Rating: 
Summary: Interesting story line....at least?
Review: If you're interested in quality action scenes, and a story that twists and develops non-stop; look no further than Area 7. Matthew Reilly continues with his hero from Ice Station, pitting the daring Schofield and the President of the USA in a showdown with multiple enemies. Ranging from elite special forces armed with the best of weaponry, to runaway fugitives, Area 7 is in no short supply of the bad guys. Area 7, located deep in the Utah desert, known only as a secret military institution, gets a visit from the President and his security escorts. Among his escorts, belongs a marine, whos eyes hide legendary combat experience; in short this guy can kick ..., his name is Schofield, call-sign Scarecrow. The book houses page after page of intense action involving foreign special forces, and corrupt military members. Matthew Reilly, utilizes his characters, story, and setting effectively to compile a story that is relatively exciting for those that are interested in STRICTLY action. The book does not belong in a "What does that word mean?" category, the lack of advanced vocabulary, did at times really diminished my attitude towards the book. Note that while Reilly, is effective at his descriptive action scenes, lacks a sense of sophistication in the writing, good or bad is up to ones own preferences. As most readers will observe, the amount of unrealistic page turning scenes adds up, and can have a detrimental effect on your overall liking of the book over time. Though I must give credit to a creatively constructed story line, I would still have to conclusively state that this book is really made for readers, that appreciate suspense and bone-chilling combat scenes, over minimal rationality. If you are more turned on by books that depict realistic scenes, and portray an ultimate image of complexity, this book may be one that stands in your bookshelf, partially untouched. None the less, if your looking to take a break from Tom Clancy's style, this ones a definate candidate.
Rating: 
Summary: Maybe a bit TOO much
Review: I was thrilled to find Area 7 was available. I picked Ice Station up in Australia and was about a third of the way into it when I bought Reilly's other books, it was so good. Now I don't want to sound like I have no ability to suspend my disbelief, as Ice Station was a flash-bang ride which would realitically kill even a superhuman, but Area 7 was a little too much to be believed. The hero is inhumanly fast, strong and tough, with the endurance of the Terminator. I have no problem with this, I know it's not a non-fiction book. At the same time, a few of the feats Scarecrow does are SO impossible that they defied even my ability to suspend my own disbelief. That said, it was a fun read, just not what I'd hoped in the follow-up to the magnificent Ice Station. I understand Reilly is working on a third Scarecrow book. Can't imagine where he'll get sent next, or what he'll have to survive, but I'll get it regardless.
Rating:
Summary: Escapist Fiction with Action, and Suspense
Review: I wont reiterate the details of the book, as AMAZON does
a good job of that. If you are reading this review, it's
because you are trying to decide if you want to read this
book. Well, if you enjoy Escapist Fiction with Action, Action,
and more Action, and as Unbelievable & Implausiblable as it
seems, you will Totally enjoy this book. Scarecrow has more
tricks, gadgets, and escapes than all James Bond movies put
together.! I enjoy reading Matt Reilly books with Popcorn & Soda.!
Rating: 
Summary: Wow. What a ride. Grab your reading glasses and hang on.
Review: Another excellent book by Matt Reilly. However, as much as I enjoyed it, I have to say I didn't like it quite as much as Ice Station. (That's a small "quite" though - I still loved it.)
Why? Because of the President character. In Ice Station, each of the characters was interesting in their own right. But the President in Area 7 isn't actually all that interesting, beyond the fact that he's the President of the USA. He rarely has anything humorous or iconic to say. Unlike Scarecrow Schofield and Fox Gant, I might add.
Incidentally, I'd love to see this rewritten with the (current) Prime Minister of Australia standing in instead of the President. Come on Matt. Why not rewrite the whole thing in Australia? "Area 7, Woomera" "Mr Howard, if your ticker stops, we'll all be dead!" - come on. The punters'd love it.
