Ice Station - Matthew Reilly

Ice Station - Matthew Reilly ... group of hardy survivors trying to stay alive until help arrives? Sound familiar? Well, Matthew Reilly's debut novel is something of a mish-mash of several well-worn paths, borrowing liberally from movies like The Thing and Die Hard (among countless others) to create what really is the equivalent of an action movie in print. A distress call from the research station in the Antarctic prompts the arrival of a crack team of US commandos, eager to claim as their own the extraterrestrial prize discovered buried in the ice. Several station staff have already met mysterious deaths in the cavern where the supposed 'spaceship' has been found but a team of French soldiers also have their eyes on the treasure and before long all hell breaks lose as a band of soldiers and surviving scientists find themselves fighting for their life against what may be an inhuman enemy. At just over 700 pages, it's a hefty read but there is a distinct lack of padding and the plot is efficiently and tantalisingly constructed. Reilly's gifts do not lie in characterisation or believable dialogue and we are force- fed a diet of stock characters and some dialogue so banal that even Jean-Claude Van Damme would feel embarrassed to utter it. But what the book does deliver is action and plenty of it. The pace is relentless, as the reader is hit with one amazing set piece after another. Credibility is stretched to breaking point on several occasions, but that doesn't seem important. Ice Station will keep you turning the pages until the very end to create a pyrotechnic explosion of action and adventure. It is going to make one hell of a movie!