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A review by melissa_keen
The Year of the Locust by Terry Hayes
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
A great read, by all accounts - but about 75% of the way through, this book takes a very unexpected turn...
The Year of the Locust is Terry Hayes' second novel. He is a terrific writer - his first novel, I Am Pilgrim, is one of my favourite books. This book starts out in a similar fashion, introducing us to a new character who is also part of the world of espionage. A terrorist threat looms, and our protagonist must save the day - exciting stuff! The characters are well fleshed out, the baddie is brilliantly believable and scary. The first 600 pages were brilliant.
However, about 75% of the way through, the book takes a completely different direction. It suddenly becomes a time travel/zombie apocalypse/sci-fi story. I found this really jarring and, if I'm honest, very disappointing - it was like suddenly reading a completely different book. I felt the writing felt quite lazy at this section of the book, too. Weird decisions are made that don't feel in line with the characters. It's almost like Terry had someone finish writing the book for him. However, I was very much bought in by this pointz so I pushed on to the finish.
While the ending was satisfying, I can't shake the feeling that the odd ending didn't align with the way the rest of the novel was written (which feels much more realistic). The sci-fi twist for me was completely unnecessary - the bad guy was already scary in a realistic way, why make him into an "orc"? The entire book suspends disbelief, but this was one step too far and took a lot of enjoyment out of the ending.
All in all, I still really enjoyed Terry's writing style and would read any other releases. A really great spy thriller, just with an unusual ending!
The Year of the Locust is Terry Hayes' second novel. He is a terrific writer - his first novel, I Am Pilgrim, is one of my favourite books. This book starts out in a similar fashion, introducing us to a new character who is also part of the world of espionage. A terrorist threat looms, and our protagonist must save the day - exciting stuff! The characters are well fleshed out, the baddie is brilliantly believable and scary. The first 600 pages were brilliant.
However, about 75% of the way through, the book takes a completely different direction. It suddenly becomes a time travel/zombie apocalypse/sci-fi story. I found this really jarring and, if I'm honest, very disappointing - it was like suddenly reading a completely different book. I felt the writing felt quite lazy at this section of the book, too. Weird decisions are made that don't feel in line with the characters. It's almost like Terry had someone finish writing the book for him. However, I was very much bought in by this pointz so I pushed on to the finish.
While the ending was satisfying, I can't shake the feeling that the odd ending didn't align with the way the rest of the novel was written (which feels much more realistic). The sci-fi twist for me was completely unnecessary - the bad guy was already scary in a realistic way, why make him into an "orc"? The entire book suspends disbelief, but this was one step too far and took a lot of enjoyment out of the ending.
All in all, I still really enjoyed Terry's writing style and would read any other releases. A really great spy thriller, just with an unusual ending!