Even if the character of John Howard wouldn't bring much charisma to the role, at least he could be set up for some interesting action scenes. "And then, Scarecrow Schofield used Howard's billiard-ball bald head to jam the closing door, reflecting the lasers at the same time," etc., etc....
One last thing. Yes, the action in Reilly's plots is sometimes a little far-fetched. Or, unconvincing. And this is a definite minus: I find myself swinging along best when I am at least a little bit convinced of the action: that is, nothing jars too hard. But occasionally there's a solid lump or two - I found the outer space section in Area 7 a little far-fetched, for example.
Overall, however - why not? I think he does a wonderful job of walking the line between overblown and plausible. And the way the action never actually lets up, till the end of the book - love that. I don't think I've ever seen a book that does the same thing, by way of plot. Maybe Reilly should be nominated for some sort of literary prize, for inventing the first "truly" non-stop action novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Weakest of the four to date
Review: Reilly's foray into his second Schofield adventure takes us deep into the Arizona desert and to a place called Area 7. In much the same vein as Contest we are placed in a sealed environment with several groups of people bent on killing each other under the guise of a 'game'. The novel throws in even more action and adventure to the point at which several gears are missed as Reilly throttles it up to maximum power and keeps it jammed wide open for the entire novel. There are two interlinked yet nonsensical plots: the first - the American president has a transmitter attached to his heart and unless can avoid some steroided 7th squadron army personnel bent on murdering him and ensure he handprints a 'football' every ninety minutes lest it set of mini nuclear explosions in fourteen major airports and generally survive he'll be responsible for the death of the US as he knows it. The second - the Chinese have created a lethal virus that only targets non-Asians, created through a genetically created child called Kevin, that an ex-South African military elite unit, turned mercenary organisation, are after.
Amongst all this Schofield - callsign Scarecrow - is part of the presidential detail caught up who need to rescue the boy, the president, kill the baddies in as spectacular fashion as possible and save the day. A multitude of assorted characters are with and against him, from the deranged and resurrected Caesar Russell (terribly cliched), the five 7th squadron teams and a bunch of criminal medical subjects on the bad side to Brainiac, Gant, Book II (son of Book who ended up on the casualty list in Ice Station), Mother and Elvis on the good - to name a few.
So, our erstwhile hero drives the watery canyons (in a manner that Reilly somehow manages to make bigger and better in the latest 'Temple'), flies helicopters, crashes AWACs down enormous elevator shafts, (scenes in elevators is a favorite for our author) kills what seems like more people that were originally in the opening cast, manages a trip into low earth orbit in a X38 (a space shuttle with missiles) and eventually saves the day, the boy, the President and manages to arrange a second date with Gant.
I think this is probably the weakest of Reilly's novels to date. Even for one prepared to take it all with a major pinch of salt and totally suspend reality it got a little out of hand. Nevertheless if you like over-the-top all action novels then this is not one to miss.
Rating: 
Summary: Realism...who needs it?
Review: I thought Reilly had pushed the limits of silliness with "Ice Station." At least, the level of annoyance among readers would surely prevent any further publications by this author. Alas, this was not to be. The author returns with yet another offering of acceptable literary skill combined with a total lack of research and common sense. I will say only that any reader possessing any brain activity whatever should spend their book money elsewhere. There are many excellent authors and worthy stories to entertain everyone out there. This book, like other Reilly stories, will likely leave only a bad taste among readers, and regret at time wasted reading it.
Rating:
Summary: Rubbish
Review: I wish it were possible to give a zero star rating. On many occasions I almost threw this book in the bin. But that wouldn't be honouring the trees that went into making it so I finished it for their sakes. What a waste of time.
