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I Am Pilgrim: A Thriller
By Terry Hayes
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Start ReadingEditor's Note
A blockbuster thriller…
Screenwriter Terry Hayes’ debut novel is a blockbuster thriller that will have you reading for hours on end, perhaps with a bucket of popcorn in hand. A pedal-to-the-metal cat-and-mouse chase around the world.
Description
“I Am Pilgrim is simply one of the best suspense novels I’ve read in a long time.” —David Baldacci, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“A big, breathless tale of nonstop suspense.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times
“The pages fly by ferociously fast. Simply unputdownable.” —Booklist
A breakneck race against time…and an implacable enemy.
An anonymous young woman murdered in a run-down hotel, all identifying characteristics dissolved by acid.
A father publicly beheaded in the blistering heat of a Saudi Arabian public square.
A notorious Syrian biotech expert found eyeless in a Damascus junkyard.
Smoldering human remains on a remote mountainside in Afghanistan.
A flawless plot to commit an appalling crime against humanity.
One path links them all, and only one man can make the journey.
Pilgrim.
“A big, breathless tale of nonstop suspense.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times
“The pages fly by ferociously fast. Simply unputdownable.” —Booklist
A breakneck race against time…and an implacable enemy.
An anonymous young woman murdered in a run-down hotel, all identifying characteristics dissolved by acid.
A father publicly beheaded in the blistering heat of a Saudi Arabian public square.
A notorious Syrian biotech expert found eyeless in a Damascus junkyard.
Smoldering human remains on a remote mountainside in Afghanistan.
A flawless plot to commit an appalling crime against humanity.
One path links them all, and only one man can make the journey.
Pilgrim.
Book Actions
Start ReadingBook Information
I Am Pilgrim: A Thriller
By Terry Hayes
Editor's Note
A blockbuster thriller…
Screenwriter Terry Hayes’ debut novel is a blockbuster thriller that will have you reading for hours on end, perhaps with a bucket of popcorn in hand. A pedal-to-the-metal cat-and-mouse chase around the world.
Description
“I Am Pilgrim is simply one of the best suspense novels I’ve read in a long time.” —David Baldacci, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“A big, breathless tale of nonstop suspense.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times
“The pages fly by ferociously fast. Simply unputdownable.” —Booklist
A breakneck race against time…and an implacable enemy.
An anonymous young woman murdered in a run-down hotel, all identifying characteristics dissolved by acid.
A father publicly beheaded in the blistering heat of a Saudi Arabian public square.
A notorious Syrian biotech expert found eyeless in a Damascus junkyard.
Smoldering human remains on a remote mountainside in Afghanistan.
A flawless plot to commit an appalling crime against humanity.
One path links them all, and only one man can make the journey.
Pilgrim.
“A big, breathless tale of nonstop suspense.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times
“The pages fly by ferociously fast. Simply unputdownable.” —Booklist
A breakneck race against time…and an implacable enemy.
An anonymous young woman murdered in a run-down hotel, all identifying characteristics dissolved by acid.
A father publicly beheaded in the blistering heat of a Saudi Arabian public square.
A notorious Syrian biotech expert found eyeless in a Damascus junkyard.
Smoldering human remains on a remote mountainside in Afghanistan.
A flawless plot to commit an appalling crime against humanity.
One path links them all, and only one man can make the journey.
Pilgrim.
