I Am Pilgrim

Despite reading so many reviews, I Am Pilgrim sat on my TBR gathering dust for a long time. When I heard Erica Davies talking about it at The Henley Literary Festival there was so much excited chattering in the room that my FOMO kicked in!

It is an epic read, at over 800 pages I have to admit I felt a little daunted. However it starts strong and does not stop, I was turning the pages at a rate of knots and actually felt exhausted when I finished.

Pilgrim is the code name of a man who doesn't exist. The former head of a top secret US Espionage unit, who disappears into early retirement. In the following years, he writes a book, the definitive guide to murder, a book which will come back to haunt him.

New York copy, Ben Bradley, uses the information hidden in this book to track Pilgrim down. Together they start investigation what appears to be a textbook murder but turns out to be the start of a horrific plot to destroy America.

I Am Pilgrim is an intelligent and intense read that is frankly terrifying. The narration is brilliant and the chapters end with shocking twists and turns that made it impossible to put it down.

At times it is brutal, there is one scene in particular (the one with the scalpel) where I wanted to hide behind a pillow. There are scenes of violence throughout, and while that would normally put me off a book, it was such a part of the story that I just had to keep going.

Normally spy thrillers wouldn't be much first choice, but I really did enjoy this one. It's a fast paced, edge of your seat thriller that I would most definitely recommend (but you maybe don't want to read it at bedtime!)

I'm now looking at my TBR cupboard and wondering what other gems are hiding in there!