People don’t get arrested for murder; they get arrested for not planning it properly. The planning of the murder being investigated at the beginning of I AM PILGRIM is perfect. Text book perfect. And the enigmatic character brought in to aid the investigation ought to know because he wrote the text book.
Instead of a copy cat killer, we are presented with a copy book killer, and the stage is set for a startling serial killer thriller. But wait. Writer Terry Hayes isn’t satisfied with dipping his author toes into just one popular genre pool.
The shadowy investigator who has dubbed the victim Eleanor Rigby, because the perpetrator kept her face in a jar by the door isn’t just some FBI profiler. Codename Pilgrim, he’s as much Jason Bourne as Will Graham and this particular precise and pristine homicide is a harbinger of a horror that will see him back in harness as a super spy as fast as you can say Smert Spion.
Known sometimes as Scott Murdoch, the protagonist is reluctant to return to the shadow world, but a murder masked by the mayhem in Manhattan on September 11, 2001 compels and propels him into a scenario that outclasses Clancy, lead foots Ludlum and brown-eyes Dan Brown.
Vyshaya mera – the highest level of punishment is going to be unleashed on the West- and its not the Russians. As our protagonist succinctly says, Listen. It’s the Muslims.
As a writer called Robert Louis Stevenson once said sooner or later we all sit down to a banquet of consequences. Pull up a chair and pick up a fork the time is coming we’ll all be chowing down.
This is a masterful page turning pot boiling extravaganza of a story fuelled by a high octane plot, a fascinating protagonist, an equally fascinating antagonist, a couple of terrific supporting characters and a cavalcade of others that entertain the central casting of your imagination for the entire 700 page ride.
Author Terry Hayes co-wrote Mad Max 2 & 3, as well as Dead Calm, Payback, and a number of other films, and this novel is tremendously cinematic with short burst chapters most with cliff hanging edginess. His affinity with Australia and Australians is palpable, whether he’s describing arachnids or Iraq vets. Chances are you won’t require a book mark; a seat belt might be more the order.