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The perfect murder involves an unidentifiable victim; a young woman found face down in a bathtub of acid, teeth removed, fingerprints and face gone, and a murder scene devoid of fingerprints, DNA or any other identifiers.

The homicide detective in charge is a long time friend of the “Pilgrim,” a retired CIA operative who has penned a textbook on criminal investigations that the murderer has apparently read, and he is called in to help investigate. It becomes an international manhunt moving through the United Kingdom, France, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, but this is more than just a murder mystery; there is also a biologic threat against the United States that somehow ties in with the murder.

The characters are skillfully brought to life in this action packed worldwide adventure, and the main protagonist is quick-witted and just plain likeable. Growing up the adopted son in a very wealthy family, he is a brilliant loner who is recruited by the “Division,” a top secret black ops group that is eventually disbanded.

Another loner nicknamed Saracen, grew up in Saudi Arabia where his father was beheaded for criticizing the King; international politics makes for fascinating back story here. While gruesome at times, none of the violence is gratuitous and unfortunately, it all feels quite real and believable.

Don’t be put off by the length of this book; the story is tightly plotted, the pages fly by ferociously fast and the book is simply unputdownable.

Copyright ©2014 Booklist, a division of the American Library Association.

5/14 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

An extremely literate story about a battle between two titans of their respective sides. One is an American, adopted son of a family with a great deal of privilege, currently an agent for a U.S. government agency only depicted as higher than the CIA. The other is a poor Arab boy born in Saudi Arabia but turned into a terrorist by the Saudi’s execution of his father for no apparent reason. The American uses the name of Pilgrim in order to hide his real identity and has become one of the most effective agents his agency has.

The Arab is turned onto terrorism by the Saudi’s execution of his father just because the man spoke badly of the king. He decides that revenge against Saudi Arabia would be best served by a massive terrorist attack on the United States, which he deems the Saudi’s ally. He proceeds to build up a well prepared background while becoming known as the Saracen in order to effect this attack.

Hayes is brilliant in developing the two characters, their motivations, their reactions to each other as mortal enemies. The reader knows each one intimately through the author’s descriptions and can relate to their actions on an ongoing basis. What the Saracen decides to use to attack the United States demands a preparation that only a very bright mind could conceive of and work towards. It is a credible threat that the reader will be able to identify as possible. Pilgrim’s planning and actions against this enemy must be even more clever in order to win the mental battle between them.

The action moves back and forth starting with a murder investigation in New York and ending in Turkey.

Hayes, in an afterward, indicates that film rights are in process and I would certainly be a fan of that if it comes out. In the meanwhile I do trust that the author is planning more books for the near future, and those I will grab as soon as available.

5/14 Paul Lane

I AM PILGRIM by Terry Hayes. Atria/Emily Bestler Books (May 27, 2014). ISBN 978-1439177723. 624p.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 27th, 2014 at 3:00 AM and is filed under Book Reviews, Crime Fiction, Fiction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.