I Am Pilgrim: A Thriller

Very well written, detailed, exciting. Simply the best thriller I've read or seen on screen

Brief summary and review, no spoilers.This lengthy novel goes back and forth between our two main characters: an American high-ranking ex-spy who will go by the code name Pilgrim and a Saudi Arabian born mujahideen fighter known as the Saracen.At the start of the book, we know that Pilgrim had retired (at an early age) and has written a book about investigative techniques and basically how to commit crimes without detection. He thinks that no one will ever figure out he is the author, but when a wily NY City police detective named Ben Bradley and his wife do their own checking, they figure it out and Pilgrim (who they find out was born with the name Scott Murdoch) is asked to help solve a mysterious crime that occurred in a rather ramshackle NY hotel.The reason Bradley finds Scott and asks him for help with the case is because it's obvious that the killer had read Scott's book and employed his techniques. Scott is both perturbed and impressed that Ben has figured out who he is, and once he finds out about Ben's heroism during 9/11 he decides he'll help.Meanwhile, we go to the chapters that tell the story of the Saracen, and how he witnessed the brutal execution of his beloved father at the hands of the Saudi police on orders from the Saudi royal family. The father had been trying to expose their corruption. With a deep-seeded hatred, the young boy decides to join a fundamentalist Muslim group and from there, goes on to help the Muslim freedom fighters during their war with the Russians.As his tale continues, we learn about his intelligence, the tragedies in his life and the reasons he has become so embittered against the United States and Israel. He comes up with a brilliant plan to kill as many Americans as possible - I won't divulge that plan although you learn it rather quickly in the book because it's better for the reader to find that out when the author intended we find that out.Meanwhile, the head of the intelligence services in the United States finds out about the Saracen's plans, and Scott is recruited to find him and foil his efforts before catastrophe. He reluctantly agrees and once again becomes a covert agent, this time on his own albeit with the top USA intelligence forces behind him.The story goes back and forth between Scott and the Saracen and goes back and forth in time. In this way we get background as to both characters and see what makes them tick. As the story continues it becomes a nail-biter as we follow Scott as he trails the Saracen in a mad rush to prevent the mass destruction and at the same time, we also learn more about the murder in the NY City apartment building as that mystery still looms.The chapters about Pilgrim are told from his point of view, whereas the chapters about the Saracen are told in third person. Both are very effective narration forms for this novel and really keep the action moving.I very much enjoyed this book. I thought it was a page-turner although it took me a long time to finish; it's a long book and there is a lot of going back and forth in time to various subplots and histories.I learned a LOT about currently investigative techniques and the book does a wonderful job showing us how the spy business has changed since the days when Russia was our enemy; the fight now is very different especially with the adversaries willing to give up their own lives for a religious cause.Another thing I really liked about this book is that I thought it gave a balanced view of some of the possible causes of Muslim extremism and a sympathetic view of many in the Muslim community. It also critiqued American interrogation techniques such as water-boarding and showed the power and scope of America's intelligence community - not a lot is private anymore.Recommended. I look forward to reading the next novel by this author.

You know you were reading one of the very best ever when you do not want the book to end. I have been reading such books forever and this was one of the very best I have ever encountered. Yes, there were some unbelievable actions, but they made sure that the book was alive and thrilling. There were no disappointing moments, and I will look for other books by this author.

Perfection is a near impossible task. But some do reach it... The Pieta... Is one example ....this book is not the Pieta of books...only because it is almost unattainable... But it still earns five stars. Because It is close ... It will take u on a journey with emotion and intrigue. Read it and I promise you will not be disappointed!!

Good read from the start. Very detailed about subject and very interesting.