About the author
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Reviews
Read/Listened for Review (Simon and Schuster)Overall Rating : 3.50Character Rating: 3.25Story Rating : 3.75Audio Rating : 3.50First Thought when Finished: I am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes was a wonderful thriller bogged down by to many details.Story Thoughts: I really loved the case at the center of I am Pilgrim! I thought it was exciting, edgy, topical, and gripping. I didn't quite figure out what was going on and that alone made the book worth reading. The only problem for me was the massive amounts of detail slowed down the pacing and at times took me out of the story. I had to switch over from the audiobook to the book because I kept missing important parts buried in details. That made I am Pilgrim a bit of a slog to read. Worth it but a bit brutal.Character Thoughts: Let me state up front: In thrillers I don't need to "like" or "identify" with the main character. In fact, all I need is for them to be extremely good at their job which Scott (Pilgrim) is. The thing that brought down the character rating for I am Pilgrim is too many things went his way even when he screwed up (which I wouldn't have known but it was pointed out in all the details). I need my leading guys to be human too! So if they are chasing the wrong man there needs to be consequences. I did love the side characters though! I wished that Ben Bradley would have actually been in the book more. His character is particularly compelling! The bad guys were layered, multi-faceted, and evil. Just like I like them. So overall, Simon might grow on me (I plan on reading more if this turns into a series) but in this one he was a bit to "lucky".Audio Thoughts: Narrated By Christopher Ragland / Length: 22 hrs and 42 mins I don't think Christopher did a bad job. In fact, I thought his voice and pacing were perfect for I am Pilgrim. However, in this case with the massive amounts of detail this is a hard one to listen to on audio unless you can dedicate hours of listening time at once. If you have a long commute this would work but for short listening jaunts, I am Pilgrim is better suited for reading. (This was my commute listen but I only have 25 min each way--not long enough).Final Thoughts: I really enjoyed I am Pilgrim even with my detail issues!
Rating: 4Just so there isn't any suspense, this is an exceptional book. Eminently readable, plenty of tension. I recommend it highly.So much for the praise. Now the critique.You can tell that author Terry Hayes is a screenwriter; the book is structured like a TV mini-series. The story is told in short bursts, with plenty of flash backs. This is not so much a criticism, really, as it is just what I felt like was a limitation to the story - one feels like Hayes limits his chapters in terms of size, each one teasing the reader on to the next. There are many lapses in logic, particularly at the beginning. It is kind of hard to buy into some of these, but if you suspend reason they can be little more than irritants. The only lapse I find I cannot suspend reason with is the denouement - the villain of the story (the Saracen) is created so effectively that - if one accepts the characterization - it seems unlikely that he would fall victim to Pilgrim's trap. Pilgrim (the story's hero) is perhaps the weakest part of the whole book. Hayes seems to go out of his way to make Pilgrim a contrived character - the best spy to ever go undercover. The spy's spy. The cold-hearted, emotionless beast with a soft heart. The character is not believable - not one tiny bit. Of course, this is the writer who wrote the screen play for Road Warrior and the character Mad Max Rockatanski, so I guess we should expect him to create the kind of character it's not likely anyone could be in reality.Suspend belief, and this is an exceptionally entertaining book. Don't suspend belief, and this is still an exceptionally entertaining book that you find hard to swallow.
Rating: 4N.B. I received a free copy of this book through the First Reads program.
I really enjoyed this one. It's a spy mysterythriller that deals with terrorism. It's presented as a kind of memoir, though I'd more accurately say that the author is telling you the story audibly to you. It definitely strikes me as the author is talking to you and is telling you the story as bits and pieces come to his memory. Because of that, it can be a bit disjointed and jumpy going between threads, but I think that it works well.
The only problem with this is when there is information presented that the narrator would have absolutely no way of knowing (e.g. someone's hands curling around the sheets of a bed when the only other person around is asleep. The narrator was not there, so how would the narrator know this?). Thankfully, there are not many of these moments and they are minor details that have little to no bearing on the plot.
While there are some places where the coincidences or the events themselves are stretching credulity to the breaking point, I think that, overall, the artistic license taken lends itself well to the story without crossing too far and losing the "realism" of the story.
Quite happy with this one, though there is one minor concern with the printing itself. A couple of the pages were loose when I received the book (pages 483/484 and 609/610 to be specific). This may just be an issue with the copy I received or may be inherent to the printing in general, but it is something that I noticed.
P.S. I really didn't want to put this one down for the last 250-300 pages. Once the various threads started to come together, it was quite enthralling.
Rating: 4I really enjoyed this one. It's a spy mysterythriller that deals with terrorism. It's presented as a kind of memoir, though I'd more accurately say that the author is telling you the story audibly to you. It definitely strikes me as the author is talking to you and is telling you the story as bits and pieces come to his memory. Because of that, it can be a bit disjointed and jumpy going between threads, but I think that it works well.
