Customer Reviews

Scarecrow

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(29)

 

 

The below 8 pages of reviews are mostly low rated entries who knock on the fiction of military abilities and weaponry, the so called lack of a plot, and more. Let me tell you a few things that will contradict those reviews.

First off, let me start out by saying that I just got Ice Station, Area 7 and Scarecrow about 5 days ago and have since finished all of them. This is because the pace of the books are frantic. I rarely put the books down and hated to do so. They will keep you pulled into the story and waiting for the next unbelievable thing to happen.

Secondly, these books read like an action movie. I have seen people below comment on the "Hit, hit, hit - Miss" parts of the book but the way Reilly writes is he uses onomatopoeias to put you into the vision he has of each scene, sound and all. Because these books are structured around that action format you will see, or rather read, amazing scenes that would never happen in real life, like the disarmament of a missile mid-flight while flying next to it. These are no different from James Bond driving a car with his cell phone in the back seat while being shot at.

Third, you MUST love action to enjoy this book. Bottom-line. There are parts in Scarecrow that will make you cheer for the hero and laugh at insane action sequences in amazement, one of those "Holy s***....did that just happen??" You are supposed to read to escape reality and Reilly does an excellent job of painting a picture of insane action to do just that.

Fourth (and final) point. People have complained over the lack of character development and say that the plot in the book is too complex to keep up with...Wrong. Character development occurs throughout the series and if you haven't read the series there will be pieces missing as the 3 books put the stories of the Marines together. Lack of a plot?? No way, each book is masterful in integrating so many side-stories that run together and meet in the middle in usually bloody, action-packed scenes. If you read fast and want to keep up with the plot you are almost forced to keep reading and you will take in all that is going on and remember each piece and later when you come to the last piece of a "mini-plot" everything falls together.

Scarecrow is amazingly well done, I finished in in about 5 hours because I read so intently. I can't wait to see more from this author. The stories are military based but are a far cry from the Tom Clancy library. Rather than go into hundreds of pages of slow plots and boring military speak you are thrust into a novel that a casual reader can pick up and won't put down. Now I can't wait for the movies and see if they match up to the pace of the books.

5/5 - Must read. However it would behove you to read them in chronological order or you may missing pieces to the puzzle.

Matthew Reilly admits that he set out to make this book a faster book that was more densely packed with plot than his previous books. Unbelievably, considering how action-packed his earlier books were, not only has he done it, but this book has stepped the action-thriller up a couple of notches. It's action on steroids.

Shane `Scarecrow' Schofield is one of 15 targets of a worldwide bounty hunt. The bounty on each target's head is over $18 million, enough to lure the best bounty hunters in the world and setting up a series of showdowns of monumental proportions. Scarecrow pretty quickly finds himself with 2 primary objectives. The first and most obvious is to try to stay alive. The second is to try to save the world. After all, what self-respecting super-thriller hasn't got a hero-saves-the-world scenario?

As has been proven in the 2 earlier Schofield romps, he's a hard man to kill and can get out of every hopeless situation, usually with fractions of seconds to spare and this book is certainly no different.

What is different is the introduction of a new ally for Schofield. One could almost term him his alter ego the Black Knight is the perfect complement to Schofield coming with an almost endless supply of weapons and nifty gadgets. His inclusion, acting as Scarecrow's guardian angel throughout the bounty hunt doubles the outrageous antics and death defying escapes.

Know this before you start the book. The premise is so totally outrageous the book could probably be listed in the fantasy section. But that's not the point. The point is, it's meant to be 100 per cent action and non-stop entertainment and that's what it delivers. If you're not prepared to totally suspend belief for around 450 pages for the sake of a rollicking good adventure then you shouldn't even start this book.

