Ice Station: A Shane Schofield Thriller (Scarecrow Series, 1)

Usually, I like a book to challenge the way I think and feel. I like books to help me to be smarter or better. This is not one of those books. The author never pretends to be that kind of author. He is the kind of author you wish wrote the screenplays for action movies. He is a very young man, and writes the kind of stuff those appeals to him. Each of his books cover a very small period of time, usually less than a couple of days, because there is so much exciting action it would take a series of books to cover a week in one. Ice station is fun to read. The characters are really bad or really good the way people aren't, you always know who to hate and who to love. There are some great one liners that will make you laugh, and so much action you will finish this book in one reading. So if you want a fun action story that will not change your life, not tax your brain, but will keep you entertained... This is a book for you.

Reading fiction is about escaping, delving into another world without judging, without preconceived notions.... Who cares if the book is unrealistic, that's what fiction is. That's why people read fiction. If you want 100% real life portrayals of military recon units and the weapons they deploy, go read an encyclopedia or NON-FICTION. This book is relentless fiction from start to finish. Some of the most entertaining action sequences I've ever read. Great descriptions of the landscape in Antarctica, the widlife and the extreme conditions that go along with living there. Like I said before, WHO CARES if these deptictions are wholly accurate... it's fiction for crying out loud! Firefights with MP-5's and Desert Eagles, killer whales eating people whole, hovercrafts and a government conspiracy? Right on Matt Reilly! I can't wait to read Temple, your next work of FICTION.

I echo the thoughts of others who have stated plain and simple that this novel is full of action on top of suspense on top of explosions and add an extra dash of action again. It quite literally never ceases after it starts. Think of the most intense moments from ALL the James Bond and Die Hard movies and then multiply that exponentially and you get the idea. Also, those who dislike this book seem to be totally missing the point of the story. It isn't meant to be taken seriously...but more likely it was meant to give you hours of pure fun, and what is wrong with that? I certainly can't fault Mr. Reilly for that, mostly because I actually enjoyed this exceptionally fun tale very much. For a first novel, this really bodes well for his upcoming stories, which I for one will DEFINITELY be buying and reading. The story is certainly one of thrilling consequences: Could an honest-to-goodness UFO have been found embedded in ice for a millennia? What the bigger question in this action-after-action novel is more like: Now that we've found something that COULD be alien...how are we gonna stay alive? Finding the answer is as fun as just about anything you are likely to read this year. Literature this AIN'T...but fun it IS. Check it out and without having any pre-conceived notions about what an action/adventure novel is supposed to be, I think you are gonna have a fun ride ahead of you.

Those who say this book isn't realistic are missing the boat entirely, it's not meant to be. Ice Station is to books what an action movie like Die Hard is to movies - escapist entertainment. I lost count of the number of times I found myself thinking something like 'no way... oh that was so cool' while reading this book.Possibly the best thing about this book is the action simply doesn't stop. The first bullets are fired about 10-15 pages in, and from then on it is one action scene to another. I read in an interview the author wanted to write a book with essentially no 'down time' in it, and well, he certainly succeeded.

Wow - this book is dynamite. Terrific, absolutely non-stop action, action, action. Reflecting back on it, I thought I recalled one paragraph in there, along toward the middle, where not much was happening - but thumbing through again I never could find it. Ha! This book was a tremendous amount of fun to read, as I'm sure it was for the author to write. Mr. Reilly sure knows how to keep things perking right along - throwing in just about every conceivable plot twist, cliff-hanger surprise, stomach-churning thrills and spills, death-defying stunts and "risk everything" maneuvers. Our hero and his plucky allies (not all of whom are allies... another great bit of spice for the stew) definitely get put through the wringer. There were plenty of times I came to a new twist and went "Oh, no...." And plenty more times (like, right after the great hovercraft chase across the ice) when I wondered how he'd top what had already happened. "He can't top THIS..." Ha! But he *always* did. I am dismayed at the reviews where people condemn the book for not being a literary masterpiece, not another "War and Peace" or whatever. Come on! This is ENTERTAINMENT, not classic lit! This is the stuff comic books and movie serials used to be made of! This is Saturday Afternoon at the Movies.... but in a book. A really fun fun fun book! Heck, this is one of my top ten favorite reads this year (and yeah, I read a lot). Oh and by the way - I don't know if the "mag-hook" is real or a "sci-fi" invention, but I want one! Sounds like a really useful toy... er, I mean, TOOL! Guess I need to call the hardware store....