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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
This was easy to get through despite its tomeness (888 pages!). A spy and a terrorist, with a semi-connected murderess. This could be a great movie!
I did not enjoy this. I felt the narrator's voice was not reflective of the character the author wanted to build. Pretty strong racist and some misogynistic tones. Incredibly conceited narrator and a huge amount of the plot driven/developed by happy coincidences. Trashy writing and extremely poor dialogue. Probably better suited to a mindless read or short sittings only. Disappointing.
challenging
dark
informative
medium-paced
This was my kind of holiday read. Fast paced, full of action and multiple threads that weave together and build to a thrilling and, to my mind, satisfying conclusion. I would read it again.
Serviceable but bizarrely highly rated post 9-11 thriller. Not nearly as clever as it thinks it is and the type of moral ambiguities faced by the protagonists have been dealt with far better by the likes of John le Carré.
Grotesquely Islamophobic and racist. Like Nigel Farage wrote a thriller. Smugly cynical and casually sprinkled with every xenophobic stereotype about other nationalities including French/Italian/German not to mention Middle Eastern countries. I bet Terry voted Reform.
Nothing bad about this. Started off interestingly but soon got into a tired hero cliche so dropped it after a few chapters. Two star rating not reflective of objective quality - just didn't excite me.
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This is a beast of a book, the paperback version I read (eventually) was nearly 900 pages. It's big because it's kind of two books in one. The novel opens with an investigation into a murder; a woman is discovered floating in a bath of acid, all traces of her identity removed. The investigator, who tells the story, both first and third person, is a mysterious guy, in fact we're not told his name until quite a few chapters in. Even then, this isn't his true name. It transpires the man, Pilgrim, is a highly trained operative. The plot treks the reader through the initial investigation, then arcs off into Pilgrim's background while also telling a story of Saracen, a Muslim who wants to rain death down on the US. Which is where the 3rd person narrative comes in, Pilgrim is recounting Saracen's activities to meet his goal over many years.
Sounds complicated? It kind of is. And isn't. As the author deftly weaves these multiple strands of murder investigation, espionage, thriller and multiple back stories together very cleverly. Sometimes it slows the story down while it briefly splinters off in a new direction (for example Pilgrim goes to visit the house where he grew up), but these diversions were typically short and added to the backstory.
The reason for the 4*? Several tropes creep into the plot and on a couple of occasions Pilgrim is given a little too neat a solution on a platter. And, particularly as the book drew to a close, Pilgrim would drop in a line at the end of a chapter that he'd missed something, or events wouldn't quite work out as he'd thought.
All in all this is a very good read and well written. One of the book quotes says it's a surprisingly good debut. But if you look at the author's background he's been writing for years, just not books - he's been a journalist and a screenwriter (with some big film credits) so Hayes is no stranger to a good plot.
And it shows.
4.5 / 5.0
Sounds complicated? It kind of is. And isn't. As the author deftly weaves these multiple strands of murder investigation, espionage, thriller and multiple back stories together very cleverly. Sometimes it slows the story down while it briefly splinters off in a new direction (for example Pilgrim goes to visit the house where he grew up), but these diversions were typically short and added to the backstory.
The reason for the 4*? Several tropes creep into the plot and on a couple of occasions Pilgrim is given a little too neat a solution on a platter. And, particularly as the book drew to a close, Pilgrim would drop in a line at the end of a chapter that he'd missed something, or events wouldn't quite work out as he'd thought.
All in all this is a very good read and well written. One of the book quotes says it's a surprisingly good debut. But if you look at the author's background he's been writing for years, just not books - he's been a journalist and a screenwriter (with some big film credits) so Hayes is no stranger to a good plot.
And it shows.
4.5 / 5.0