My Awesome Reads

Title: I am Pilgrim

Author: Terry Hayes

Published: 2012

Pages: 890

Rating: 5 Stars (more if i could)

"A fantastic read: a big, solid, chunky, fast paced, rip-roaring thriller, the love child of a manic union between Jack Reacher and James Bond" - Manda Scott

Goodreads Summary:

"Can you commit the perfect crime?

Pilgrim is the codename for a man who doesn't exist. The adopted son of a wealthy American family, he once headed up a secret espionage unit for US intelligence. Before he disappeared into anonymous retirement, he wrote the definitive book on forensic criminal investigation.

But that book will come back to haunt him. It will help NYPD detective Ben Bradley track him down. And it will take him to a rundown New York hotel room where the body of a woman is found facedown in a bath of acid, her features erased, her teeth missing, her fingerprints gone. It is a textbook murder - and Pilgrim wrote the book.

What begins as an unusual and challenging investigation will become a terrifying race-against-time to save America from oblivion. Pilgrim will have to make a journey from a public beheading in Mecca to a deserted ruins on the Turkish coast via a Nazi death camp in Alsace and the barren wilderness of the Hindu Kush in search of the faceless man who would commit an appalling act of mass murder in the name of his God."

 

This book has been just  amazing. I heard about it from my roommate, who luckily shares my taste in books. Though I had never heard about Terry Hayes or this novel I read great things about it once I decided to pick it up. It's quite the read, with my version counting just shy of 900 pages, but I have never enjoyed a book this size as much as I enjoyed I am Pilgrim. 

I loved how the book was paced and how I didn't get bored once while reading it. Even all the background information being fed trough the start of the novel grasped me and pulled me trough the pages at an astonishing pace. The characters were magnificently described and you really get to know them as the story progresses. The book houses some great plot twists and just keeps surprising the reader.

It's also scary as hell. All this could actually happen right now! Mister Hayes really knows a thing or two about suspense and sucking you into a story.

Just read it. That's about all I can say at this moment. I just finished it and it would have blown my socks of if I had been wearing any! I could keep on raving about how great this book is, but that wouldn't do it Justice. I definitely don't posses the best reviewing skills so I would just be Spoiling your fun. So just one last thing: Terry, Please continue writing these epic novels!

"Fast, Furious and Good" - Ian Rankin

A few months back I bought Stuart Neville's previous book 'Ratlines' on sale for only a few euros and absolutely LOVED it. Right after I finished Ratlines I looked into Stuart Neville and found out he was releasing this new thriller the next month. Without hesitation I pre-ordered the book and about a week after the release The Final Silence finally arrived. 

It's the third book in the Jack Lennon Investigation series about DI Jack Lennon and however I haven't read any of the other Jack Lennon books, I had no trouble understanding the story. The Final Silence is about a woman named Rea Carlisle who inherits a house from an uncle she never actually knew. After a short while she finishes cleaning out the house, though one room remains tightly locked. When she finally manages to open the room she finds it is as empty as the rest of the house, except for a table, a chair and a book. Inside the book she finds fingernails, locks of hair and stories about victims. 

Rea wants to hand it over to the police, but her parents won't let her. The only person she thinks she can turn to is DI Jack Lennon. But he is experiencing his own problems. Being suspended from the force and investigated by DCI Flanagan. Despite this he eventually starts uncovering the dark secrets of the dead uncle's diary. This unravels into a harrowing investigation taking Rea's father down with it. 

That's about all I feel I can say about the plot without spoiling the story, so lets get to my opinion.

As I stated above, I really liked Neville's writing in Ratlines and this book agains shows his brilliance. I read it in two afternoons, and for me (not the fastest reader) that says a lot. I loved the way he the characters personal issues were dealt with without influencing the pace of the story. This way I could really get to know these flawed yet lovable characters and I found them really recognizable. 

The story was well paced and I never felt like the story was just dragging along.  The book was plenty suspenseful and the characters, as stated before, were very well drawn. 

I can recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a Thrilling, well written, in-depth and fast book! Although I do think it would be even better to read the other three book in the series, just to get to know DI Lennon even better. Even though in the first book 'the ghost of Belfast' Lennon is just a minor character. 

An easy 4,5/5 stars for The Final Silence, and I can't wait for Neville's next amazing book!