History YMMV / MatthewReilly

* ''YMMV/{{Temple|MatthewReilly}}'':

* {{Narm}}: Reilly has a tendency to spend large portions of text calling characters by their code names or nicknames. Sometimes this works, other times it doesn't. ''Six Sacred Stones'' might be easier to take seriously if the narrative didn't spend so much time calling elite and professional soldiers by names that a little girl gave them (Pooh Bear, Big Ears, Fuzzy etc.).
* {{Sequelitis}}: ''Scarecrow'' feels like a significant step down in quality compared to the stellar ''Ice Station'' and ''Area 7''. The action is just a tad ''too'' over the top to take seriously, the villains are mostly forgettable or so ridiculous they aren't believable (Killain feels more like a Bond villain than something you'd find in Reilly's previous works) and their goals are just silly, and the settings change so fast that it can be hard to keep up. This biggest sticking point is probably [[spoiler:Gant's death, which unlike for example Book's death in ''Ice Station'', feels like it was done purely for shock value. That it was also done by such boring villains as Killian and Brandeis doesn't help.]] Essentially it feels like Reilly was trying to out-do himself and failed.

* AcceptableTargets:
** Before that, it used to be the French - but he's warmed up to them.
** Strangely enough, Chinese weaponry. Whenever a Chinese gun is named, it's usually followed by some variant of "the Chinese knockoff of the (original gun)". Done even more bizarrely in ''The Five Greatest Warrior'', where he has the (fictional) Russian Mi-48 helicopter show up just to describe it as a "cheap [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_CH-47_Chinook Chinook]] knockoff" - despite the Russians having the extremely successful [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mil_Mi-8 Mi-8]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mil_Mi-17 Mi-17]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mil_Mi-26 Mi-26]] transport helicopters that he could have more realistically used.

%%* ''YMMV/{{Temple|MatthewReilly}}'':

** In ''Temple:''
*** [[spoiler:Van Lewen]] gets some great action scenes and bonding with Race, only to be killed without a fight while trying to appeal to the better side of a man who's shown he doesn't have one.
*** Molke ends up the last military survivor of the (quite large) German team out to stop the Neo-Nazis and helps save several main characters' lives offscreen, but never gets a single line or action to suggest that he's anything but a RedShirt.

%%* ''YMMV/TheGreatZooOfChina''

** Judging from ''The Great Zoo of China'', Reilly ''really'' isn't a fan of the Chinese government. Just the government, though; civilians are treated far more sympathetically.

%%* ''YMMV/TheTournament''

%%* ''YMMV/{{Contest|MatthewReilly}}''

%%* ''Literature/TheTournament''
* ''Literature/TrollMountain''
%%* ''Literature/TheGreatZooOfChina''

%%* ''Literature/TrollMountain''

* {{Anvilicious}}: ''Troll Mountain'' really wants you to know that you shouldn't automatically believe "conventional wisdom."

%%* ''Literature/TheSecretRunnersOfNewYork''

* ''YMMV/HoverCarRacer''

* ClicheStorm: ''Hover Car Racer'' in particular isn't exactly original, in fact it could be well described as ''Anime/SpeedRacer'' [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace in]] [[FlyingCar Hover Cars]]. In fact, it could be applied to most of his books. [[{{Troperiffic}} Most don't mind,]] because Reilly's writing is just so awesome.

** ''Hover Car Racer'' features two villainous Renault drivers who team up to put protagonist Chaser out of the race. Come 2008, and Renault would purposely arrange for one of their drivers to crash to give a significant advantage to another in real-life Formula One.

* ClicheStorm: ''Hover Car Racer'' in particular isn't exactly original, in fact it could be well described as ''Anime/SpeedRacer'' [[RecycledInSpace in]] [[FlyingCar Hover Cars]]. In fact, it could be applied to most of his books. [[{{Troperiffic}} Most don't mind,]] because Reilly's writing is just so awesome.

