Matthew Reilly, The 6 Sacred Stones

The 6 Sacred Stones

Matthew Reilly

Simon & Schuster, January 2008, $25.00

ISBN 9780743270540

After spending a decade on a quest to obtain the Golden Capstone of the Great Pyramid from the ancient wonders (see 7 DEADLY WONDERS), Jack West Jr. retires, vowing no more adventures, as that is a young man's game. He and his adopted daughter, Lily move to the Australian outback.

However, Jack's idle idyllic time raising Lily is disrupted when his friend Professor Max "Wizard" Epper arrives in the Outback claiming the world needs Jack's help. Max insists that a strange object he dubs the Dark Sun will arrive in nine days leading to the Apocalypse. To prevent the end of days, someone of Jack's proven caliber must find the six legendary Pillars, clean them using the Philosopher's Stone and insert the pillars in the 6 Vertices. This would turn on the Great Machine that would void the Dark Sun's terminal discharge.

As with the prequel, THE 6 SACRED STONES is a wild, over the top and fast-paced tale, that never slows down from the moment the Wizard drafts Jack. In some ways the storyline lampoons the larger than life hero saving the world against all sorts of odds. You don't know anything about fun action thrillers if you miss Matthew Reilly's entertaining, modern day, swashbuckling, epic adventure.