Area 7 (2001 original; edició 2001)

Like many of these Shane Schofield books they take a bit of suspended disbelief and a lot of accepted probable impossibility. The one thing though you can always depend on with this series is non-stop action and an escape from reality. They are just good, fun stories. Matthew Reilly is a genius when putting words on paper to create a memorable adventure. No matter how improbable the story may get you can always be sure that this author going to tie the story line together masterfully with clever twists and details. You just have to lean back and enjoy the ride. ( )

Once again i loved it! Its not "deep" meaningful writing so if thats what your looking for then this is not it but if you want high-octane action, shooting, stunts, fun etc then your in the right place! Shane is awesome! I would marry him just so he can swing me from his maghook while dropping 300ft through an elevator shaft!! Who wouldnt!! : ) lol ( )

Another Scarecrow book, an action hero who can do no wrong other than being a little awkward with women he loves. The usual Reilly credulity straining action narrative which is easy to breeze through. ( )

I thought "Ice Station" was great - this is even better. More action (if that's possible), a touch of romance between Scarecrow and Gant, a wonderful character called Mother, lots of thrills and suspense, and a race against time to save the President of the United States. What more could you ask for in a book? Absolutely devoured it!! ( )

Area 7 is the second thriller in the Shane Schofield series. After the events of Ice Station, Shane “Scarecrow” Schofield, captain in the US Marine Corps, has been assigned to the relatively low key job of protecting the President while he's on the Marine One helicopter. When the President decides to visit a remote military base called Area 7, Schofield and his team, Elizabeth “Fox” Gant, Gena “Mother” Newman and Buck “Book II” Riley, accompany him. Once at the base, they discover that it has been taken over by a rogue General who they thought to be dead, Charles “Caesar” Russell. Not only has Caesar planted bombs in fourteen cities across America, he’s made it so that the death of the president will detonate them.

He challenges the President to a contest. He tells the President that military personnel have paid the price for the blunders done by the civilian leadership. He informs him that a transmitter was surgically implanted near his heart. If his heartbeat stops, the nuclear arsenal will explode. If the President lives, the country lives. And if he dies, the country dies. The President has to survive in Area 7, which has been locked down with 50 traitorous special ops soldiers trying to murder him. Of course, the President will have Schofield and his small group of soldiers to help him.

This is a book that meets every expectation of the action-adventure genre. There is page after page of non-stop action and once things kick off, the reader is breathless until the very end. This is a pure adrenaline, action novel that is the equivalent of an action blockbuster movie starring whoever your favorite action hero is. We get a gang of insane criminals who have been used as guinea-pigs, and even vicious Komodo dragons. The chase continues over land, under water and even goes into space, yes space! This book is definitely not for someone looking for a realistic fiction story but wow! You can't get a better action series than this one. ( )