The only problem with this is when there is information presented that the narrator would have absolutely no way of knowing (e.g. someone's hands curling around the sheets of a bed when the only other person around is asleep. The narrator was not there, so how would the narrator know this?). Thankfully, there are not many of these moments and they are minor details that have little to no bearing on the plot.
While there are some places where the coincidences or the events themselves are stretching credulity to the breaking point, I think that, overall, the artistic license taken lends itself well to the story without crossing too far and losing the "realism" of the story.
Quite happy with this one, though there is one minor concern with the printing itself. A couple of the pages were loose when I received the book (pages 483/484 and 609/610 to be specific). This may just be an issue with the copy I received or may be inherent to the printing in general, but it is something that I noticed.
P.S. I really didn't want to put this one down for the last 250-300 pages. Once the various threads started to come together, it was quite enthralling.
A great crime thriller from the screenwriter for Road Warrior, Dead Calm, Bangkok Hilton, Payback and From Hell. Pilgrim is a super-spy, whose job used to be investigating other spies. He retired, but gets pulled back in.
Rating: 4Better than most spy "thrillers" because of more character development than average. Exciting story, but not the kind of book that will stay with me.
Rating: 3At 888 pages long this is not a quick read. It was definitely worth the time though. Hayes has created a thriller that is part spy novel, part political thriller, and part medical thriller. Amazingly he manages to deliver on all three. His storytelling technique is compelling and well thought out.I thoroughly enjoyed every one of the 888 pages!
I received a free copy of this book from Transworld Publishers.
Rating: 4I received a free copy of this book from Transworld Publishers.
A superior thriller. This was fun reading- 600 pages went too quickly!
Rating: 4This is a massive book of over 700 pages and from the outside looks like a mighty tome what you get is a book that is an absolute pleasure to read. It is easy to stick all the clichés in this review; gripping, page turner, grabs you by the throat, a bestseller. It is all those things and more, easy to see why this should be the book for your summer holidays sitting on the lounger relaxing with a page turner.Written by a British born Hollywood scriptwriter Terry Hayes, if has brought all those elements of excitement that he has crafted in his day job and created a book that is every inch a blockbuster. This has it all as Pilgrim, a nom de guerre, has elements of James Bond, Jason Bourne and George Smiley mixed in.The book neatly in four parts sets how a deep cover American Intelligence Agency has found himself in New York stuck in an investigation of a murder, based on a book he had written on how to commit the perfect crime. It builds up the characters and back story of our hero Pilgrim and his search for a terrorist Saracen.This like all good heroes Pilgrim ticks all the boxes he is a highly intelligent Harvard graduate with a doctorate, he is a loner an outsider who has the respect of those that actually matter. We learn that he has worked all over doing whatever is required whether it is killing in Red Square Moscow or in a CIA covert prison in Thailand. He likes to have complete command of the facts and uses his skill craft to gain the information he requires.Saracen is a clean skin as they say in intelligence circles but like Bin Laden he has been radicalised in Saudi Arabia by the execution of his father and he becomes devoted to Allah and becomes one of his soldiers in the jihad against the Soviet aggressor in Afghanistan and from their his continued service to Allah across Gaza, and Lebanon is his cover as he makes his way to Germany to carry out his plan to attack the far enemy, the USA.This is a brilliantly woven tale with a brilliant concept for a plot and in the 21st century has a chillingly credible ring to it. Our two protagonists are well crafted and the detail is excellent so through the writing you have a brilliant image of what they look like and how they act and interact with others.Sometimes as a reader you need to step back and take a breath before carrying on reading as the detail is fantastic and the story keeps moving forward. Those pauses are worth it as you delve back in to the story and feel the anxiety of Pilgrim in his search for his nemesis. This is a book that will be no doubt be turned in to a film but I doubt it will ever beat the book as the writing and the imagery it creates is second to none.If buying this book you will not be disappointed, borrowing it you will want to buy a copy. It is a thrilling read and worth every penny and certainly earns its stripes as a thriller par excellence.
