I Am Pilgrim

The start of this year saw a very dry spell in reading for me. I persevered through four or five truly awful books and had started to think it was me and not the books. I decided I’d give one more a try and if I didn’t enjoy it I’d take a little hiatus, get a few box sets under my belt and then try again. Then along came my knight in shining armour. The book to end all books. I Am Pilgrim. What a bloody read! Don’t let the size of it put you off, because if anything by the end you’ll be begging for more. (Much to my brothers disdain I read on a kindle so didn’t have to lug all 700 odd pages around with me.) Suffice it to say that after this little gem I am back in the literary saddle!

Our protagonist is a bit of an all rounder, ex intelligence agent; millionaire and a loner with an unconventional background that he gives you potted glimpses of. He gets roped back in to help solve a murder and quickly realises that his book on forensic science has been used to make the crimes untraceable. The story then takes us to Saudi Arabia to witness a beheading, the Afghan mountains for a truly harrowing few chapters and then to Turkey for its dénouement, with more twists than a twisty thing on the way. The coincidences are a little testing at times and there a few parts of the story that are truly reaching (there’s a bit with a mirror that actually made me scoff out loud on the train) but if you’re willing to roll with it you really are in for a treat. The ending came out of nowhere and was very cleverly pulled together throughout the 700 pages.

MGM, the studio that make the Bond films have bought the rights to it and plan on making a series of films that I cannot wait for, and I’m hoping Terry Hayes doesn’t leave Pilgrims story at just the one book. A storming 4.5 out of 5 for me!

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