Customer Reviews

Hell Island

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

PLOT: 4 teams of different special forces units are sent on a secretive island in the middle of the pacific ocean. Their mission is to find out why all contact to soldiers and scientist on the island is lost. And they do find out the hard way. Hell Island lives up to its name and the soldiers plunge into a nightmare they could never dreamed of...

The book is indeed a quick read. Its 115 pages are printed with large letters that would enable you to read it from almost 2 meters away. Therefore the story is really narrowed down to a showdown only. As a result it is Reilly's simplest work so far and cannot be as good as e. g. "Ice Station". But it features Captain Shane M. Schofield, nicknamed "Scarecrow", again.

In general when you read a book by Reilly you cannot expect any kind of in-depth character study. And you should also be prepared for lack of logic and completely ridiculous ideas / twists / events that would turn characters like James Bond, Rambo and Triple X into poor bystanders.
Reilly's stories are like a two hour movie where you missed everything except the last action packed ten minute showdown. You will get a few lines of introduction and then all hell will break lose. A non stop roller coaster action ride till the very end.
Of course everything is exaggerated big time in his books and especially in this short story! But, hey, which of today's action movies, mafia films, sports movies, Sci Fi films, horror movies or even love stories are not ridiculous or embarrassing in parts?

Matthew Reilly was born in 1974 - young enough to be grown up with video games and action movies. I assume he still spends a lot of time with it today. At least it would explain his writing style quite well.
Most readers would probably despise Reilly for this simple, comic book writing style. But if you are out for entertainment you will always get it in his books big time!
So lean back, stop thinking about it and simply enjoy the show!!!

PS
If you are not into these kind of books then please simply walk away and don't read them instead of complaining loudly afterwards!

The origin of 'Hell Island' is interesting...Reilly was asked to pen a short-story/novella that would be distributed absolutely free in Australia only. He COULD have gone the route of many authors put in this situation and saved the GOOD stuff for a differnt book, but he chose the story of 'Hell Island' hoping that if he produced something really fun to read, it might spark interest in his other books. The end result is a story that--up 'til recently, was available to about only three groups of people...those who live IN Australia...those who travel TO Australia...or those who could afford to buy a copy off ebay FROM Australia.

I had the opportunity to interview Mr. Reilly not long ago, and he mentioned that he would send me a copy...I got tired of waiting, and went ahead and grabbed a copy off ebay and wouldn't you know it, RIGHT after that I discovered they had copies to buy stateside. Oh well.

The story--what can I say? If you have never read Reilly before, quite literally, you haven't got a clue just how intense his novels really are. Seriously. Nobody writes with adrenaline to the degree that the average Reilly story comes stock with. NOBODY. Before you begin reading you simply MUST prepare yourself for an over-the-top, barely believable story that moves faster than a Tomahawk attached to the Space Shuttle. However...with that said, very few authors throw as much sheer FUN into their stories as you can find in ANY of Matthew Reilly's novels, either. Sure the stories may be flat-out unbelievable, but Reilly is well aware that his stories aren't in the realm of reality...he IS fully aware that his job as a writer is to entertain his readers, and THAT is what he does and might I say he does VERY well.

'Hell Island' is another Shane 'Scarecrow' Schofield adventure, and part of me was a bit disappointed that the storyline wasn't expanded into a full-blown novel, but that's mostly due to the fact that the time in between new Reilly Books seems to be longer and longer...and, well, I was just feeling a bit selfish I suppose.

Let me wrap this up by saying this: Matthew Reilly is easily one of my top 5 favorite MUST READ authors now--and that is no small feat considering how much I read. I don't buy his books to immerse myself into events that MAY happen, I read Reilly to escape and have a great time on the edge of my seat--something he does better than every thriller author in print today--hands down. The momentum of his books is on a level literally head and shoulders above ALL authors I have ever read. Don't get me wrong, nobody's gonna award Reilly with a classical character development award for literature anytime soon...B-u-u-t, if you want a story that moves at nearly the speed of light, there isn't a writer alive who can match Reilly. And that's the truth.

PS Matthew, if you read this, I still haven't received that copy you promised me. Hint, hint.

This is vintage Matthew Reilly - insane action, tremendous loss of life, blood, bullets, explosions, mayhem - you get the picture. The product descriptions says something about this being for all ages, but if you don't want your kids to read bad words and get all sorts of violent images into their impressionable minds, I'd say that this isn't good for pre-teens.