Rating: 5Wow, Wow, Wow!!! What a thrill ride! This was a totally EXCELLENT book. On the edge of my seat, white knuckled, and ear glued to my audible book! A highly classified covert agent, working to find the terrorist who has planned the perfect revenge on America before its too late! With no vaccine to counter the outbreak it would be devastating to not only America, but around the world. Page after page of intricate detail, makes one proud and leery of what our government is capable of and hopeful that we would be able to uncover a scheme this intense if we had too. Excellent, Excellent!! Bravo I am totally a new fan of the author; Mr Terry Hayes! & of course the Narrator- Christopher Ragland -was Incredible!
Rating: 5Despite the faults in this book, it is certainly an imaginative and enjoyable page turner, sometimes terrifying and often action-packed. However, there's nothing special about the writing and there are way to many gimmicky cliffhangers and convenient coincidences. The inevitable movie should have no trouble being better than the book.
Rating: 3You may have read books about agents in deep cover chasing terrorists all over the world, and this is another one. BUT, this is not an ordinary agent or an ordinary terrorist - they are both the best at what they do. This book is 600 pages of WOW. Action, suspense, great characters, nerve-racking situations, etc., it's all here and so well written. I loved that there was no gratuitous sex or romance, in my opinion they both waste pages. This is a must read for fans of suspense and/or espionage.
Rating: 5Loved this book, a perfect summer read as we gallivanted from Ireland to Massachusetts. I can't tell you what I was doing there, other than reading "I am Pilgrim."But it most certainly wasn't stopping a potential terrorist from infecting the western world with smallpox. But that's all I'm allowed to say.
Rating: 4The setting - NYC. There is a dead body soaking in a tub filled with Drano. No face, no teeth, no fingerprints, no identity. And that’s just what happens in chapter 1. What starts as a challenging crime scene, becomes an international race against time to save America from the ultimate terrorist threat. This was one of those thrillers that I found I just could not put down. Well-written, and fast-paced plotting.
Rating: 5A long, protracted thriller, that unfortunately does fall into some of the same traps as it's contemporaries. The premise of an Apocolyptic attack on the USA & it's build up has shades of the superior Day Of The Jackal. Unfortunately the lone wolf depiction, difficult to empathise with hero, makes this somewhat difficult to relate to. The murder mystery plot is thrown in, & whilst linked, seems more to want to justify the heroism of the New York cop who survived 9/11 with grave psychological injury. Overall, it achieves its purpose, it is a Thriller, it does get you to read on, it's definitely a page turner, but it just goes on far, far too long.
Rating: 3A fast moving thriller which I enjoyed on holiday but there were some elements which irritated me. One was the references to the future - comments along the lines of 'I didn't pay attention to that at the time'. I wonder whether this comes from the author being a screenwriter. The second was what appeared to be factually inaccuracies which made me doubt everything else.
Rating: 3This fast-paced keep-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat thriller pits the retired head of a super-secret espionage unit against a Middle Eastern jihadist intent on destroying the United States. And he has synthesized a potent smallpox virus against which there is no antidote to accomplish his goal.With richly detailed settings and wonderfully-developed characters, you’ll find yourself drawn into the complex story between Pilgrim and Saracen; this 600+ page book is one you won’t be able to put down until you’ve turned the last page. Highly recommended.
Rating: 5"I Am Pilgrim" is the best espionage novel in the last 45 years. I'm thinking "The Day of the Jackal" (Jackal) here. I've read a lot of thrillers in those intervening years and I can't think of another that comes close to either "I Am Pilgrim" (Pilgrim) or Jackal. I rarely read books longer than 500 pages; I've been disappointed in epic tales too many times, e.g., "The Goldfinch". But Pilgrim was well worth the time it took to read it, and the time it took to finally have it available in the US. A very credible plot, lots of tension, interesting characters, and an excellent climax. And it was fun to do a bit of globe trotting to interesting places - Turkey is fast becoming The locale for great espionage stories. In an nutshell, a 14 year old Saudi boy swears revenge on the Royal Family after the execution of his father. Understanding that it is the support of the US that props up the Saudi government, he shifts his focus to destroying the US and thereby demolishing the foundation upon which the Kingdom rests. His is a long term plan which will take years to complete and the story leaps back and forth between prey (Saracen) and pursuer (Pilgrim).How the Saracen intends to achieve his goal is one of the critical elements of the story, and his plan is very scary from two perspectives. First, there are several very tense scenes as the Saracen tests his 'weapon', and the reader begins to grasp the potential outcome if the Saracen succeeds. Secondly, while reading the story, it's impossible for the reader not to pause and reflect on what is it that stops such a plan from being viable in our own lifetimes.Yes, 700 pages is very long but the story moves along and all the descriptions and dialog are excellent. I wouldn't want a scene cut.There is also a very interesting subplot that may lead to another appearance by the Pilgrim in a future book. I hope so.