* CompleteMonster: Reilly is not subtle when it comes to his villains:
** ''Literature/{{Temple|MatthewReilly}}'':
*** William Race's present-day story: [[RightWingMilitiaFanatic Earl Bittiker]], a vicious militiaman and founder of the [[ApocalypseCult Republican Army of Texas]], was drummed out of the Navy [=SEALs=] for rape. Having succumbed to a doomsday cultism, Bittiker leads his men to steal the powerful idol to power the [[DoomsdayDevice Supernova]] after several murders. Intending on wiping out a third of humanity in one blast, [[OmnicidalManiac Bittiker]] intends to completely erase the world for the sole satisfaction of seeing it burn.
*** Alberto Santiago's 1500s story: [[HistoricalDomainCharacter Hernando Pizarro]], brother and lieutenant of Francisco Pizzaro, is a sadistic psychopath of a [[TheConqueror Conquistador]] who [[RapePillageAndBurn leads his forces]] across the Incan Empire. Women are forced into brothels and enslaved, children sold into slavery, men tortured and maimed with Hernando having entire villages tortured or massacred [[ForTheEvulz for the sport of it]]. Locating the priest Alberto Santiago and his friend Prince Renco who have taken the idol, Hernando intends to recover it and then torture the two slowly to death simply for the inconvenience.
** Scarecrow (USMC Captain Shane Michael Schofield) series:
*** ''Area 7'': [[EvilGenius USAF Lieutenant General Charles Samson Russell]], call-sign "Caesar", is secretly the head of the elite 7th Squadron at the secret base [[BlackSite Area 7]]--which also contains the [[SyntheticPlague Sinovirus]], a Chinese bioweapon, as well as its vaccine. Caesar is also a top member of the secret racist Air Force society [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain the Brotherhood]]. Putting into motion a plan he had been [[CrazyPrepared working on for 15 years]], when the US President visits Area 7, Caesar activates a transmitter attached to the President's heart. If the President's heart stops, or if he fails to match his palm print to the nuclear football every 90 minutes, over a dozen bombs located in the airports of a dozen US cities will go off. Willing to give the President a "final chance", Caesar has 50 7th Squadron members face off against the President's Secret Service detail, which, unbeknownst to Caesar, also includes Shane Schofield, call-sign "Scarecrow", and several of his Marines. Eventually, the President explains Caesar's plot: The cities that would be destroyed would all be Northern cities, as "Caesar wants an America without the North". Then, Caesar, with both the Sinovirus and its cure in his possession, could use the Sinovirus to rid America of its "human waste products"--how he refers to the Black population. Finally, even when the Sinovirus is no longer an issue, Caesar still had a transmitter attached to his own heart, and is planning to die, [[DeadMansSwitch which would set off the bombs]].
*** ''Area 7'': [[AmoralAfrikaner Gunther Botha]] is a South African [[MadScientist scientist]] with [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain deep ties to white supremacist groups]]. Having worked in an [[UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra Apartheid era]] unit to figure out a virus that only targeted Black people across the world, Botha was recruited by the US to figure out a cure for the Sinovirus. [[PlayingWithSyringes Experimenting on living subjects]] with viruses and helping to create the artificial human Kevin, Botha refines the virus to target Blacks and betrays the US to deliver it to a white supremacist terrorist group to enact his racist ends.
*** ''Scarecrow'': [[ChaosIsEvil Jonathan James Killian III]], chairman and CEO of defense contractor Axon Corp., is also a member of Majestic-12, a cabal of [[CorruptCorporateExecutive billionaire industrialists]] who dominate global political and economic policy, and plot to fake several nuclear attacks in order to escalate UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror into a second UsefulNotes/ColdWar, as well as to [[WarForFunAndProfit create more business for themselves]]. Fascinated by anarchy and its results, Killian plans to make the targets think they were struck by their most hated enemies; this included China and Taiwan, and India and Pakistan. Even after the other members deny permission, Killian secretly changes the missiles being constructed to carry out his plan. Killian's plan would