Wednesday, October 9, 2019

98. I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes

listened on Audible/own
narrated  by Christopher Ragland
Unabridged audio (22:41)
2014 Atria/Emily Bestler Books
612 pgs.
Contemporary thriller
Finished 10/9/2019
Goodreads rating:  4.25 - 105,039 ratings
My rating: 5

First line/s: "There are places I'll remember all my life - Red Square with a hot wind holwing across it, my mother's bedroom on teh 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."

My comments:  This was a long one, over 600 pages and took about 22 hours to listen to the audio.  I think it is the way that it's written that most fascinates me.  the crux of the story is the hunt for a terrorist, but it gives all sorts of background and form to both the protagonist and the antagonist.  It is the story of an incredibly brilliant empathetic man who is also very lucky.  The story is a woven one, and it's woven brilliantly.  It gives you background without going from point A to point Z in order.  and every tiny detail is interesting...and believable.  AND well written.  I was mesmerized.  I loved this book, this story, this protagonist, this narrator.  22 hours well spent.  It looks like from skimming the reviews of this thriller that you either love or hate this book.  I just can't imagine hating it for some of the reasons given, and when I read the reviews I wonder if, for the most part, I read the same book!
     NOTE: Quite a bit of the book takes place in Bodrum, Turkey, a city I have visited.  Many of the descriptions really took me back and I could picture it perfectly.

Goodreads synopsis:  A breakneck race against time...and an implacable enemy. An anonymous young woman murdered in a run-down hotel, all identifying characteristics dissolved by acid. A father publicly beheaded in the blistering heat of a Saudi Arabian public square. A notorious Syrian biotech expert found eyeless in a Damascus junkyard. Smoldering human remains on a remote mountainside in Afghanistan. A flawless plot to commit an appalling crime against humanity. One path links them all, and only one man can make the journey.

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