As always, Reilly writes like a Bruckheimer film on steroids. You have to take a deep breath after putting this down. This is kind of like a "rated M for Mature" video game without taking time for cut scenes.

I read this book in less than an hour, so it's a very quick read. It looks like a chapter book for a 10-year-old, but don't be fooled - this is not for kids. It was a lot of fun, though. Highly recommended for the "likes their action too big to be believed" crowd.

Great novella. Reilly can certainly turn out a project "to spec". Asked for an exciting short book that would get the public more actively reading, Reilly delivered exactly that. I will not give away any plot lines except to say that I love the occassional maps and diagrams that help to give clear location to the non-stop action in the story. Thanks Matt!!

A novella following the exploites of Scarecrow and his team? What can you expect? Great action? Hell yes! Great thrills? Hell yes! Daring escapes? Hell yes! Leave your beliefs at the door and hold on for one Hell of a ride. Hell Island? Hell Yeah!

On a side note: buy my ebook, Advent of Storms, due out early 2011... Curious about it? Keep checking Amazon.com for more details!

Hell Island returns our favorite hero Scarecrow to action. It's the typical fast-paced, action-packed, implausible romp that we can't get enough of from Matt Reilly. It is very short, and also has some nice illustrations for several scenes. Mr Reilly explains in the foreword that Hell Island was a project undertaken to try to get young people interested in reading books again, hence the simple style and shortness. It is a laudable effort from that perspective; but as an avid reader already, just not quite enough for me. I await the next full-featured Scarecrow adventure.

I have not read the story yet, and will soon, I expect...I have enjoyed all of the other Reilly books I have read. However, I'm rather disgusted with the sleight of hand being performed here. When I pay $7.00 for a paperback, I expect a full novel, not a short story. I suppose this is a case of "let the buyer beware".

If you read the product description, it says "160 pages"...the story is actually about 123 pages (including the blank pages and full page pictures and chapter headings). I estimate about 90 pages of actual reading material plus the sneak peak at the next (hopefully full length) Scarecrow story. The product description also shows the dimensions of the book, and indicates .2" thickness. Okay, show of hands...how many of us look at the number of pages and/or dimensions of the book when making the purchase online?

Bottom line - regardless of the relative merit of the story, the product presentation is misleading. While Amazon never describes the book as a novel, neither do they bother to mention that it is a stand-alone short story. I do not feel I received full value for the price I paid, and it may impact my purchasing habits on this site.

I did not realize this was a short version ie QuickRead rather than a full length novel. While it delivered when I reread the ad what was promised this would not have been ordered had I known it was so short

OK... I know this is labeled a "Quick Read" (all of 115 pages and large font setting) for an Australian government program. As such, you wouldn't find something like this on the shelves of Borders. As such, Matthew Reilly's Hell Island has to be kept in context. There's only so much you can do in 115 pages when you're writing an action thriller. And since Reilly writes seat-of-the-pants non-stop movement into his novels to begin with, you can pretty much figure that Hell Island jumps right to the "final showdown". And less than an hour after starting it, you're done. But I really can't get over the italicized action words and sound effects liberally added to nearly every paragraph. It makes the book read like a Batman and Robin episode with the sound effect words spiraling up on the screen.

The storyline is basic... Captain Shane Schofield (aka "Scarecrow") leads a team of Marines on a secret mission to a remote island in the Pacific. There are also teams of Navy SEALs, Army 82nd Airborne Division, and Delta squads. The goal is to drop onto the island and a deserted aircraft carrier, and see why the ship and a prior rescue crew went missing. Shortly after landing, they quickly find out why... a genetically modified squad of gorilla soldiers have taken over the area, and they are programmed to stop at nothing in order to kill who they perceive as enemies. Outnumbered and outgunned, Scarecrow's group has to outthink the creatures in order to survive to make it back to safety... wherever that might be on the island.

This whole book would comprise about 15 minutes of a movie scene, so I don't expect much background, character development, or anything else for that matter. For a single day commute on the bus, it's fine. But the whole writing style bugged me the entire time. Phrases like "a black man-sized *creature* came swooping" and "Sanchez *had* to look for himself" (where the *words* are italicized) exist all over the place. I'm sure it's supposed to give a breathless, breakneck pace and feel to the story. Instead, I felt it turned the book into an adolescent young adult book, with the emphasis on "young". I think the book would have read much better just by eliminating that gimmick and letting the story flow and pace on its own...

Yeh, a reasonable plot line but just doesn't get there with some poor editing affecting the readability. Would be interesting to see it done as a movie.