"I am Pilgrim" is a superbly crafted first novel by Terry Hayes. It is both a murder mystery and a top notch spy/terrorism novel. The first part of the book seems to drag a little, but the ending more than makes up for that. A seemingly unconnected series of events at the outset is pulled together at the end, and I was not able to put the book down for the last few hundred pages.A woman is found murdered, face down in a bathtub of acid in a New York city hotel. Her teeth had been removed and the acid had eaten away her fingerprints and face, making identification of the body almost impossible. The room was sprayed with industrial disinfectant and wiped clean of fingerprints, destroying any and all forensic evidence. Enter Scott Murdoch (or Peter Campbell or Brodie Wilson, we never find out what his real name was) who had written a book on investigative procedures under the pen name of Jude Garrett. The crime scene is right out of his book, seemingly the perfect crime.We get a little back story of Scott. Adopted by a wealthy family and given the best education possible, he did not seem to fit in and was always a loner. Possessed of high intelligence and great intuition, he was recruited by a covert branch of U.S. intelligence known as the Division. He quickly rose in the ranks and became the youngest director of the organization, known as the "Rider of the Blue." When the Division was dismantled, he tried to disappear and lead a "normal" life, but fate was not kind to Scott. All to soon he was brought back to the world he wanted to forget, and eventually the stakes were raised so high that it became an all or nothing proposition.Meanwhile, half a world away in Saudi Arabia, a young boy watches his father beheaded in a public square for criticizing the royal family.The scene would be burned into his memory forever and set him on a path of retribution. At 16, he joined the muj in Afghanistan fighting the Soviet invaders, where he distinguished himself as a brave and noble fighter. The Saracen, as he would become known, was also extremely intelligent. When the war was over, he bought a fake death certificate and a new passport, taking on a completely different identity. He made his way to Lebanon where he attended and graduated medical school. He was then ready to begin his plan of retribution and devised a plan to devastate the United States and thus leave Israel and Saudi Arabia vulnerable.The murder investigation becomes entwined with the terrorist plot, and Scott will have to use all of his skills to find the Saracen and stop the deaths of thousands of innocent lives. Thus the two loners are destined to meet. Two of the best for their individual causes, and only one would walk away.I love how the book made use of everything. The old memories drudged up, the places visited, the murders, etcetera. They all came into play at some point during the events leading up to the climax Time seemed to stop for me as I neared the end of the book and the pages just kept turning. I looked at my clock and it was 4 am, but I still couldn't stop. The book was that good, and plausible too, which made it really scary. I found myself rooting for Scott, code named Pilgrim, as he was a character that it was hard not to like. As was said of him, "his heart was his weight." But I also felt for the Saracen. He was brave and brilliant, and if not for the terrible events of his childhood, he too could have been a great man. But they were destined to face off at the end in an epic game of chicken, and you'll have to read to find out who blinks first. Great book!!!

Good suspenseful book, but extremely long & buried in detail. The detail was so unnecessary at times, that I skipped pages. The story was really intense.

Fairly racist and misogynistic throughout - not just overtly against Muslims but also lazily prejudiced against Eastern Europeans and other Arabs. Plot feels like it's been written by a teenager and there's 850 pages to get through. The storyline about the terrorist is better but the protagonist is the epitome of a self-righteous, self-glorifying, smug American arse! I found myself rooting for the 'bad guy' in the end. The amount of coincidences and dramatic last-minute plot twists begins to really grind after the first 200 pages.

Read this for book club. It started well. The first chapter was great but then it was all down hill from there. The story was an interest idea but it was overly long and poorly written with lazy characterisation. I didn't care about any of them and actively disliked the main character. One of the most irritating thing about it was the constant references to things that were to going to happen i.e. 'I should have taken more notice/if only I'd known what was to come/If only they'd been just 10 seconds faster we could have avoided what was to come' style comments. I don't need constant teasers to keep me reading a book and it's a bit desperate to include so many. Needs a really heavy edit and it would be half the size.

I bought this book as it was one of my book club’s reads. Six weeks later and I’m only about half way through it! I normally love thrillers but it has been such a labour to get this far. If ever a book needed editing, it’s this one. It is so unfocused in its story line, and provides a totally ridiculous amount of detail in the most mundane elements of the story. The reader is spoon fed as if he/she is a child and can’t use their own imagination to picture something being described. As for the narrator himself, well it’s not often that you wish your ‘hero’ was caught early on by the ‘baddie’! It’s just a dreadful book and definitely not worth purchasing! I’m totally confused about why this is so well-rated!

Absurd hokum with numerous plot inconsistencies and whopping, plot-critical technical errors (SPOILER ALERT: however much you process the silvering, you cannot use a mirror as a camera. Duh!!! But the plot entirely hinges on that!!!) If you have any scientific knowledge, you might be offended by this novel.Having said that, and despite its rather sickening American nationalism and Islamophobia, there was something about this long-winded book that made me want to finish it. I read mainly before sleep at night and it was wonderfully soporific. I won't be bothering with Hayes's follow up novel.ADDENDUMMy son-in-law recently recommended this book to me and I had not recollection whatsoever of having read it. So, I was a bit amazed when I tried to buy it that Amazon told me I already had it. So I started reading it again and it felt like reading it for the first time - UNTIL I GOT TO THE REDICULOUS MIRROR/CAMERA BIT!!! I remembered that but nothing else. However, on rereading the review I wrote all those years ago. I definitely got it right the first time!

Im just about to read again .. 3rd time. The first time i had no idea of how this book would grip me..but it did. Alarming in parts, gruesome too but i could see that this book would take me on an uncomfortable journey and it really did.i searched for and read other books in this genre but most fell flat against Pilgrim .. so i read it again but still had to devour it. It's not a book to read over a long period of time (for me) as once into the story it doesn't let your mind take a break.Why I'm going to read again? .. because it's an amazing book and no matter what else I read I still think of Pilgrim.Obsessed .. I think I am.