I Am Pilgrim: The bestselling Richard & Judy Book Club pick

Everything about this amazing book is beyond excellent. The background research, the maturity of the writing, the plot complexity, the suspense.....just brilliant. Now reading for the 3rd time!PS The only other book I have read this often is Wolf Hall.

There are some frustrating things about the amount of foreshadowing in this book and I am guessing it is probably more about the author’s style than the specific story. Having said that I really enjoyed the plot, the elements that made up the various threads.I am not usually that keen on all the threads being so nicely wrapped up although in this particular story it worked well enough as there were a couple of areas left with no commentary and I won’t mention them here for obvious spoiler reasons and they were not key to the ending anyway.There seemed to be a lot of luck and co-incidence in the story, but it was such an interesting plot I can overlook it, especially as if it did happen in real life it is the kind of thing where people would say it is stranger than fiction - linkages like this could happen I guess.So you will be saying, why give it 5 stars when you are highlighting some criticism? Mainly because despite the small niggles I had with the book, it is a damn good read, highly entertaining with a plot taking you around the world and introducing an incredible character with major flaws, who is remarkably Sherlock Holmes like - eye for detail, drug user, great insights and a master of human motivation.Scott Pilgrim vs the world!

A Hollywood-esque action story taking in half a dozen countries across just under 900 pages which although fun requires some suspension of disbelief. The premise is that the main character who was one of Americas most capable secret agents must come out of retirement to solve a terrorist plot more deadly than 9/11. He will do this almost single-handed with only minor help from other characters while at the same time solving a seemingly unrelated unsolved murder case. Although enjoyable and easy to read, there is some understandable criticism and this book is far from perfect.The good;-Despite its length the story is very well paced and every chapter advances the plot and keeps the reader's interest.-Many aspects of the story are genuinely intriguing and unexpected.-There are chapters from the main villain's perspective and he is treated as a real person with human motivations and not simply an evil caricature.-Some of the set pieces are well described and very original.-There are many small details about espionage and investigation which add some weight to the protagonists claims of expertise.The bad;-As fun as it is, at times the storyline is simply too over the top to be believable.-The main character comes across as arrogant and one dimensional, there is no nuance in the way he is written.-Whether it is the writers own opinions, or just putting words in the protagonist's mouth, there are a few moments of casual racism which seem slightly out of place.-Especially as the plot develops, it starts to rely more and more on coincidences to progress.Overall I enjoyed this book and finished it in a short space of time. I would recommend it as a page turning, if slightly formulaic espionage adventure.

If you spend enough time at literary festivals, you come to fear and loathe the 'goody bag' - a delightfully marketed sling-bag full of books you never want to read and don't quite know what to do with.Until it isn't that: the goody bag at Harrogate Crime Fest last weekend contained a small 'taster' booklet that offered the first chapter of I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes. I read it late on Saturday night, bought the book on Sunday and started reading it on Monday. I finished it late last night and it's been a fantastic week's read: a big, solid, chunky, fast-paced, rip-roaring thriller, the love child of a manic union between Jack Reacher and James Bond.The pace and international flavour shouldn't be a surprise: from the start, this reads like the book of the film and that film will be a blockbuster. This is a debut novel, and (sorry, this is a cliche, but it's true) an astonishing feat that makes sense when we know that the author has been a journalist for the Sydney Morning Herald, covered the Watergate scandal and went on to be a screenwriter on such luminaries as Mad Max 2, Payback and Bangkok Hilton. So when we have Bondian 'hero escapes from insuperable odds' scenes set in giant warehouses with ships on gantries being sent hither and thither and our hero hanging by one arm, desperately trying not to be recognised by the Turkish police... it's easy to imagine it on a big screen with all the action and adrenaline and testosterone.But the book isn't all that: the premise is clever. The narrator, whom we know primarily as Scott Murdoch - although we know that wasn't his birth name - is a member of the US's 'Department' - the spies who spy on spies - a kind of Military police for the CIA - staffed with people so deniable that even the department's existence is held secret. Pilgrim (as he becomes) starts of well by executing the corrupt leader in broad daylight in Moscow's Red Square and his life goes downhill from there until the point where he's asked to be the lone 'Pathfinder' sent out to Turkey to discover all he can about a man who seems to be planning a massive bio-terror attack. Actually, it's *the* worst bio-terror attack you could imagine: engineered smallpox which will rip through the world's population and reduced it to a fraction of what it was at the start.Woven through the spy-hunting-terrorist plot is a secondary spy-helping-NYPD plot which follows the investigation of a murder in a grimy New York hotel. What makes it different was that both the victim and - so our hero thinks - the perpetrator were women. So we have a possible lesbian subplot which is always entertaining and certainly becomes so here.The two plots inevitably collide in a small Turkish town, but not before we've been to Paris, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Bulgaria and seen side plots in London and Thailand. It's a vast, intricate, wonder of a book, full of clever use of technology and - I'm sure - a lot of research into how smallpox might rationally be spread. It also sounds a loud and clear warning: if the US government's planning is as woefully inadequate as the books suggests, then our civilisation's days are numbered.I'm sure this will be a stellar hit, but get it early and be one of the pathfinders: It's a fantastic, fun, high-adrenaline read for the summer: just the thing to fill days on the beach or evenings at home.

OI am Pilgrim is one of those books that the in depth description of characters and what is happening that you can’t help but not be sure why you are so interested in the story. Great book and fantastic journey you go on. 100% recommend

Couldn't put this book down which was difficult as it gives many hours of good reading. Fast paced and exciting. Scary but addictive. All praise for Terry Hayes. Excellent value for money.

This is an unusual book, told in 1st person by a very inventive (unusual) principal character. The book starts at a strange murder with the protagonist musing of past memories. The 'looking back' memories continue in support of the theme and to fully develop the main character … and more importantly to later explain several threads which come together. There is a main plot and a sub plot (sub the initial murder ... not giving anything away by writing this). They convolve in an interesting and creative way. The story is very creative but only about halfway through did it become magnetic for me, as in I was compelled to read (older now, I no longer read until the end in one sitting unconscious of time). This morning I finished it. Although I could foresee the ending in latter pages, how it would evolve and what else would take place was not obvious, interesting, needed. It's impossible to express the wonderment at how Hayes managed to invent the story, and details supporting it. Stunning! I wrote this review only to advise strongly ... if you buy it and begin reading, stick with it. One more thing in my Columbo moment. In addition to the "thriller" there is a philosophical voice from time to time. Tune in.

This complex and amazing story leads to a place I rarely go... a Five Star review! And it is easily worth each star. The amount of detail brings this story right off the pages and creates a fully believable story! Thank you to Terry Hayes for giving us such a wonderful read!

A veces demasiado irreal, sobre todo el “machote” del personaje principal, pero la historia engancha, que es lo que cuenta en este tipo de libros, y el estilo es mejor que el de la media.

Although the number of pages will make you think twice but the author have not left the main plot not even for a single page. Just imagine the shere volume of story he is telling.Great one and waiting for more from this author.

Livre intéressant et plein de suspense ! À lire!