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.

89. Sanctus by Simon Toyne

read on my iPhone/Kindle/Book/Audible
2011 Harper
486 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished 9/5/18
Goodreads rating: 3.81 - 7049 ratings
My rating:  2
Setting: Contemporary Turkey

First line/s:  "A flash of light filled his skull as it struck the rock floor."

My comments: I quite enjoyed this until the "revelation"" at the end, which made me roll my eyes...heavenward, lol...  I actually quite liked the writing, especially the descriptions, but the premise of the story was silly  So, liked and and disliked it....

Goodreads synopsis:  REVELATION OR DEVASTATION?
          The certainties of the modern world are about to be blown apart by a three thousand year-old conspiracy nurtured by blood and lies …
          A man throws himself to his death from the oldest inhabited place on the face of the earth, a mountainous citadel in the historic Turkish city of Ruin. This is no ordinary suicide but a symbolic act. And thanks to the media, it is witnessed by the entire world.
          But few understand it. For charity worker Kathryn Mann and a handful of others in the know, it is what they have been waiting for. The cowled and secretive fanatics that live in the Citadel suspect it could mean the end of everything they have built – and they will kill, torture and break every law to stop that. For Liv Adamsen, New York crime reporter, it begins the next stage of a journey into the heart of her own identity.
          And at that journey's end lies a discovery that will change EVERYTHING …
SANCTUS is an apocalyptic conspiracy thriller like no other – it re-sets the bar for excitement and fascination, and marks the debut of a major talent in Simon Toyne.

MOVIE - Mustang

Nominated for Best Foreign Film, 2016 Academy Awards
PG-13

Wide release 11/20/15

Viewed 1/19/16 at the Loft with Sheila

RT Critic: 97   Audience:  89
Critic's Consensus:  Mustang delivers a bracing -- and thoroughly timely -- message whose power is further bolstered by the efforts of a stellar ensemble cast.

Cag:  5/Loved it

Directed by Deniz Gamze Erguven (a female!)

CG Cinema (at the end of the credits it said FRANCE, GERMANY, TURKEY

In Turkish with subtitles

Actors were AMAZING!

My comments:  It took place in Turkey and was in Turkish.  It told a great (though sad) story.  The acting was superb.  Getting a chance to glimpse a little bit Turkey once again was fantastic.  Watching it with a friend: extra special.  Loved this movie!

RT Summary:  Early summer in a village in Northern Turkey. Five free-spirited teenaged sisters splash about on the beach with their male classmates. Though their games are merely innocent fun, a neighbor passes by and reports what she considers to be illicit behavior to the girls' family. The family overreacts, removing all "instruments of corruption," like cell phones and computers, and essentially imprisoning the girls, subjecting them to endless lessons in housework in preparation for them to become brides. As the eldest sisters are married off, the younger ones bond together to avoid the same fate. The fierce love between them empowers them to rebel and chase a future where they can determine their own lives in Deniz Gamze Ergüven's debut, a powerful portrait of female empowerment.