The Year of the Locust
As seen:
By Terry Hayes
avg rating
1 review
‘Utterly gripping, elegantly written… most definitely worth the wait’ Observer
‘Epic and immersive, new and unexpected… deep and compelling’ Mail on Sunday
‘Terrific action sequences and lashings of suspense… ticks all the boxes necessary for a superior geopolitical thriller’ Guardian
‘Compare this with the thrillers written by Mr or Mrs Clinton, and you come away feeling that Hayes is the one who has more inside knowledge’ Telegraph
__________________
A Financial Times Best Thriller of the Year 2023
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.
But some places don’t play by the rules. Some places are too dangerous, even for a man of Kane’s experience. The badlands where the borders of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan meet are such a place – a place where violence is the only way to survive.
Kane travels there to exfiltrate a man with vital information for the safety of the West – but instead he meets an adversary who will take the world to the brink of extinction. A frightening, clever, vicious man with blood on his hands and vengeance in his heart…
__________________
Readers love The Year of the Locust
‘Outstanding… Terry Hayes is scarily good’
‘Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!’
‘The writing is exceptional’
‘Worth the wait’
‘Hayes returns superbly’
Terry Hayes, Sunday Times bestselling author, January 2024
Year of the Locust, Australian bestseller, December 2023
Reviews
It’s taken screenwriter-turned-author, Terry Hayes, nine years to write his second book – The Year of the Locust. His debut novel, I Am Pilgrim, was an international bestseller. But although both fit into the thriller category, The Year of the Locust is a very different kettle of fish. Like Pilgrim this is an action thriller, set on the international stage and involving all the usual rogue governments, terrorist groups and intelligence services. The protagonist is a CIA operative known as Kane, who works in what are described as Denied Access Areas – the most dangerous countries and regions in the world.
The novel is written in four parts. Parts One and Two cover the CIA’s efforts to prevent a new Islamic terror group, known as the Army of the Pure, from attacking the USA. Kane is sent into Iran to rendezvous with a courier and find out more. It’s typical of the action thriller genre, loaded with excitement and tension. In Parts Three and Four, although the story keeps moving forward, the reader is shifted into an entirely new realm, which embraces time travel and glimpses of the future. The story continues to be tense and exciting, but the plot becomes quite bonkers.
If you like action thrillers there’s no reason you won’t enjoy The Year of the Locust, despite its strangeness. And if you bear in mind that Terry Hayes’s screenwriting successes include two Mad Max movies, you may not find the bonkers parts of the plot unsettling.
Some of us in Oundle Crime had read I Am Pilgrim all those years ago and enjoyed it, so our expectations were high for this. And, after all, it has had good reviews. But the book really split opinion in our group. None of us enjoyed, or could make sense of, the time travel section, and we thought it diminished the novel. Those who ploughed through to the end tried to ignore it, and said they eventually quite enjoyed the book. But several of our group didn’t bother to finish reading it. So we think the best way to summarise The Year of the Locust is to say it’s a Marmite novel. A book you’ll either love, or hate. 3+ Stars.
Oundle Crime thanks Simon & Schuster and The Reading Agency for the opportunity to read The Year of the Locust. We are voluntarily giving an honest review.
