Five days ago, on Monday 11th October 2021, ABC Television's Australian Story (https://iview.abc.net.au/show/australian-story) aired a program on Australian author Matthew Reilly.
Reilly wrote his first book, Contest, at the age of 19, and self-published it in 1996. It was rejected by every major publisher in Australia, leading him to self-publish 1,000 copies using a bank loan. He was discovered when Cate Paterson, a commissioning editor from Pan Macmillan, found a self-published copy of Contest in a bookstore. Pan Macmillan signed Reilly to a two-book deal. The reset is history.
I have the following books on the shelf at home
I still think that his first book, Contest, is his best, so I upped and re-read it in the next few days following the ABC TV show. It must be my third of fourth read and I still enjoy it.
Like all his books, it's fast from start to finish, with unexpected turns at every corner, explosions, deaths and near death experiences. And it's set in a library - what more could you ask. It's a fun can't-put-down read. Definitely 4 stars in my opinion.
However, with regard to his subsequent work, I really like The Great Zoo of China but many of his other books just got more and more ridiculous as they went. Is Matthew Reilly the new pulp fiction writer of the action genre? I don't want to be too unkind but I don't automatically rush to the bookstore to purchase his more recent work.
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