If you want an entertaining airport book, pick up Matthew Reilly's latest pure action thriller, Scarecrow. Short on character development/descriptive writing, this video-game style novel offers action to the highest degree, because there isn't a part of this book that is not action. If you care about good, fluid writing then you will loathe this book, but if you just want some entertainment you will enjoy it. As with his other books, Reilly kills off a main character, but this time bigger than the ones in several of his other novels. If you have read any of Reilly's other high-octane thrillers, than you have become used to the relentless action that marks a Matthew Reilly novel. But this book is completely different than those other books, making them look like snooze-fests compared to the action/adventure/gunfire that constantly keeps happening in Scarecrow. There are heroic good guys, vile bad guys, car chases, explosions galore, countdowns to doom, executions a la guilitine, man-eating sharks, and countless impossible escapes, to name a few elements of the action. There isn't much respect for the laws of physics, as characters zoom to Mach 7 in planes, escape countless exploding/collapsing (take your pick)... things, are always saved from falling from airplanes, cliffs (again take your pick, and make up a few more, because they are probably in there), and miraculouly avoid incredible amounts of machine gun fire. As with Reilly's other novels, there is a multi-faceted plot, and a veritable army of bad guys from various groups or countries, who are usually all trying to kill each other at one point or another. There is also a bit of humor involved with reading Scarecrow. The writing is so bad, and the phrases so juvenile that you have to lean back and chuckle once in a while. There are some real beauties in here, such as "Blam-Blam-Blam-Blam-Blam", "Chunk", "Miss-Miss-Miss- Hit!" and "Ka-Whump". Reilly also sometimes chops sentences in half or leaves out words for the sake of the action. All in all it's fast-paced, entertaining, and low-brow fun designed not to be taken seriously.

Having read all of Matt Reilly's previous novels, it was with great anticipation I awaited the release of Scarecrow. The wait was well worth it. As fantastic as his previous novels were- especially Ice Station and Area 7- Scarecrow blows them away! Not only does the action proceed at a phenomenal pace but Reilly also introduces some supporting characters that were a strong match to Scarecrow and his crew. In the final interview section of his book (CAUTION: Don't even look at it before you finish the story, it contains plot spoilers) Reilly hints that the Black Knight may have his own story. I certainly hope so- his is a fascinating character. Scarecrow certainly has its unbelievable moments as Scarecrow and companions escape one challenge after the next. But, THEY'RE FUN!! So, who cares if they could be 100% plausible. Read this story for the sheer enjoyment of it. You won't be disappointed.

This is the first book I read from Mathew Reilly, and after reading the dust jacket I was really excited about the book. The idea of a bounty hunt worth hundreds of millions of dollars and a secret council of rich tycoons masterminding the entire event sounded really exciting.

I was hoping for a novel that would compare with Forsyth or Le Carre and I was ultimately disappointed. Scarecrow tended to read like a comic book with Shane Schofield constantly engaged in completely over the top chases and shootouts. These occur with such frequency that they start to become boring because all the reader wants is for the plot to unfold. Initially the plot has potential to be complex and griping, but after the first few bits are revealed it becomes very transparent. Additionally, it is difficult to feel connected to the characters because the are all totally FLAT. Ultimately, it did not matter in my mind what happended to the different individuals in the book because Reilly spends almost no time developing his characters.

In short, the book has too much comic book style action and not enough on character an plot development. If you like the other authors mentioned above try something else, like one from Daniel Silva or Clive Cussler.

Well, having liked Ice Station and Temple, and to a lesser extent Area 7, I bought this book to continue with the Schofield adventures. I think he tried to outdo the formula that made the other books successful. He tries to pack too much action into it, and the result is not that the book is fast-paced, but rather, that it keeps building improbable situations on top of each other until you look at it and say "there is NO way this can happen!" Like an above reviewer said, it reads like a comic book. I also don't like the way he killed off a main character in it, and the way he did it ruined the book for me. My $.02

Mr. Reilly needs to really fire his military advisors that he lists in the front of the book, either that or listen to them. Because he doesnt have a clue on some aspects of military technology as evident in this book. Supersonic B-2 bombers that can carry a fast-atack vehicle and Eight Marines in its bomb bay?? A Russian S-37 that has VSTOL capability, two seats and room for a holding cell in it?? X-15's that are two seat and have a nose mounted gun??

