Books like I Am Pilgrim
Looking for a book like I Am Pilgrim?
Try Terminal Rage by A.M. Khalifa. Terry Hayes’s I Am Pilgrim and Terminal Rage both came out in 2013, and both follow a man who thought he was out of the game, pulled back for one more hunt that runs from America to the Middle East. If Pilgrim left you looking for another big, global thriller by a writer who came from film, start here.
What they share
Out of the game, back in it
Pilgrim is the retired head of a secret US intelligence unit, drawn back to hunt a lone terrorist. Alexander Blackwell is a retired FBI hostage negotiator, summoned from a Caribbean island because a stranger in a Manhattan tower will talk to no one else.
The Middle East, up close
Both books take their heroes deep into the Arab world. Terminal Rage runs from New York to Cairo and an Egyptian prison, written by an author who knows those places first-hand.
Writers who came from film
Hayes wrote screenplays, including Mad Max 2 and Dead Calm, before Pilgrim. Khalifa started on the set of Stephen Gaghan’s Syriana and has advised filmmakers including Ridley Scott. Both write in scenes you can see.
An enemy worth the chase
Pilgrim’s Saracen is one of the genre’s great villains. Terminal Rage turns on its own enigma: who is the man who seized the tower, and why did he ask for Blackwell by name?
Where they differ
I Am Pilgrim is a sprawling, globe-trotting manhunt. Terminal Rage is tighter, about 400 pages, and starts as a ticking-clock hostage standoff before it opens out across New York, Los Angeles, Sydney, Cairo, Rome, Naples and Anguilla.
A.M. Khalifa is an Egyptian writer based in Rome, raised in a diplomatic corps family across more than fifteen countries, and the only Egyptian writing commercial espionage fiction in English. More on that.
Terminal Rage received a starred review from Booklist, has sold more than 500,000 copies, and is narrated on audio by Scott Brick. It contains violence and sexual content, and is meant for adult readers.
More books like I Am Pilgrim
- Terminal Rage by A.M. Khalifa: a retired FBI negotiator, a hostage standoff in Manhattan and a conspiracy that runs to an Egyptian prison.
- The Kill Artist by Daniel Silva: the first Gabriel Allon novel, about an Israeli art restorer and assassin.
- A Spy by Nature by Charles Cumming: a literary spy thriller about a young man recruited into British intelligence.
- Orphan X by Gregg Hurwitz: a former government assassin who now helps people in trouble.
Questions
What books are like I Am Pilgrim?
Terminal Rage by A.M. Khalifa is one of the closest matches: a retired operative pulled back for one more hunt, a story that crosses from America to the Middle East, and a writer who came from film. Readers of Pilgrim also often enjoy Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon novels and Charles Cumming’s spy fiction.
Is Terminal Rage like I Am Pilgrim?
In spirit, yes: a retired operative pulled back in, a hunt that crosses from America to the Middle East, and a writer with a screenwriter’s eye. Terminal Rage is shorter and built around a hostage crisis against the clock.
What should I read after I Am Pilgrim?
If you want another global espionage thriller about a man dragged back into the game, try Terminal Rage by A.M. Khalifa, first published in 2013 like Pilgrim.
Is Terminal Rage part of a series?
Yes. It is the first book in the series and reads on its own. The second, Terminal Deception, is coming soon.
Is there an audiobook?
Yes. Scott Brick narrates the unabridged audiobook, about 10.5 hours long.