Rating: 5This book was rated very highly with some superb reviews so I plunged ahead and boy I'm glad I did! While billed as espionage I think of this more as a superb thriller. Not a hard read and like many modern books the paragraphs tend to be short. This makes the reading less dense certainly than say Le Carre but this is not a lightweight. I do equate it to a Jackal like book but possibly slightly less dense and intricate. There is of course violence in this book but I did't find it gratuitous and doesn't detract from the content of a comprehensive story with some attractive characters.
Rating: 5Two masters of their art, one working for the good of his country and one toward plotting its end, come head to head in this fast moving adventure. The hero is Pilgrim, an intelligence officer, a spy and trained assassin, for a highly secret agency of the United States government. He is very good at his job, often brutal, but he believes he it is all worth it, because he is protecting his country. The Saracen is the enemy. He is a Middle Eastern terrorist hell bent on revenge. As a fourteen year old boy, he had witnessed the beheading of his father for refusing to dishonor his religion, and now, he too, is defending it, at all costs. A devout Muslim, he is very good at his job. First, he was a Mujahedeen with a great reputation for success. He was courted, befriended and educated by the fanatics in the Muslim world, but as a loner, he is now a diabolical killer, plotting the end of America using a biological weapon. His methods are both cold-hearted and terrifying. He has no conscience, brutality has no effect on him, and he believes he is doing the work of his G-d, Allah.Both men had sad and difficult childhoods, both had to take on responsibility for themselves at an early age, both turned out differently than they thought they would, both had violent anger and resentment within them, but their paths veered in different directions. Both had a hidden history and identity. Both could kill in a cold hearted way, both were driven for a cause, one for the USA and the other for Allah. Both were extremely intelligent and dedicated as they turned into murderers, but one turned his efforts into a patriotic pursuit (depending on the eye of the beholder), and the other directed his efforts into terrorism (what some might describe as freedom fighting). The story moves from one of them to the other as it develops, and the similarity between the men is apparent. It exposes the fine line between right and wrong, depending on individual philosophy.The story takes us through a good deal of Middle Eastern history and explores the reason the Saracen turned from a good son into a monster, able to commit horrific crimes without a conscience. The background story is one that is commonplace in his world, and it is the reason many a young man turns to radical Islam and terrorism. The reader is taken to Europe, Russia and the Middle East as the Pilgrim seeks his prey.When the tale begins, Pilgrim, alias Scott Murdock, alias Jude Garrett, alias Peter Cambell, and a host of other names, has been in hiding for several years, using a new identity, trying to escape his past. However, no matter how well he thought he had covered his tracks, he was suddenly discovered by a New York City cop, Ben Bradley, who had tracked him down to ask him for his help with a murder investigation in New York City, which took place shortly after 9/11. It seems in the personality of Scott Murdock, Pilgrim had once written a book on crime, and the murderer used it as a manual to commit “the perfect crime”.The details of 9/11 were well researched (as were other historical events covered in the book). They brought back horrific memories. Bradley was severely injured in a rescue attempt when the buildings collapsed and Pilgrim investigated the events surrounding it and its perpetrators. Several events exhibiting the madness of History are explored and examined in detail throughout the book as the author weaves real events into the narrative, like the Holocaust, as well, in order to develop the characters’ lives and their backgrounds. He points out the reasons for their life choices and the serendipity that brought Pilgrim and Bradley together to prevent the Saracen’s heinous plot against the US. The confluence of this murder investigation and the possible terrorist threat of mass murder again, using a deadly virus, is the catalyst for the story. As terrorism takes center stage, spy networks and their methods are detailed. They are not always pretty. It seems that there is a great deal of corruption everywhere. The Arab world is seething with resentment, the need to discover their attempts at revenge and mass murder overwhelming and all consuming. While both Pilgrim and the Saracen are wanderers and both have one objective, Pilgrim works for national security and Saracen seeks to undermine it. He believes that any means justifies his ends and his religious fervor.The author says, at one point (I paraphrase), when the price of oil is driven down, the Saudis won’t be able to buy their safety from the extremists, the United States will decline, Israel will be alone and exposed. It seems profoundly prophetic at this time with a Middle East erupting in violence and a United States government no longer steadfastly supporting Israel.There are so many themes branching off in different directions, it is sometimes hard to keep track, but in the end, the loose ends all tie up rather nicely and the entire story comes together. It is neatly set up for another in the series. Ingrid will resurface at one point, I feel sure.
