1971
The Day of the Jackal
DJ
A retired intelligence legend is pulled back for one last case — a perfect murder in a Manhattan hotel that unspools into a globe-spanning race against a terrorist no agency knows exists.
A woman lies dead in a bathtub of acid in a seedy Manhattan hotel, her face destroyed, her fingerprints gone, every clue erased — a murder committed by someone who read the book on forensic investigation. The man they call in is the man who wrote that book, under one of his many names: a retired agent from a US intelligence unit so secret it doesn't officially exist.
Half a world away, a man the reader comes to know as the Saracen is methodically assembling the means to bring America to its knees — and he has made none of the mistakes terrorists get caught by. He has no network, no chatter, no trail. The two storylines stalk each other across Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Germany, and the ruins of the agent's own past until they collide in the book's breathless final act.
Hayes was a screenwriter (Mad Max 2, Dead Calm) before he was a novelist, and it shows: the set pieces are cinematic, the pacing is ruthless for a book this size, and the villain is written with enough humanity to be genuinely frightening.
Yes — I Am Pilgrim is one of the most recommended thrillers of the 21st century, and its 4.4 rating across hundreds of thousands of readers is earned.
Know what you're signing up for: it's about 700 pages, the first act moves deliberately as Hayes builds both storylines, and the narrator's digressions into backstory either charm readers or test them. Some content is genuinely dark (the Saracen's chapters spare little). But almost everyone who finishes it lists it among their favorite thrillers — it's the definition of a vacation book that eats a vacation.
Not yet. Film rights were snapped up by MGM and an adaptation has been in development for years, but nothing has reached the screen. Hayes did finally publish a follow-up novel, The Year of the Locust (2023), after a decade-long wait. For now, the book is the only way to experience Pilgrim — which means you still have time to read it before Hollywood casts him.
It was written as a standalone, but Terry Hayes published a second novel, The Year of the Locust, in 2023. It's a separate story rather than a direct sequel, so you can read I Am Pilgrim entirely on its own.
Yes, it's around 700 pages, and the opening act takes its time weaving the two storylines together. Most readers say the length disappears once the manhunt begins — it's consistently described as 'the fastest long book I've ever read.'
No. MGM has held film rights and the project has been in development for years, but no film or series has been released. The book remains unadapted.
Fairly dark — the villain's chapters include torture and extremist violence, and the murder investigation is forensically graphic. It's not gratuitous by thriller standards, but sensitive readers should know going in.
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