Long books can take a long time, and the sooner I get that into my head the better. With such high praise, I had high hopes for this novel by Hayes, and I have to say there is a lot to unpack with this text, but it’s not a complicated text. I say not complicated, because it is easy to follow, everything is explained sooner or later, nothing is left unsaid and the tone of intrigue is carried through the full 800+ pages, of course, to compare literature to bodies of water, it ebbs and flows.
There is an intense start to the book and I was intrigued from the start and couldn’t wait to find out where the next chapters would lead me. Unbeknownst to me, the story led in a slightly different direction to what I was expecting. You, the reader, know who Pilgrim is, it’s not a secret but is only referenced in the text briefly. Is there an underlying message to the code-name and title? There very well could be. When looking up a definition for a pilgrim, you are told it is a traveller, often someone on a journey to a holy land, a place of special significance that often has religious ties. It’s interesting looking back at the text with this definition on hand and seeing how it applies to several of the characters you encounter. Who really is the pilgrim at the end of it all? Or does the role change depending on the point of the book?
This is a stressful book, especially towards the end. There is plenty of dramatic irnoies where the reader knows the plans behind some of the events before the leading protagonist and their team, it keeps you on edge. It’s not a book you can really prepare for, it hooks you in from the beginning, only to slow itself down and pace all the information somewhat slowly so that everyone can slowly put all the pieces together and solve the various mysteries that arise over the 800+ pages.
So, why three stars? I was torn between 3 and 4 but settled at the above rating for a few reasons. There were moments in the text that were, to me, very slow, where I found myself struggling to power through to further chapters. At the time, I wasn’t entirely sure what the chapters really fed into the story, looking back I can see why they were included but they definitely slowed the whole reading process for me. It is a very long book, and normally I don’t mind it, but in this case, I think I could have done with a little less.
Nonetheless, I did enjoy it. Maybe not as much as I thought that I would have, but it is a book that I would recommend to a few people which I know would not be phased by some of the more gory details of the plot and its slowness at times. As with many thrillers/crime texts, there are peaks and valleys to them and you either love them or you hate them. Contrary to crime novels being the texts for dark autumnal and winter nights, I’d class this as more of a summer read, not only to match the setting of the tale, but there is something about this novel that makes me wish I read it either earlier in the year or waited until next year. Would I read more by this author? Probably.
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