The Six Sacred Stones - Matthew Reilly

Another year, another Matthew Reilly book.
I've written previously about the whole wonderfully trashy read that is Matthew Reilly. Think of it as Indiana Jones with better technology, a habit of uncovering things in sealed rooms/caverns/pyramids and maps, lots of maps.

This is the follow up to Seven Ancient Wonders.
And it's almost the same book. Same hero, same basic conspiracy/escapade/caper, same mad-cap dash around the world as time runs out, same bit of mysterious ancient hocum.
But please, please don't think I see this as a bad thing.
A Matthew Reilly book is something you throw yourself wholeheartedly into. Kind of like a warm blanket and hot chocolate for the reading muscle.
As all his other books, the writing is simple, the plot simple, characterisation is something elbowed in between the action. And this is still a good thing.

Sometimes it's lovely just to relax into a book, get dragged along by the sheer pace of the thing and have a big smile on your face when you realise that the hero has just done 20 plus impossible things. In the first 50 pages.

The best way to give you an idea is just to give you the suitably breathless ad copy:

"Unlocking the secret of the Seven Ancient Wonders was only the beginning...
bestseller, After their thrilling exploits in Matthew Reilly's rampaging New York Times7 Deadly Wonders, supersoldier Jack West Jr. and his loyal team of adventurers are back, and now they face an all-but-impossible challenge.

A mysterious ceremony in an unknown location has unraveled their work and triggered a catastrophic countdown that will climax in no less than the end of all life on Earth. But there is one last hope.
If Jack and his team can find and rebuild a legendary ancient device known only as the "Machine," they might be able to ward off the coming armageddon. The only clues to locating this Machine, however, are held within the fabled Six Sacred Stones, long lost in the fog of history.

And so the hunt begins for the Six Sacred Stones and the all-important knowledge they possess, but in the course of this wild adventure Jack and his team will discover that they are not the only ones seeking the Stones and that there might just be other players out there who don't want to see the world saved at all.

From Stonehenge in England to the deserts of Egypt to the spectacular Three Gorges region of China, The 6 Sacred Stones will take you on a nonstop roller-coaster ride through ancient history, modern military hardware, and some of the fastest and most mind-blowing action you will ever read."

Phew....