"Scarecrow" by Matthew Reilly

"Scarecrow" is the third book by Matthew Reilly featuring Captain Shane Schofield, whose call sign is Scarecrow. It is a sequel to "Area 7", which is sequel to "Ice Station". However, all three books can stand-alone as Reilly does briefly describe the past events and various characters without weighing down his story-telling. Of course, it is good to read them in sequence as you will get more out of it, such as understanding the characters more in-depth and so on.

In "Scarecrow", the action started right from the first page! This time, Schofield is one of 15 targets to be eliminated, with a price of almost $20 million on each target by a mysterious group of 12. As Schofield fights for his life against international bounty hunters, he is also plunged into a headlong race around the world and against time as he has discovered a vast international conspiracy and he has to stop it in time... There is Reilly's usual engaging accounts of combat/ action scenes such as dogfights, aerial battles and weaponry used. :) The mentions of combat vehicles, fighter planes and copters (Yak-141, Sukhoi Su-37, Mirage, Rafale, F-14, F-18, Mi-34, X-15), missiles (ICBM, AAM), submarines, aircraft carrier, sports cars, ... :) In short, it is action galore. I think guys would really appreciate this book more than gals unless they are like me who have an interest in war stuff lol. :P

As with Reilly's other books, it is not a one-man's fight against the bad guys. Schofield works with his people (characters who have appeared in previous books) as a team which makes the whole story much more probable and human. You will see more interactions between the various characters too. There is an interesting new character in this book. I think I would like to see more of this character in Reilly's future Schofield books. However, be warned that there is a character death, really unexpected. :(

As always, Reilly's books are page-turners, full of action and adventure. Don't even think about sleeping if you happen to read his book before bed. Lol. :)

PS. A guy friend once laughed at me when he knew that I read Reilly's books. He said his books are so macho. Lol. But I think differently. No doubt, there is a lot of war stuff in Reilly's books, e.g. Schofield series, Jack West series (which I enjoy reading about anyway haha) but what's more important to me is the way Reilly portrays and emphasises certain themes in his books, namely that of friendship, loyalty, and family. So, to me, his books are not just mindless action. There is more than meets the eyes, lol. (to borrow the line from Transformers) :P