I Am Pilgrim - Terry Hayes

Author: Terry Hayes

Genre: Crime thriller.

Rating: 2.5 stars.

A decent “crime thriller” with elements of murder mystery and terrorism.

Not including the story synopsis in my review this time as the Goodreads blurb is fabulous and tells you all you need to know without spilling any needless beans.

Pros:

👍A comprehensive plot that is vast in coverage but ties neatly at the end.

👍Not much of suspense but manages to keep the reader engrossed.

👍For a change, I liked the villain more than the hero. I am not justifying his actions but his character sketching is amazing.

👍Some really clever crimes and investigations.

Cons:

👎Not a fast-paced story as every single character arc takes ages to build. Most of the book reads more like a crime drama than a thriller.

👎Highly stereotypical and jingoistic. Every American or close to American (such as Brit, Australian,..) = good/brave/intelligent. Everything non-American (Turkish, Arab, Pakistani, Bulgarian, Italian, Greek,…) = bad/foolish/dumb. It is also biased against a few religions. For a book written in 2013, this is ridiculously clichéd. The trope of “righteous US and corrupt foreigners” doesn’t fit in this century. After a point, the needless comments about the greatness of America and its products and its officials became too irritating to ignore. A more realistic and balanced viewpoint would have been welcome.

👎The central character is too full of himself, though he tries his best to show how humble he is. But he seems to take many stupid decisions that make his claims questionable. For instance, if you are a secret agent and you know you are on the heels of a very smart terrorist who is an expert on bio warfare, would you pick up an envelope that has been slid under your door by a fishy suspect without any precautionary measures?

👎Another reviewer said that this is a man’s crime book. I don’t know what a man’s crime book is. But if it means that every single female character is described in terms of her physical appeal every single time she makes an appearance, it sure fits that description. Sample this gem of a line: “ Despite her makeup and stilettos, she was smart. ” What the....?!???!

👎 The first person narrative doesn’t make sense. How does the “Pilgrim” know the detailed step-by-step modus operandi of the villain when there was no interaction about this!?!?!

👎Too much of foreshadowing.

👎Toooooooooooooooo long.

All in all, I was thankful to have the audio version of this. 22 hours of listening was still easier than to sit and read through all those elaborate background sketches and slow build up at the start. Plus, the narrator was Christopher Ragland – I simply love his performance no matter how bad the book is.

2.5 stars. (Might have been lower if I had read this.)