culminate by having a supposed Israeli weapon, with an American nuclear warhead, strike Mecca on the start of Ramadan; this would spark worldwide vengeance by Muslims against American citizens and tip the balance into global anarchy. Killian makes a habit of trapping people--including another Majestic-12 member--in a SharkPool equipped with a guillotine, to see who will kill themselves or each other to spare themselves pain, and after capturing Scarecrow's girlfriend Elizabeth "Libby" Gant, Killian has her beheaded to [[TargetedToHurtTheHero distract Scarecrow]] from stopping the plot. Even after Scarecrow is stopped from committing suicide, helps stop the attacks, and confronts Killian, Killian gloats that [[IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim he will have won if Scarecrow kills him]].
** As Literature/JackWest Jr. races to stop [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the Omega Event]] from destroying the universe, he faces one foe who wants to [[TakeOverTheWorld rule the world]], and [[EvilVersusOblivion another]] who [[OmnicidalManiac wants the Omega Event to take place]]:
*** ''The Three Secret Cities'' through ''The One Impossible Labyrinth'': [[AristocratsAreEvil Lord Hardin Lancaster XII]], aka [[AmbitionIsEvil Sphinx]], is a wealthy man who wants to take over the world to [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist rule with an iron fist]], and is stated to have been cruel from a young age, [[DisproportionateRetribution blinding a boy at 13 for stealing his sunglasses]]. Sphinx is [[TheCorrupter behind]] turning Dion [=DeSaxe=] against his father, and, besides being responsible for the death and destruction caused by the Knights of the Golden Eight, later launches a coup against three of the four kings, one of whom is his own cousin, sparing only Dion. Later having Hades killed, Sphinx kills several nuns--including having one EatenAlive--in order to obtain the Siren bells, which [[ForcedSleep induce sleep]]. Sphinx and his forces use the bells on many major cities worldwide--causing planes and other vehicles to crash--and Sphinx states that he won't wake up many of the people, giving him a potential body count possibly into the billions. Some of Sphinx's minor crimes include killing Dion's father by [[OffWithHisHead horrific beheading]]; killing the Pope; and, after obtaining an objective in Lhasa, Tibet, nuking it so that nobody else can perform the same objective. Even though Jack beats Sphinx, it is noted that in Moscow, one of the first cities that fell victim to the Siren bells, several thousand people died.
*** ''The Two Lost Mountains'' & ''The One Impossible Labyrinth'': [[StrawNihilist General Garthon Rastor]] is a nihilistic madman who even Sphinx calls a "[f]ucking maniac". A former general of the four kings, Rastor was imprisoned because, he claims, he was becoming too beloved by his men, and because of his beliefs. Claiming to believe in the Omega Event, Rastor, who later states he loves killing--men, women, children; he also [[LovesTheSoundOfScreaming enjoys "screams of agony"]]--wants the Omega Event to take place, and will do anything and kill anyone to [[MurderByInaction stop anyone from preventing its occurrence]]. Rastor later [[TargetedToHurtTheHero has Jack's mother killed to break his spirit]], and later goes so far as to order one of his men to [[SuicideAttack blow himself up]] to try and kill Jack; while this fails, Rastor comes frighteningly close to succeeding in his insane goal.

*** ''The Two Lost Mountains'' & ''The One Impossible Labyrinth'' [[StrawNihilist General Garthon Rastor]] is a nihilistic madman who even Sphinx calls a "[f]ucking maniac". A former general of the four kings, Rastor was imprisoned because, he claims, he was becoming too beloved by his men, and because of his beliefs. Claiming to believe in the Omega Event, Rastor, who later states he loves killing--men, women, children; he also [[LovesTheSoundOfScreaming enjoys "screams of agony"]]--wants the Omega Event to take place, and will do anything and kill anyone to [[MurderByInaction stop anyone from preventing its occurrence]]. Rastor later [[TargetedToHurtTheHero has Jack's mother killed to break his spirit]], and later goes so far as to order one of his men to [[SuicideAttack blow himself up]] to try and kill Jack; while this fails, Rastor comes frighteningly close to succeeding in his insane goal.

** ''Literature/{{Temple}}'':