Books › I am Pilgrim
I am Pilgrim
912 pages
A sprawling, globe-trotting masterclass in tension that pulls you into a desperate, high-stakes game of cat and mouse.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like strapping into a cinematic, globe-trotting rollercoaster where the stakes are nothing less than apocalyptic. Despite its massive page count, the narrative is relentlessly propulsive, pulling you through a labyrinth of intricate tradecraft, forensic puzzles, and shadowy espionage. The atmosphere is dread-soaked and gritty, steeped in the moral ambiguity of intelligence work and the chilling psychology of extremism. The prose is authoritative and hard-boiled, delivering procedural authenticity without ever sacrificing its breakneck momentum. It is a sprawling, immersive experience designed for readers who love a brilliant, high-stakes game of cat and mouse. You will find yourself holding your breath as the tension ratchets up across continents, culminating in a desperate race against time.
- Mood
- tense
- dread-soaked
- cinematic
- high-stakes
- Tone
- authoritative
- gritty
- urgent
- cynical
- hard-boiled
- Pace
- propulsive
- Themes
- the burden of duty · anatomy of extremism · cat-and-mouse games · moral ambiguity · the cost of anonymity
- The writing
- Cinematic, detailed, and hard-boiled, balancing procedural authenticity with relentless narrative momentum.
- The arc
- Begins as a chilling intellectual puzzle and escalates into a desperate, breathless race against apocalyptic stakes.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave sprawling, high-stakes espionage epics packed with intricate tradecraft and globe-trotting tension.
Content notes
- graphic violence
- terrorism
- torture
- murder
- religious extremism
About the book
Pilgrim was the codename for a world class and legendary secret agent. He was once head of a secret internal affairs force for US intelligence. When NYPD Ben Bradley tracks down Pilgrim, neither man can imagine the terrifying journey they are about to begin, as what begins as an unusual and challenging murder investigation leads them into a direct collision course with the dark forces of jihadist terrorism.
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.
Description from Open Library.
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