I Am Pilgrim

Author 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 show more 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. show less

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

An exemplary thriller—re-read it if you want to study how it’s done. Pilgrim left the covert life when his secret US spy agency was shut down. He wrote a famous text on criminal investigations and an old friend gets him to help investigate a perfect murder. Then he’s drawn back into counterterrorism when The Saracen synthesizes weaponized smallpox and his plot is uncovered. Most of the book is Pilgrim’s POV but much is Saracen’s in a deliciously complext plot. Coincidentally the murder ties into the smallpox plot. Through twists and turns Pilgrim tracks down the terrorist and foils his plot. I was riveted throughout—superb plotting and excellent characters.

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

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

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