Rating: 5I read "I Am Pilgrim" only because it kept showing up on all of the "Best Summer Reads" lists and it sounded completely different than anything I've ever read. I don't normally read fictional accounts of spies and counter intelligence agencies, but this book is Intelligent, well-written and a page-turner. I loved it! So far, this is my favorite book of 2014.
Rating: 5Author Terry Hayes has created a library of stories and character with this beautifully woven world-spanning mystery. Whole civilizations are at stake, and wholly real antagonists strive for large and small gains. Within it all, a man of mystery flees his past in search of self, only to find freedom is a concept as tenuous as self-determination.One first-person narrator carries the tale. He’s a man of mystery, a man who has done great and gruesome deeds for his country, and this novel doesn’t gloss over the pain of gunshot, torture or terror. But the writing is spare and powerful, with no gloating over human mystery.At first introduction, he’s solving a crime scene, creating a new antagonist from clues, like a modern-day Sherlock Holmes. Soon the character he’s made is real, and the scene is set to believe a wealth of other third-person tales, told through his investigation. These stories never feel like unnecessary digressions, even as they multiply; they provide real insights into the worlds and desires of the people this pilgrim meets – which is what I meant by saying I Am Pilgrim contains a library of stories.Every detail matters here. Every insight waits to be proven or shattered. Every coincidence bears its own consequence with unrelenting strength. And mistakes are just as deeply consequential as accidental successes, with just the right amount of foreshadowing to make it all seem real.I Am Pilgrim is a long novel because it has to be, not because the writer set out to write long. It’s as tightly woven as a terrorist plot, as perfectly soluble as a Sherlock Holmes mystery, and as filled with world-spanning characters and insights as Lawrence of Arabia. It deserves all the accolades and bookstore displays it’s received. And I love it.Disclosure: I delayed reading it because it was long. Now I’m wondering why I waited so long. I love this book.
Rating: 5I am pilgrimThis book came very highly recommended however, I don’t share a lot of the reviewers love of the story. It is a thriller after all and the plot to spread a smallpox vaccine throughout the USA is somewhat believable. Where i lost interest was in the verisimilitude of other aspects the plot and the characters. Examples: Scott Murdoch’s adoptive father just happened to be a multi millionaire and collector of modern art which he left to his son; Scott just happens to be a fine sailor and sails away at the end; his foot is smashed and yet he can recover without surgery or physiotherapist; NYPD Ben Bradley is a more believable character than the hero; the murder and murderer tied to Sept. 11 is idiotic.So, I waded through this but in turn cannot recommend
Rating: 3The Pilgrim is a man who goes to great lengths to keep his identity secret.He's asked to find a man who may be plotting to unleash a bioterror attack against the US. Military men found evidence of smallpox contamination in Afghanistan and with other evidence they think a man is plotting to unleash a new strain of smallpox somewhere in the US.The terrorist, known as the Saracen had seen his father beheaded in Saudi Arabia for a minor offense. He develops a hatred for capitalism and thinks it would hurt Saudi Arabia more if he struck against their great friend, the United States.The characters are well developed and interesting. The concept is all too believable and the complex plot is well laid out.The Pilgrim is a sympathetic figure that sometimes feels the emptiness in his life but doesn't want a woman to share his life with because it might distract him from his job as an intelligence agent.The plot is marvelous while giving provocative thoughts about revenge and a man's dedication to the truth.
