I Am Pilgrim -- Take 2

I finished I Am Pilgrim over a series of nights when I was having trouble sleeping.  Listening to an audiobook is a good thing to do because it requires minimal light and minimal movement, so I'm less likely to keep S awake.  (The one problem that it does create is that, when I eventually fall asleep again, the book continues playing for some amount of time, which means I have to back up the next day to the last thing I remember.  But, such is life.)  Despite my occasionally falling asleep, it was overall an egaging listen, especially -- as was its original purpose -- when I was already awake and doing other things but need a little entertainment.

It is a bit of a sprawling story with multiple plot lines that are left hanging until you get closer to the end.  There was a fair amount of political commentary in the one particular story line that involved a character referred to as the Saracen, but even at that it felt reasonably balanced to me -- some critical, some not.  There was enough nuance to make it feel at least a little bit thoughtful.  There was another line that started with a murder in a New York hotel, which opens the book.  Then it disappears for a long time but it does come back to set the scene for another murder later on.

As with most books that have larger-than-life, I-can-do-miraculous-spy-things-despite-pretending-to-be-a-totally-normal-guy main character, this one required some suspension of disbelief.  "There's no way he would have just guessed at that!"  Just keep going.  "He would never have survived that!"  Doesn't matter, just keep going. But I don't mind that for the sake of entertainment.  Proceed with caution, however, if you do.