929 in Newcastle to an English father and a Northern Irish mother. Before being an author, he was a teacher. His last book ‘The Midnight Bell’ was published in 2017. RNJ