I'm usually a fan of Matthew Reilly but I found myself disappointed by this one.The Six Sacred Stones in the second book in the Jack West Jr. series. In this adventure, Jack West Jr. and his team must literally save the world. Their quest requires them to locate six pillars and place them in six ancient sites around the world before their time runs out. These sites, however, can only be located via a series of riddles created by ancient writers on six sacred stones - are you lost yet?
To make life even more interesting, the team is up against other super-powers - some are looking for world dominance, others really do want the world to destruct (some racial stereotypes really come into play here - something I thought was pretty offensive). Throw in some gruesome torture chambers, Labrynths and a whole lot of gun fights and you've got yourself a classic Matthew Reilly novel.
Now Reilly's novels are notoriously far-fetched - and I can usually read them without taking them too seriously, but this was beyond far-fetched. It actually defied physics, physiology, anthropology and any other sciences you can think of. He would have been better off turning Jack West Jr. into a superhero rather than a mere mortal.
The novel also ends on a cliff hanger - while this works for TV shows I don't think it works for books. Action books are usually fast paced with a massive climax at the end before order is restored. Thanks to the cliff hanger, there was no climax and I found myself actually getting bored by the same fight scenes that seemed to be played out over and over again.
In saying all that, these are fun books and great for escapism. If I had to pick a favourite action-adventure writer, Reilly would be it. This is the first book of his that I haven't liked and I'm hoping it's the last.
Warning: This book contains extremely graphic violence so only read it if you have a strong stomach
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