Rating: 5This is Terry Hayes' first novel after a long career as a movie screenwriter. A lone clandestine service member is called out of retirement to find the lone terrorist bent on destroying civilisation, starting with the USA. Strong plotting, fast-paced narrative and plenty of twists and turns kept me reading even as I recognised this as preposterous and saw several surprises coming from a long way off. The book is cinematic in structure and scenes are cut together more script-like than as a novel. This was an exciting and enjoyable read and I can see it as a movie (Tom Cruise, of course). If the core characters are to be kept for further books I think we need to see more inner character development and more character interaction than we do here.
Rating: 4All I can say is Wow! This is a first novel for Terry Hayes, but he does have many years of writing experience as a journalist and as a screenwriter. His transfer over to novels is quite remarkable with this achievement. This is the best thriller that I've read in quite some time. Pilgrim is in the higher echelons of US Intelligence and he makes a name for himself when he is a young man. Then he decides to pack it in and he tries to live a normal life in Paris. But terror and the US Intelligence find him. The US President needs a super-agent to track down and neutralize a terrorist threat coming from the Arab world. The man with no real name takes up the challenge. At much risk to himself, he manages to do the impossible and finds the terrorist, but that is only the beginning as no one has grasped the full extent of this terror threat. This is a long, sprawling book, but as I was reading I didn't think it would have benefited from any changes either to the writing, the suspense or the length of the book. Terry Hayes has done a remarkable job of making this a believable, realistic and frightening story. And the best part about it is that it's left open at the end to the possibility of a follow-up book or an entire series. I would love that as I'd love to read about Pilgrim's exploits again.
Rating: 5In some ways this was as exciting of a thriller as I have ever read. There are sentences, even paragraphs, in this book that lay out why the protagonist became an intelligence officer and why the terrorist became a terrorist that are full of insights that are rarely found in the suspense genre. The explanations for their actions after they fell into their roles are also just amazing. Put simply, as great as the story is, the characterization is even better. The only area where the book falls down for me is there is some unbelievability in the abilities of each of the two main characters to do what they do. Even so, I would still give this book 5 stars, because of what it does so well.
Rating: 5A wise and rumpled NYPD detective has a stumper of a murder case in a seedy hotel. Everything that could identify the victim's body has been removed. Coincidentally, he knows one of the world's most accomplished investigators, a shady operative who worked in a division that not even the CIA was supposed to know about. So he'll help.Just when the noirish quality of this story has been established, the scene shifts for a longish segment about a totally different story in Terry Hayes's debut novel. And it switches again. And again.Hundreds of pages later, the threads all come together -- and come together very well. But this novel isn't really about that murder case. It's about the shadowy investigator called in by the cop. He's going to be set on the trail of a Muslum radical whose family was done wrong by the Saudi royal family. So this heartbroken young man is going to become an Osama-like radical and decide to bring down the United States instead of attacking the Saudi royal family (which is an actual political stance of some radicals but doesn't look too logical put that way).The long, involved story of how the radical's childhood and what happened to his family is an engrossing story. So is the story of the investigator's childhood. So is the story of the NYPD detective. And of several other characters who come within the widening, then tightening, circle of the story's structure.This kind of storytelling may not work for every reader. The book was not a pageturner because just when the narrative draws one into a certain character's story, changing to another character's story -- especially in a long flashback -- may make readers feel they've wandered into a different book and decide to put it down for a spell. Others may enjoy the badminton effect of going back and forth.Whichever reading preference one has, Hayes, a former journalist who did the novelization for the original Mad Max and wrote the screenplay for the second film in the series, knows how to pull the storytelling strings within each section. And he knows how to finally pull the strings together. As a bonus for those who don't appreciate political bon mots in their thrillers, there are only two such little dumplings in the story. For those who do not look for a long commitment in their thrillers, be warned; the U.S. hardcover version of this novel is more than 600 pages.
Rating: 3"The only thriller you need to read this year". Though I'm usually a bit sceptical of superlative blurbs, this novel won me over in no time. I am Pilgrim, has it all: it offers great reading, an original plot, more than acceptable characters and an interesting exploration of the theme of modern terrorism. Be prepared, you will not want to interrupt the reading of this book too often, so it may interfere with your other business!
