Sphinx and Rastor were both such big villains that their fates had to be meted out by Jack, our main hero. Sphinx, because he and Jack had been battling each other for three novels, since The Three Secret Cities. And Rastor because he was just so much fun! When you’re writing a story about the end of the universe, trust me, you need a bad guy like Rastor who wants everything to end. It just makes it more interesting. Having him be this big, strong guy meant he was always going to break Jack’s artificial hand, requiring Jack’s family to throw him Alby’s hand, and as a team, defeat Rastor and Sphinx and win the day.

‘Life is rule, Death is life.’ Jack earning the power to ‘rule’ was quite a twist! He is basically a superhero now. Was killing Jack off ever on the cards for you?

No. Never.

Call me a softy, but I’m still, at heart, a storyteller who likes to see the good guys win and the bad guys get what’s coming to them. Jack was always going to survive and triumph.

Quite literally at the end of this book, I think, everyone gets what they deserve, and that includes Jack. I mean, hell, he worked his ass off for seven books! He deserved to sit on that throne and, perhaps more importantly, to find out what would happen to whoever did! What makes Jack different from, say, Shane Schofield, is that he wants to know. He’s curious about these things. (Like Scarecrow, he doesn’t give up. Ever.)

I like it that the person who gets this awesome power—to be obeyed—is the one guy who won’t use it to his own advantage. He will use it to settle international disputes—and to get his obstinate dog to fetch a ball—but otherwise, he just won’t use it. That’s a real hero.

Stepping away from Jack West for a moment, while you were writing this book you had another major project in the works. Talk to us about Interceptor, Mr Director!

Yes, this year I directed an action movie, Interceptor, starring Elsa Pataky. It’s not from a novel. It’s an original screenplay that I wrote with my friend, the great screenwriter, Stuart Beattie.

As many of my fans know, I’ve wanted to direct movies for a long, long time, and I wrote Interceptor in such a way that I would have a shot at directing it. How? By making it take place largely in one location, an interceptor missile facility. By doing that, I kept the cost of the movie down to under $20 million and because of that, I was given the nod to direct it.