I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes

I don’t know how this book came to my attention, I can just say I’m glad it did.

Looking back at my transaction history, I see that it was downloaded the same day as a couple of other books, so one thought is that I was trawling the new authors and the deep discounts sections of BN.com. The download price of $7.69 couldn’t have hurt my decision – you won’t find it for that price today. The Nook length of 796 pages is especially exciting to a person who loves long stories with plenty of time for plot and character development.

Maybe I clicked Read Instantly and the very promising first paragraph hit several of my hot buttons in just over 50 words:

"There are places I'll remember all my life -- Red Square with a hot wind howling across it, my mother's bedroom on the wrong side of Eight Mile, the endless gardens of a fancy foster home, a man waiting to kill me in a group of ruins known as the Theater of Death." 

At any rate, once I sat on my sofa and read the first few pages I knew I would only put it down for sleep and for my pesky job. I’m a sucker for spy novels, and I remember when we knew what our enemy looked like by his military uniform and his gymnastic prowess. Maybe I was a bit nostalgic for some Ludlum-esque Cold War romp.

Fortunately, that is not what I got.

Scott Murdoch was recruited out of Harvard into The Division, a clandestine intelligence organization reporting directly to POTUS, whose task was policing all other US intelligence agencies. After an infamous career making enemies and rocketing through the shadowy ranks, an unfathomable US disaster convinced him it was time to retire.

He settled into a comfortably invisible routine in Europe, wrote an obscure book on tradecraft under a pseudonym, and enjoyed a quiet life. Until a bored NYC detective read his book and went searching for the author.

Pulled into the open to erase his footprints afresh, Scott reestablishes contact with US Intelligence and is conscripted into the serpentine search for The Saracen – a lone terrorist whose long-term, diabolical plan to destroy the US is ready for deployment and just might work.

I Am Pilgrim is an exciting book, taking the reader to Russia, Germany, Turkey, Afghanistan, and New York City. Gump-opian historical timing never feels contrived and somewhat quirky foreshadowing works.

My only complaint would be the use of first-person narrative – in that providing details of another’s life, thoughts, feelings, motivations, and fears, always seems artificial. Also, telling a thriller in first-person is a dead giveaway that the central character is alive, which removes a lot of delicious suspense.

This book is definitely worth 796 pages of non-multi-tasking!


ISBN-13: 9781439177723
Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books
Publication date: 5/27/2014

If you like that one

In order for you to know if my choices of a good read will match yours, you should probably learn more about what I really, really like and what I really, really dislike – in a literary sense, of course.

Really Really Like:

• I prefer tomes, but I can read short books if they have a good story, good character development, good word-smithing, or just good writing. 
• Large sweeping stories 
• Deep character development – interesting characters 
• Surprising plot twists 
• Historical fiction where I can learn something 
• Sci Fi / Some Fantasy / Alternate realities / Dystopian 
• Spy / Intrigue / Conspiracy Theory 
• Banned books 
• True Literature 

Really, really dislike: 

• Angry-divorced-woman stories 
• The same book every other book club is reading
• Most romance – especially bodice rippers and the kind that suggest all females want to be rescued 
• Formulaic, repetitious, derivative drivel 
• Self-help / religious / spirituality 
• Business or Technology books 
• Porn

I want my readings to make me think, and to celebrate my individuality. 

So you want to be a book critic

My friend Katie B and I were discussing why I’m reading a different book from the one I am supposed to be reading for our next book club meeting. The kindling in question really is schlock, and I just couldn’t stomach another page.

“Bodice ripper?” she asked. 

"Worse,” I said, because it takes as Darwinian that every female is pre-disposed to Stockholm Syndrome. Katie B burst out laughing and said I should write a book review column.

I really liked that idea because, while I am totally unqualified to write criticism, I know what I like and I know what it takes to give me approval to use my limited free time in non-multi-tasking activities like reading fiction.

A professional female, I’m unlike most of my friends and colleagues who read 20 lb. software textbooks, career development, management theory, and self-help volumes. They always seem to be striving for improvement – in their relationships, careers, health, spirituality, acceptance of self. Always struggling to be better.

I, on the other hand, read for a good story and to escape. I think the way to make my life better is to take a break from working on success or trying to rise above the human condition, and just escape from the day-to-day into someone else’s reality.

So, in this space I will give a play-by-play of my attempts to bring good reads to my Nook.