Rating: 5I don't understand the glow surrounding I Am Pilgrim. It's OK.... intricate plot, good character development, some believable scenarios, a few sympathetic characters, and a Jack Bauer-type protagonist that's not only smarter and better than any other spy but he's happy to tell you so (many times). On the other hand, at >600 pages it's well over 200 too long, the writing is pedestrian at best (comparisons to LeCarre I've read are laughable), several situations used to develop the characters just aren't very realistic, and the ending doesn't feel right.
I'm glad I read I Am Pilgrim since I'm a big fan of the genre and it's pretty good, but don't believe the hype.
Rating: 3I'm glad I read I Am Pilgrim since I'm a big fan of the genre and it's pretty good, but don't believe the hype.
OMG!!!And I meanOMG!!!Now I like a good book and happy to recommend books to others but few really hit me like I Am Pilgrim."Can you commit the perfect crime?Pilgrim is the code-name for a man who doesn’t exist. The adopted son of a wealthy American family, he once headed up a secret espionage unit for US intelligence. Before he disappeared into anonymous retirement, he wrote the definitive book on forensic criminal investigation.But that book will come back to haunt him. It will help NYPD detective Ben Bradley track him down. And it will take him to a rundown New York hotel room where the body of a woman is found face-down in a bath of acid, her features erased, her teeth missing, her fingerprints gone. It is a textbook murder – and Pilgrim wrote the book.What begins as an unusual and challenging investigation will become a terrifying race-against-time to save America from oblivion. Pilgrim will have to make a journey from a public beheading in Mecca to a deserted ruins on the Turkish coast via a Nazi death camp in Alsace and the barren wilderness of the Hindu Kush in search of the faceless man who would commit an appalling act of mass murder in the name of his God."The copy I had of this book ran a little over 900 pages. In my view that's an absolute tome and it's rare that a book that length would hold my attention for the duration. Usually with any book that size I'm reading bits of others in between. But I could not put this book down, and knocked it off in about three days.The writing is tight and fast paced and not once did I feel it dragged on with unimportant information. The insight into how a terrorist is created and the methodical and educated way he goes about planning his attack is chilling.Interestingly on most review sites people either 5 star it or 1 star it and it seems to be the same thing that makes people either love it or hate it. A number of reviewers don't like the fact that the first half of the book delves right back into the history of the terrorist - known as the Saracen and of the investigator, known as Pilgrim. I feel these are essential to the impact of the story, understanding the events that influence a young boy in Saudi Arabia to grow up and become the one of the most wanted men on earth.It was easy to forget this book was so long and I was disappointed when it came to an end. I can only hope his next book The Year of the Locust is not too much longer in coming out (its already been 5 years since I am Pilgrim was published).A bit about the Author:Terry Hayes began his career as a journalist for The Sydney Morning Herald, when as foreign correspondent in the US he covered Watergate and President Nixon's resignation, among many major international stories. He then went on to become a successful screenwriter. You might know his screenwriting work from such movies as* Dead Calm with Sam Neil, Nicole Kidman and Billy Zane* The Bangkok Hilton with Nicole Kidman and Hugo Weaving (Aka Mr Smith from The Matrix)* Vertical Limit with Bill Paxtonand of courseMad Max: Road Warrior and Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome.Okay now anyone who wrote Mad Max has gotta have something to offer! This guy knows Thrillers and knows Action and he puts them all together in I am Pilgrim.Now one would think that such an esteemed screenwriter would have this ready to go to film? Well MGM bought the rights back in 2014 and we are still waiting..... hard to say if any movie is going to do the book justice though - but this would be awesome on the big screen! In fact it's almost as if the protagonist was written to be a big screen hero. And while some reviewers faulted this, there's nothing wrong with a book that reads like a big screen blockbuster. (Case in point anything by Matthew Reilly who unashamedly admits he writes as if the story is playing in his head on a movie screen)I definitely give this 5 stars so don't be turned off by the length of the book, you won't even notice it.
Rating: 5