I'm guessing that four years on from the seemingly last Shane Schofield novel Scarecrow, fans of the Matthew Reilly series were expecting something big from Quick Read Hell Island in 2005. Trouble is, the 100-page read has a terminal case of 'too little, too late', ending on an anti-climatic second half after 50 pages devoid of the tension or fear that should have been installed by the author. Here we see Schofield, now without one of his team-mates (I won't spoil who, read Scarecrow!) investigating the titular island with a team of Marines, only to find apes ruling after an experiment gone wrong. If Reilly had a smaller font size and more space to write, he could easily have crafted a tale of horror for his protagonist, providing an interesting diversion from his usual thrillers and scaring the heck out of Schofield as he discovers the truth behind the experiments and being on Hell Island. Instead, we get Schofield landing, finding the apes, stopping them...and that's about it. None of the usual twists or turns that became a trademark of sorts for the Scarecrow trilogy, just a basic mission with one predictable spike that most readers will have figured out in the first few chapters. Here's hoping this year's Army of Thieves benefits from being a full novel and can restore Scarecrow to his former glory.
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