Matthew Reilly Books

Description /Buy link takes you to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn money from qualifying purchases.

Author Matthew John Reilly was born in Sydney, Australia on July 2, 1974, and has an older brother named Stephen. He self published his first novel “Contest” (which he wrote when he was just nineteen years old) in the year 1996 due to the fact that it had gotten rejected by every major publisher he sent it to, and so he had one thousand copies of the novel published. With the help of a bank loaning him money, he was able to produce a big budget looking book, and then sold it through each of the shops in Sydney, one at a time.

He says that his wife (Natalie Freer) gave him the necessary encouragement to publish the book himself. A commissioning editor (named Cate Paterson) that worked at Pan Macmillan Australia found a copy of “Contest”, and then found Matthew through his contact info in the front of the book. The original self published copies are now well sought after; one of which has sold for over a thousand dollars. She was able to get him a two book deal with the publisher (due to what she read of a another novel he was working on).

It did very well on publication, and other publishers quickly bought the rights so they too could publish it. After this, his books have sold over seven million copies, over twenty languages worldwide. He also studied Law while at the University of New South Wales from 1993 until 1997, when he graduated 31 of 250. He was married from 2004 until Natalie’s death in 2011.

Reilly has written the “Shane Schofield” series, the “Jack West, Jr.” series, and some stand alone novels; he has also written some short stories. The novels he writes are from the action thriller genres.

Matthew Reilly is a big fan of film as well and actually owns a DeLorean as seen in the Back to the Future series. It’s not just a collector’s item either as he actually drives it. Another cool piece of memorabilia he owns is a life size replica Han Solo trapped in carbonite from the Empire Strikes Back.

Matthew Reilly Books Into Movies

While none of Matthew Reilly’s books have been adapted as of this writing, it is only a matter of time until one of them hits the screen. He has had multiple works optioned by Hollywood studios and things just got caught up in development. Paramount optioned the rights to The Ice Station, Disney optioned the rights to Hover Car Racer and the ABC US Television Network bought the rights to Jack West, Jr. for a potential TV series. While none of these have hit the screen yet, it’s only a matter of time before one of them does.

BEST MATTHEW REILLY BOOKS

For those readers looking to get into novels by Matthew Reilly, this section will help with that. It will go over the novels “Ice Station”, “Area 7”, and “Scarecrow”.

Ice Station: This is the first novel in the “Shane Schofield” series and was released in the year 1998. In an ice station in the middle of Antarctica, a team of scientists from the United States finds something buried far down within a layer of ice one hundred million years old. It is made of metal.

The land has no boundaries, and so no rules to speak of. Every single country out there would kill anyone in their path to get this prize. The best United States marines are sent to secure the find. They are lead by Lieutenant Shane Schofield (who has the call sign of Scarecrow). This is a tight unit who is tough and has no fear at all; they have a leader that they would follow into hell and back. Little do they know yet, but they already have.

Area 7: This is the second novel in the “Shane Schofield” series and was released in the year 2001. Deep and hidden in the Utah desert, is America’s very secret base; it is Air Force and is known by the name of Area 7. It has someone visiting, the President of the United States himself. He wants to examine the secrets and inspect the place himself.

He will get much more than he thought that he would on this trip. Hostile things wait for someone to poke around. In the commander in chief’s helicopter crew is a marine that is young. He is also an enigma, quiet, and wears silver sunglasses to hide his eyes. It is Schofield. He is a good man in a storm, so say the rumors anyway. He had better be, based off what the President just stepped into.

Scarecrow: This is the third novel in the “Shane Schofield” series and was released in the year 2003. This is the biggest bounty hunt there ever was. Twenty million dollars for each target, and fifteen targets; all of whom have to be killed by noon this day.

Shane Schofield is one of them, he is one of the stand out names on the list. Groups and gangs of bounty hunters from all over the globe will be coming for him. Even one called “Black Knight”, who is a bounty hunter, known for being ruthless. It would seem that Shane is the only one that the “Black Knight” wants out of the way.

This is different from when he led his men into hell, or when he kept the President safe. Because now, he is the target.

Seven Ancient Wonders: The first book in the Jack West Jr. series is one of Reilly’s best. The Indiana Jones-esque character with hints of Robert Langdon debuts here with an exciting quest to find an ancient artifact that could save the world – or enslave it for a thousand years. If you like action, this is the book for you as this is non-stop action from cover-to-cover. This one will keep you on the edge of your seat with tons of twists and have you ready for the next Jack West book.

When Does The Next Matthew Reilly book come out?

Matthew Reilly doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is Mr Einstein's Secretary and was released on October, 17th 2023.

Home » Author » Matthew Reilly

BookSeries.org