The Year of the Locust: The ground-breaking second novel from the internationally bestselling author of I AM PILGRIM

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Three quarters of the book is spy thriller and then he switches in a 180 degree turn and it becomes Science Fiction - a very ballsy move, folks and dangerous. When I finished the book, I read about readers' reaction to this and yep, a few people DNF'd it, put it down and didn't continue. Hayes seems to have thrown every implausible plot device into a blender, hoping for a smoothie but ending up with chunky, narrative soup. The first two-thirds of the book teeter on the edge of believability, like a cat on a windowsill in a hurricane. But it's the final third where Hayes really cranks up the 'implausibility-o-meter' to a level that would make even sci-fi aficionados raise an eyebrow. This portion of the book sees Kane getting displaced forward in time after a disastrous voyage in a prototype submarine that has cloaking technology and he finds himself 24 years in the future where New York is an apocalyptic landscape and The Locust has been hell bent on destroying the world - pretty out there, huh?

Kane himself is a very engaging character and he has many layers and he's very human despite his phenomenal skill set. He has vulnerabilities and fears just like everyone else and I think the character was very authentically written and just brilliant to read about and spend time with. The protagonist, Kane is what you call an elite operator for the CIA, a denied access area spy and when a mission needs to be completed in some of the most dangerous places in the world: Iran, Pakistan, Russia, China, North Korea etc. they don't send in the Special Activities Division - they send Kane instead. As with hist first book, the detail of the plot, weaving various strands and sub plots together - Saigon and the Magus stand out - were excellent. The only clue to any possible difficulties Hayes might have had in the writing is that Kane’s mission comes to a climax fairly early, and then, after the novel has trodden water for a little while, he embarks on another one: there’s a slight sense of cut-and-shut. While the first half chronicles events you might expect to read about in tomorrow’s newspaper, the second half is an excursion into sci-fi.Is dit boek voor iedereen weggelegd? Ik denk het niet. Sowieso is het een erg lang en uitgebreid verhaal met spionage en terrorisme als hoofdthema. Hier moet dus wel je interesse liggen. Ikzelf vond het met momenten toch net wat te lang duren, maar het was een leuke kennismaking met deze auteur. If, like Kane, you're a Denied Access Area spy for the CIA, then boundaries have no meaning. Your function is to go in, do whatever is required, and get out again - by whatever means necessary. You know when to run, when to hide - and when to shoot. Be interesting to see how it sells. Unfortunately I won’t be recommending it but then I won’t deter people who want to buy it. Epic and immersive, new and unexpected... his research into spycraft is deep and compelling' Mail on Sunday think it is one of the best standalone thriller novels I have ever read. Now, that's a pretty big claim because being widely read in my favorite genre of all time, it just blew me away.

If people continued on, they would realize that Kane doesn't spend too long in this timeline and the rest of the book occurs in the present so if anyone threw the book down, take it from me personally that you will finish the book on a high note. Within the book I liked how (unrelated to the main plot) there was a side mission of sorts involving The Magus, an elusive traitor that Kane tries to locate and by the end of the book there is a tantalizing detail that ties up that sub plot.Terry Hayes's first novel, I am Pilgrim was released about 10 years ago and I do remember it coming out because I was in the book trade at the time but got distracted with other books and forgot about it!

Wanneer je, net als Kane, werkzaam bent als spion voor de CIA in Denied Access Area’s, dan hebben grenzen geen betekenis. Jouw taak is om je toegang te verschaffen, te doen wat nodig is en weer te ontsnappen… op welke manier dan ook. Je weet wanneer je moet rennen, wanneer je je moet verstoppen en wanneer je moet schieten. As good, if not better, than Hayes' debut. Don't make any plans for the week after you start reading' Daily Mirror Firstly, like many others I loved I Am Pilgrim, I’ve recommended it to many of my friends and when I read it I didn’t even want to blink as it wasted reading time.Kane reist erheen om een man met cruciale informatie voor de veiligheid van het Westen te evacueren, maar in plaats daarvan ontmoet hij een vijand die de wereld tot aan de rand van de afgrond zal brengen. Een angstaanjagende, intelligente, wrede man met bloed aan zijn handen en wraak in zijn hart... I will start this review by saying up front 1: No spoilers and 2: I could not put I am Pilgrim down. So, with this in mind I spent a long time anticipating Terry Hayes second book. The release date of which was delayed again and again. I used to work in publishing. I know what this means. Rewrites because one or both parties are not happy. This is usually bad news for you, gentle reader. Be afraid. Be very afraid.