Visiting the local Borders ( one of my favorite haunts), I browse the book shelves with my usual 5 shots of expresso in a large coffee ( sometimes the circumstances of the day warrant such extreme measures...), and I sometimes listen to other browsers commenting on various writers to varying degrees: Chuck Palaniuk ( FIGHT CLUB is still the epitome of 90's disillusionment and anger-venting) , Barry Eisler ( The John Rain series is a methodical procedural on an assassins' life in Japan), James Rollins ( decent writing, but reads like he's competing against Matthew Reilly without admitting it)... It's here that the real conversation begins...
I rarely get time to really sit down with a good book, and when I do, I really want my money to mean something when I put it down. It was an oft-chance conversation concerning the prose of Reilly that made me check out ICE STATION, the adventurous exploits of Marine legend Shane 'Scarecrow' Schofield and his Recon unit.
A casual flip led to 10 pages of reading. I was hooked in 5.
Folks, I'm a cynic when it comes to the catchphrases because they rarely mean what they say (Spectacular!! Pulse-pounding action!! Pure Adrenaline!! blah, blah, blah---), so it was a blast of renewed energy to me to discover that this guy actually lives up to the hype! WOW! When I say the action is breakneck, the idea of looking for a good chiropractor is suggested. This kid writes action prose like John Woo shoots visuals: it's that tight!!! After reading the first three chapters of ICE, I bought all the other Reilly books on the shelf!
That was two years ago.
I'm reading Reilly's last hardcover, The 6 Sacred Stones, for the 3rd time.
I highly recommend the series especially to the 2 categories Reilly's books fit: To the crowd that loves blockbuster films in print, and to those people who don't read novels... You can literally finish a given book in a days time ( 350+ pages can really read that fast!)
Yeah, this sounds like another geek moment, but as a creator, the huge amount of inspiration in the writing structure alone is overwhelming! Try it for yourself, but watch the time... It can and will slip away from you fast just on a casual flip thru the world of Matt Reilly.
Speaking of which, I've gotta get back to work! My own book awaits!
2 comments:
Deng I'm gonna have to check those out! Good fun books are hard to come by these days.
Trust me, Chief, Reilly writes THE best action films on paper! Cliffhangers on every page and descriptive visuals that actually adds speed to the narrative ( most explainations in prose come across as a 'let's get it out of the way' moments- this guy has figured out how to enhance the action!
Bottom line: Great stuff!
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