I am Pilgrim : a thriller / Terry Hayes.

"The best book of 2014." — Suspense Magazine

An Amazon Best Book
of the Month, June 2014

The events in this book are exciting and very fast
moving. It’s a real cat-and-mouse game
where a very intelligent and resourceful U.S. secret operative is assigned the
task of locating a person, also very intelligent and resourceful, who is determined
to bring widespread and serious harm to the U.S. There
is some violence in the novel, although I didn’t find it so extreme that I couldn’t
finish reading and fortunately it doesn’t comprise a great deal of the
text. My only real quibble is that
midway through, the thriller slows down a little. Otherwise, a great read.

Booklist review: *Starred Review* “It looks like the perfect
murder: an unidentifiable victim a young woman found in a low-rent Manhattan
hotel, face down in a bathtub of acid, teeth removed, fingerprints and face
gone, and a murder scene devoid of fingerprints, DNA, or any other identifiers.
The homicide detective in charge, Ben Bradley, is a long-time friend of
Pilgrim, a retired CIA operative who has penned a textbook on criminal
investigations that the murderer has apparently read. Pilgrim, retired and
reclusive, is drawn into the case by Bradley and is quickly in the middle of an
international manhunt moving through the United Kingdom, France, Saudi Arabia,
and Afghanistan. This is more than just a murder mystery; there is also a
biological threat against the U.S., which ties into the murder. The characters
are skillfully brought to life in this action-packed worldwide adventure, and
Pilgrim is a quick-witted and thoroughly fascinating protagonist. Growing up as
the adopted son in a very wealthy family, he is a brilliant loner recruited by
the Division, a top-secret black ops group that is eventually disbanded. His
adversary here, another loner, nicknamed Saracen, grew up in Saudi Arabia,
where his father was beheaded for criticizing the king; international politics
makes for fascinating backstory. The novel is gruesome at times, but none of
the violence is gratuitous, and unfortunately, it all feels quite real and
believable. Don't be put off by the length of this book. The story is tightly
plotted, and the pages fly by ferociously fast. Simply unputdownable.”