Area 7 (The Scarecrow series) - Hardcover

Reilly, Matthew

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0333906268 ISBN 13: 9780333906262

Publisher: Macmillan, 2001

Synopsis

'Epic, action-packed adventure ... unbelievably pace' Mirror Philip Schofield is sent to a top-secret US Air Force installation in the Utah desert. After the notoriety of his recent adventures in Antarctica, the Marine Corps decide they want him well out of the media's reach - so assign him to the US President's helicopter known as Marine One. In this new role, Schofield will be escorting the visiting President on an inspection tour of the base itself. But, already waiting and watching, there are certain people there who don't plan on the head of state ever leaving the place alive. 'Everything you want a fast-paced thriller to be' Newcastle Herald 'Nonstop thrills... cliffhangers galore' Publishers Weekly 'Buckle up, put the seat back, adjust the headrest and hang on' The Sunday Age

About this title

Review:

Matthew Reilly's Area 7 shows an even more concentrated skill at keeping us turning the pages than his previous bestsellers Ice Station and Temple. He knows just the kind of book he wants to write, and he's repeatedly said that the key agenda behind his kinetic thrillers is to keep the reader's pulse quickened throughout.

In Area 7 America's most secret base is the eponymous Area 7, and hidden deep in the Utah desert, this high-tech Air Force installation is visited by very few unauthorised personnel. But when the President of the United States pays a call, he encounters a nasty surprise: a hostile force is waiting inside. And as mayhem erupts, Schofield, a young marine in the President's entourage, finds himself obliged to live up to his reputation: that he's a good man in a storm. Reilly's speciality is the steady accumulation of cliffhanging situations (as he demonstrated so readily in Temple) and he pulls off the trick with his usual aplomb in this one. If the President here seems considerably brighter than the current real-life incumbent, that's a minor distraction in a thriller that maintains a Rottweiler-like grip on our attention:

The flashlight was the only thing that saved Book II's life. Primarily because it blinded the man on top of the decompression chamber, if only for a moment. That was all the time Book II needed. His shotgun boomed, blasting their commando's goggles to pieces, sending him flying off the top of the chamber. It was a small victory, for at that exact moment, gunfire erupted around the darkened room as a legion of dark figures emerged...

--Barry Forshaw

Review:

'Nonstop thrills ... cliffhangers galore.' (Publishers Weekly)

'Reilly is the hottest action writer around.' (The Evening Telegraph)

'Buckle up, put the seat back, adjust the headrest and hang on.' (The Sunday Age)

About this edition

• Publisher: Macmillan
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0333906268
• ISBN 13: 9780333906262
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 512