Hello!
Yesterday I finally finished a book that I have been reading for some time, I am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes.
The book Jacket:
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
From Good Reads:
The man who calls himself Pilgrim has a long history in secret operations. He is pressed into service to apprehend a Saudi Arabian dude who has manufactured a “homemade apocalypse”. All by his little old self he made it. No secret terrorist cells or Al-Qaeda. Just one way too brilliant guy who has been planning for many years to destroy America.. There’s a whole lot of other stuff going on, including an investigation of a murder in NYC, but it’s all incorporated into the main story arc.
I Am Pilgrim has got it all. It starts off with an expertly described ghastly murder scene of a young woman found dead in a bath of acid in a dingy hotel called The Eastside Inn. I couldn’t believe where this beginning took me. Hayes has managed to weave a plot that includes the beheading of a man in a Saudi Arabian public square, an adopted child who becomes an agent in an organization that doesn’t exist, a NY city hero cop, a boy with Downs Syndrome, the death of a wealthy playboy, religion, love, honor, and a terrorist plot that will eradicate millions in the US and that’s only the half of it. He pulls this off in a hair raising adventure all over the Mideast and back which at times pushes the limits but doesn’t spoil the ride. Just thank heavens someone’s on our side.
If you look at the reviews to this book, people either love it or hate it. I can see why. It is a 600 page book and at times I thought…where is this even going and what about this part of the story line. Well, all the different stories do come together and are nicely wrapped up. The first 150 pages are amazing and the last 150 pages are amazing. The in-between tells the story and can get rather draw out, but sometimes I love a book with lots of detail! This book falls into that category…lots of detail and I I enjoyed it all! Other reviewers couldn’t stand all the detail and stopped half way through.
Other things that people did not like about the book was that every woman he met was curvy, big chested and very beautiful. Well, two were models and the other was a “decoy” so to say. I guess I never picked up on all that.
Reviewers were also turned off by how the Muslim characters were portrayed in the story, especially with everything going on in the world. Understandable. Though the main character is one Muslim man, going after America with no affiliations with any organization. He is often referred to as a “first timer” with no records due to being a loner. How this man goes about years and years of planning to carry off his plan is terrifying. With everything going on in the world, I think this book lays out how “easy” it is to do “illegal” things, how patient people can be, how witty people can be and the lengths people will go to carry out their ultimate plan. That is where the author lays out such detail an makes it very believable and terrifying. The author makes it seem and I believed, this plan could be carried out tomorrow.
It is definitely a spy book and while he goes on to share how intelligent he is, but (thankfully) there isn’t scene after scene of him going against enemies, gun fights, knife fights and wining each time. Also (thankfully) there is not a love story or interest or save the damsel in distress. It is a story…a long one at that, with lots of details, but one that I really enjoyed with a satisfying ending!
I would give this a 4.5 out of 5
(though I do know some will throw the book across the room and say that i am crazy!)