Given that this is the author's first novel, it is surprisingly good and perhaps among the best thriller I have read. It is a battle between a brave and ultra-brilliant American secret agent and an equally fearless jihadi terrorist. But Hayes has taken care to not offer them as stereotypes; in fact they don’t even meet until the end of the story. . The pages fly by at breakneck speed and great suspense. The narrative is smart and understandable
An anonymous young woman murdered in a run-down hotel, all identifying characteristics dissolved by acid. A father publicly beheaded in the blistering heat of a Saudi Arabian public square. A notorious Syrian biotech expert found eyeless in a Damascus junkyard. Smoldering human remains on a remote mountainside in Afghanistan. A flawless plot to commit an appalling crime against humanity. One path links them all, and only one man can make the journey. Pilgrim.