Yeah I know this is fiction, but its a serious stretch to use these (and other known aircraft)in this story as he did. Most (if not all) the modifications described to these aircraft would take a major redesigning of the structure...enlarging it to accomedate these ridicules modifications. Not to mention pulling a few antiquated X-15's out of Museums first, since they havent flown in a decade or two.
The groundpounding aspect of the book didnt seem that outlandish, but that could be because he choose Army & Marine for military advisors. Someone in this bunch needs to brush up on Airpower 101, either that or google some information, because Mr. Reilly either totally ignored his advisors on this aspect of the story or all three of them are totally clueless to what Airpower capabilities are.

It gets 2 stars because it makes for a fast read story, given the fact that you can willingly ignore blattant discrepancies in a military techno thriller-adventure. Tom Clancy or Dale Brown he is not nor will ever be.

I have to say that I'm a fan of Shane Schofield, and I've read "Ice Station" and "Area 7" multiple times just because they're such enjoyable and relaxing brain candy. In "Scarecrow," however, I think Reilly goes a little too far trying to top his character's previous exploits. To me, Reilly's at his best when he bases the action around one major locale (the Arctic base in "Ice Station" or the military bunker in "Area 7") because he really has an eye for the detail and using every possible facet of the location to describe the action. In the latest book the characters split up way too much and travel to far too many locales for me to get a really good feeling for any of them.
On top of that, Reilly stretched the credibility to the breaking point and beyond. Granted, there's a serious need for suspension of disbelief when you read his books, but it seemed to me that "Scarecrow" took it just that one step too far. The globe-trotting was pretty ridiculous, and while in his previous books Scarecrow or Mother had one or maybe two serious miraculous escapes, his main goal in this book seemed to be to go from one hair-raising escape to the next. The end result is that each successive near-death experience has less effect on the reader than the previous one.
As for the "shocking death of a core character," without giving away too much, I have to say it left me cold. While he tried, I didn't feel like Reilly really did enough to make me care about the event the way I think he wanted me to. In a way, I guess it was symptomatic of the overall problem with the book, it was a shock, but only for shock's sake.
In the end, while I'll definitely read more of Reilly's work, my opinion is that he needs to stick with what worked for him in the first two books. Since I'm not a writer I can't presume to tell him how to write, but as a reader I can say that his efforts to take action to the next level fell short.

Having read other offerings by Reilly, I pretty much got what I expected from "Scarecrow". The book was an easy reading inconceivable thriller in which protagonist Marine Captain Shane Schofield manages to extricate himself from one impossible situation after another. Schofield is imbued with certain superhuman qualities which mark him for extermination.

Schofield is one of fifteen members of a list of people who threaten the grandiose megalomaniacal plans of a group known as Majestic-12(M-12). M-12 is an all male group of some of the most wealthy people on the planet who act as behind the scenes puppeteers controlling world affairs. They have put a bounty of 18.6 million dollars apiece of the heads of the fifteen men to be eliminated. Such a prize attracts an international plethora of bounty hunters.

Schofield and his minions are dispatched on a bogus mission to Siberia which is actually a trap for him. He is surprisingly rescued by an ex-military American bounty hunter named The Black Knight. And so begins an adventure foiling the plans of M-12 to upset the balance of power in the world.

Reilly creates a ruthless villian in Jonathan Killian a heartless manipulative armaments billionaire and the youngest member of M-12. The plot lacks originality and at times borders on ridiculous and might be better served if it was in a comic book format.

I've read almost all of Matthew Reilly's books and can say
that Scarecrow definitely keeps with the tradition of an action
based story. Again, there were late nights because I just
couldn't put it down. I find that Reilly's books have
more action than Clive Cussler's, but the stories are as
fun and entertaining. They are movies for the mind.