The 6 Sacred Stones- Matthew Reilly

The 6 Sacred Stones
Matthew Reilly
Simon & Schuster, Jan 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 fast-paced tale that never slows down from the moment the Wizard drafts Jack. In some ways the story line lampoons the larger than life hero saving the world against all sorts of odds. You don’t know Jack about fun action thrillers if you miss Matthew Reilly’s entertaining modern day swashbuckling epic adventure.

Harriet Klausner