Rating:
Summary: More than just action, action, action
Review: "Area 7" is a thriller containing an incredible amount of high-octane action. This huge amount of action, and the lack of realism in many of the things that happen, requires a great deal of suspension of disbelief on your part if you want to enjoy the book. But there's more to "Area 7" than just page after page of action. True, most of the book consists of action scenes with bullets flying everywhere and things exploding and a fantastic line-up of various groups of really nasty bad guys who are all out kill the good guys (and each other) in the most violent and horrifying way possible. It's also true that the story is not particularly believable, nor are the characters very well developed. The bad guys in particular are nothing more than cardboard figures, and the good guys aren't much better when it comes to resembling real people. But Matthew Reilly keeps you reading despite these weaknesses because he has a couple of tricks up his sleeve. The plot is actually pretty interesting (despite being unrealistic), and there are a large number of imaginative plot elements and very creative twists and turns. Several times after you thought you'd worked out what's going on you discover that things are more complicated and the bad guys are more devious than you realized. I especially liked the start of the book, where the leading bad guy, U.S. Air Force General Charles "Caesar" Russell, is executed in Leavenworth prison for treason and murder. But the execution doesn't "take" - as soon as his dead body is delivered to his Air Force cohorts they revive him! And at the same time we're informed that the newly inaugurated President of the USA has some kind of super-miniature electronic device implanted on his heart! From there on the book goes somewhat downhill until around the middle, where the plot becomes better fleshed out and we realize that things aren't as simple-minded as we originally thought. It's because of these clever developments in the story line that I'm giving "Area 7" four stars instead of the three that I'd been planning for most of the book. I'm also giving plus points for the many drawings and maps that make it more interesting to follow the action. And I like the fact that several of the good "guys" are actually good gals, and that they're just as tough and ingenious as their male comrades. At the end of the book there's a seven-page interview with Matthew Reilly, and I must admit that I like this sort of thing because I like reading about how authors go about creating the books they write. In conclusion, if you like imaginative (albeit unrealistic) thrillers with lots of action, action, action, and are willing to almost totally suspend your disbelief, then "Area 7" should entertain you. Rennie Petersen
Rating:
Summary: A little imagination didn't hurt anybody!
Review: This book is an excellent read if you love Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt and Kurt Austin series and basically anything else along that genre. Matt Reilly just simply puts the imagination on the fast track and gives the reader a thrill ride he'll never forget! Inaccuracies? Comic book like quality? Hardly! Come on people! Books are meant to entertain and stretch the imagination! And this book IS entertaining and will leave you breatheless. Shane Schofield is just not some marine grunt who shoots people and says really cliche catchphrases: He's smart, and in the book you actually feel the gears turning in his mind as he outruns, outthinks, outshoots, and outsmarts his foes that seem to come from every which way! Also in the novel even the minor characters have major parts in the book! Shane is a hero that actually isn't superhuman, and that shows lots of human emotion in the novel. And to top it all off it's not just your regular "everybody survives in the end" kind of action novel. Characters will die in this novel, and there are a lot of unexpected twists and turns that will keep you thinking and reading and wondering what will happen next! Reilly keeps things quick and fast, and you as the reader will be smiling at the end of the very last sentence, still feeling the rush of the action....and of course you'll be reading it again! If you liked Area 7 and you plan on reading Ice Station, pick up Scarecrow too! It is a must!
Rating:
Summary: I hope that this was a failed movie script
Review: This could be the dumbest plot ever written. Mad general survives execution, plants nukes in major cities, traps President in secret facility, tripwires nukes on both President's heart AND the nuclear code "football." In the supersecret facility where the Pres has been trapped, of course, are rogue teams of elite, steroid-enhanced killer Air Force -- yes, USAF -- commandos POTUS hunting. Why, I ask, would any criminal mastermind create this kind of game?
Throw in a super-virulent, Chinese, racist virus, a cellblock of criminal psychopaths used for biological testing, idiotic plot twists, physical impossibilities -- a WWI biplane that flies at 190MPH -- and you have the worst piece of adventure fiction since Jon Land. The only person who would touch this would be Steven Segal. The author should be horse-whipped.
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