I
read this book several years ago, but on impulse I picked it up again recently. Several
hours later I found myself still glued to my chair, completely immersed in the
secret, terrifying world Hayes created for his protagonist Scott Murdoch, aka
Pilgrim.
The book is hard to put down, even the second time around, and for the
next several days (it’s a long book) I returned to it at every spare moment
until I reached the last page.
Pilgrim is an inspired character, supremely
accomplished and confident but also haunted by his past. He uses every fiber of
his being – physical and mental – to simultaneously solve an apparently
intractable murder case and stop a skilled and determined terrorist from unleashing
a plot to kill hundreds of thousands of innocent Americans.
The astonishing story of one man's breakneck race against time to save America from oblivion. _______________ A FATHER PUBLICLY BEHEADED. Killed in the blistering heat of a Saudi Arabian public square. A YOUNG WOMAN DISCOVERED. All of her identifying characteristics dissolved by acid.
A SYRIAN BIOTECH EXPERT FOUND EYELESS. Dumped in a Damascus junkyard.
SMOULDERING HUMAN REMAINS. Abandoned on a remote mountainside in Afghanistan.
PILGRIM. The codename for a man who doesn't exist. A man who must return from obscurity. The only man who can uncover a flawless plot to commit an appalling crime against humanity. _____________
I
wasn’t sure I’d read this book, which arrived as part of a two-books-a-month
plan from a local bookshop. But the cover said it was an Icelandic mystery,
which sounded promising, so I started reading the first chapter and quickly
devoured the rest.
The book is by turns funny, captivating, insightful, and
heartwarming, and I loved it.
Kalmann, a simple soul known in his Icelandic
village as "The Sheriff" because of his penchant for wearing a cowboy hat, is
wise beyond expectation. When he tells of finding a pool of blood, and then the
rich man of the village is reported missing, police from Reykjavik descend to
solve the mystery.
In the unaccustomed chaos, Kalmann calmly continues with his
life – which includes preparing bait for his Greenland shark fishing
expeditions by chopping up raw meat. Who needs to worry with Sheriff Kalmann in
charge?
He is the self-appointed sheriff of Raufarho fn, a sleepy town in northern Iceland, and has everything under control. There's no need to worry. Day by day, he treks the wide plains which surround the almost deserted village, hunts Arctic foxes and lays shark bait in the sea - to process the fish into the Icelandic fermented delicacy, ha karl. But inside Kalmann's head, the wheels sometimes spin backwards. One winter, after he discovers a pool of human blood in the snow, the swiftly unfolding events threaten to overwhelm him. But with his naive wisdom and pure-hearted courage, he makes…
For anyone who loves John le Carré novels as much as I do, this book is a must-read.
The
letters, chosen and commented on by one of le Carré’s sons, are superbly
written and span almost the whole of the famous author’s life, from age
thirteen until just two weeks before he died in December 2020.
Recipients
include a prime minister, actors, agents, politicians, family and fans. The
letters reveal a man deeply affected by a troubled childhood – abandoned by his
mother at age five, brought up at arm’s length by a con-man father – and give
clues as to why his writing is populated by characters who keep secrets and don’t
know whom they can trust.
John le Carre was a defining writer of his time. This enthralling collection letters - written to readers, publishers, film-makers and actors, politicians and public figures - reveals the playfully intelligent and unfailingly eloquent man behind the penname. _____
'The symbiosis of author and editor, father and son, has resulted in a brilliant book, le Carre's final masterpiece' 5*, Jake Kerridge, Sunday Telegraph _____
A Private Spy spans seven decades and chronicles not only le Carre's own life but the turbulent times to which he was witness. Beginning with his 1940s childhood, it includes accounts of his National Service and…
Money laundering. Secret bank accounts.
Murder. What do these things have to do with respected engineer William
Thompson, who until recently worked at a diamond mine in Canada’s far north?
That is the question facing maverick Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer Ed
Zelensky as he finds himself immersed in one of the biggest cases of his
career.
It takes every trick in his arsenal to get to the truth as he gradually
pieces together the links between a brutal assault on Thompson in Mexico, the
engineer’s activities at the diamond mine where he once worked, a Russian
criminal gang, and a large-scale money laundering operation.
