“The Year of the Locust” by Terry Hayes

The Year of the Grasshopper by Terry Hayes, edited by JC Lattès, was translated from English by Sophie Bastide-Foltz. Anyone who likes American writing with a twist at the end of each chapter will be completely satisfied with this new novel from the Anglo-Australian author.

Ten years after the big one I am a pilgrim Terry Hayes tells us Once again a long hunt, an investigation led by an extraordinary CIA agent on the trail of an extraordinary Islamist terrorist, as fierce as he is intelligent, but this time with a touch of science fiction in the novel, a hunt through the most inaccessible and dangerous Regions of the world: Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and even Russia.

600 well-documented pages in which we learn a lot about the art of penetrating these forbidden regions. There is also a lot about CIA spies and the enormous surveillance tools and resources available to the security authorities. And since Terry Hayes even ventures into science fiction in this novel, we get a sketch of what tomorrow’s war will look like.

The hero of the novel is a super spy with exceptional field analysis skills.

He is the villain, relentless. His journey is fascinating, from his youth in Siberia, through the Russian special forces, to his graduation from an Islamic terrorist group that, in passing, closely resembles the Islamic State Chorassan, recently alleged perpetrator of the Moscow attack. This hunt is captivating and rich and once again requires exceptional expertise.

I am a pilgrim The impressive thriller by Terry Hayes

Published in 2014, this monumental novel has sold between 4 and 5 million copies worldwide. I highly recommend purchasing this book, it is also available in paperback. Then we discovered a hunt like the CIA was able to carry out after the 2001 attacks. We find the same mechanism, the way in which Terry Hayes constructs his story, progressing slowly and, above all, not in a straight line, flooding us with details, side stories or events that a priori do not seem to flow into the main story, but still material that in others would provide the pretext for several novels.

Terry Hayes has a lot of imagination, his villains are really and generally very intelligent, mbut this time, in The Year of the LocustThere is a lack of, let’s say, the “discovery” effect. We know the author’s devices, and the intrusion of science fiction is not necessarily the most successful element. Nevertheless, we find it difficult to put this new thriller down.