Matthew Reilly, Contest, Ice Station, Temple, Area 7... Options

[Yoda]

So about two weeks ago I found 'Contest' lying around a Borders with a tagline of '7 people go in but only 1 can come out'. My immediate thought: 'YAY!'. My follow up thought: 'This looks good, stop saying 'YAY!'! and go buy it.' Approximately 20 mins later I arrived home and started reading what I was expecting to be a good thriller.

After two pages it became a horror/thriller.

After ten pages a fast-paced horror/thriller.

A few pages later, a fast-paced horror/sci-fi/thriller.

Then, a fast-paced horror/sci-fi/action/thriller.

To my absolute delight I read the whole book in the one sitting

Matthew Reilly is an Australian author and already has a large fanbase, myself now included. He's published four books ('Contest', 'Ice Station', 'Temple' & 'Area 7') and I believe he's now working on a fifth although I can't remember what the name I heard kicking about was.

In his style the books themselves read like some of Michael Crichton's, but in Reilly's plots there's always something more then 'dinosaurs take over park and eat people' (Okay, slightly limited plot there) but in 'Contest' for instance '7 beings are put in a sealed labyrinth from which only one can emerge victorious, by the way there's a huge slavering devouring beastie as well who will try and eat you all , not to mention the NSA team waiting to plug you full of electrodes.'

Of Reilly's books I've read all but 'Temple' and that's only been delayed because of my exams so I'm halfway through it. 'Contest' is a stand alone and I'd recommend anyone who isn't sure if they'll like his style to read it as it was his first novel, and if anyone knows where I could find the original self-published version please let me know.

'Ice Station' and 'Area 7' focus on the chracter of Lt. Shane 'Scarecrow' Schofield, USMC. Both involve his team of Recon Marines being put in a situation that is beyond their control and must find a way out of while being inconvenienced by the French PRPIM, the English SAS, the US Navy SEALs, the ICG, mad scientists (US, French, UK & South African) and finally the US Air Force. All in all, everyone pretty much hates them.

Besides each book being more or less a fast-paced horror/sci-fi/action/thriller (delete parts as appropriate) Reilly also puts liberal amounts of dark humour, as well as frankly hilarious parts in his novels. A particularly funny example involves the emergence of the SAS force in 'Ice Station' which appears to have come from one of the Australian stations and provokes PFC Robert 'Rebound' Simmons into saying '****ing Australians!'. You can just imagine the delight on Reilly's face as he got to write this

In terms of language it can be quite strong at points, but then again it adds to the realism of some situations - but if you don't approve I would avoid the novels (excluding 'Contest').

Anyway, I hope that if anyone does/has read them you enjoy/ed them as much as me

Yoda, off to finish 'Temple'

Edit to say I just finished temple, and the last line is possibly the best ever in a book

This post has been edited by Yoda: Jun 11 2003, 04:58 PM

[jen]

Gosh, I love his books! They're addictive. I know the original post is from, er, two years ago, but are any Matthew Reilly fans still around? Has anyone read his newer books, like Seven Ancient Wonders and Hovercar Racer?