I Am Pilgrim

I took this story slower than I normally do, not because of anything the author did wrong, but because of all he did right. The story spreads across time, crimes, and events, and even though it's alot to absorb, it never felt weighed down or boring. Even though he's a first time novelist, Mr. Hayes is no stranger to writing. He's wrote incredible action packed screenplays and hollywood blockbusters, so I'm sure it would seem an easy task to crank out a thriller full of action and a tidy bow of an ending. Instead he gave us a well thought out thriller that uses intelligence over explosions and guns, and gives us both a damaged and complicated hero and villain. I liked all the peripheral characters and thought he was able to turn show more essential pencil sketches of people into portraits without a page and a half description. They were as well thought out as his main characters. It was a gripping tale filled chockablock with subtle moments of humanity, pathos, humor, courage. Just excellent! I normally would have steered clear of a story about terrorists plots or the "spy novel" unless I knew the author in question. But I am so glad I stepped out of my comfort zone and took a chance on this ARC. Again, just absolutely excellent! Well done Mr.Hayes! show less

This was the best "hunt and evade" thriller that I've ever read since Frederick Forsyth's The Day of the Jackal and since the latter is the best "hunt and evade" thriller ever written, guess what territory this book is in? Top of its class! And yes, I have read all of the early Thomas Harris and all of Thomas Perry which are all great in their own way, but "I Am Pilgrim" has an international scope that doesn't cheat you out of backstory and even goes down some subplot tangents that you can't believe will ever be tied into the main story. Terry Hayes is the new master of suspense thriller fiction. No joke.

A young Saudi man, radicalised by the experience of seeing his father beheaded for his iconoclastic views, grows into the world’s most fearsome terrorist — known as Saracen. Deciding to take revenge on the House of Saud, he trains as a doctor and teaches himself not only how to create smallpox in his spare room, but tweaks its genetic code to make it vaccine-resistant. He finds a way to smuggle 10,000 vials of the deadly stuff into the USA, where it will kill most Americans and (somehow) not leave the country, leaving the Muslim world safe.

But while testing his virus on aid workers in Afghanistan, he pauses to phone up his kid sister in Turkey to ask how his child is doing (sis is posing as the child’s mother). The phone call show more leads the Americans to send in a crack agent code-named Pilgrim (whose genius is revealed early on when he explains that men, unlike women, would put beer into a fridge). The book’s limited humour focuses on a hotel manager whose English is imperfect. Pilgrim calls him “the professor”, telling a friend that he’s a professor of languages. Pilgrim’s knowledge of languages is so sophisticated (as is the author’s) that he reveals that the language spoken in Lebanon is — wait for this — Lebanese.

Pilgrim’s “legend” is that he’s an American agent (yes, that’s the cover story they came up with) sent to research an unrelated murder of a wealthy American (carried out by lesbian lovers). While searching for the person who the terrorist has phoned, the American is compelled to work with a female Turkish police officer who is — brace yourself — the terrorist’s sister! And he discovers this because in the recording of the phone call between Saracen and his kid sister, he hears an incredibly rare musical instrument being played, eventually finds the player, leading to a video recording that exposes the sister …

Need I go on? This book wins my award for worst-written, most bigoted and homophobic thriller I’ve read in a while. A sequel is coming out in 2021. I know that I for one will not be buying it. show less

Two 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 show more 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. show less

The beauty of I Am Pilgrim is that it never relies on red herrings, plot twists, or sleights of hand to misdirect a reader. Instead, it is an old-fashioned detective novel in which a reader gets all of the clues, which they can either try to reorganize and solve the puzzle or wait for Pilgrim to reveal the answers. Either way, the story is highly enjoyable. It is an extremely clever and intense plot with incredible pacing and fully-developed characters. The glimpses into the shadow world of secret agents are chilling but effective, making it easy for readers to reconcile the fact that the world should not know about certain government actions. In addition, the writing is spectacular. Hayes manages to make both Pilgrim and Saracen show more sympathetic figures, neither condemning them for their actions nor entirely excusing them. In this new world of terrorism and religious extremists, Hayes highlights how blurred the lines become between good and evil and how everyone is a victim. I Am Pilgrim is a fantastic read and needs to be on everyone’s summer must-read list. show less

A few points off for the weird opening tone and misogyny, but very soon redeems itself as an absolutely gripping, globetrotting intelligence thriller. Somehow actually achieves the lofty heights it aspires to without becoming pretentious (also it's really hard to put down).

I did not like this at all. So why the hell did I give it five stars? I'm an idiot. (Hey, you can change the star rating!) Well written, but weirdly alienating and not very interesting. A post 9-11 spy thriller that expects its audience to have faith in Intelligence is asking for a lot, and the awesomeness of the narrator was laid on a bit thick, and the first hundred pages is a lot of this happened and then this happened in my awesome history with a trip to a concentration camp and 9-11 itself there to reinforce his righteousness, followed by a hundred pages of villain history, the villain being an Islamic jihadist. Hard to argue with that as choice of villain in a modern thriller, but they're just, no matter how horrible and clever show more and dangerous they are, it's impossible to respect anyone who believes those horrible things as a human being so they become dehumanised even while filled with holy passion and reading them on the page is hard because they're so crushingly banal and apparently simple-minded in their evil no matter how devious their schemes. So, yeah didn't work for me at all. show less