THE GREAT ZOO OF CHINA
By Matthew Reilly
Macmillan, $39.99
Some of Matthew Reilly's legion of fans were surprised and disappointed by his last novel, The Tournament, which featured a historical setting and a much more subdued pace. The good news for those that missed the bloodletting and the frenetic pace of books like Ice Station and Scarecrow, is that Reilly's latest novel, The Great Zoo Of China, is an action-packed return to style that zips along at a very brisk speed.
Reilly has frequently said that Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park is his favourite novel and The Great Zoo Of China is basically Jurassic Park on steroids, with dragons instead of dinosaurs. The storyline is even similar to Crichton's novel, with a small group of American VIPs and journalists being brought to the secret zoo deep within China to see its fabulous creatures for the first time. Included among them is the American Ambassador to China; Jane "CJ" Cameron, a writer for National Geographic and an expert on large reptiles, and her brother Hamish. Early on the visitors are assured that the zoo is perfectly safe and that nothing can go wrong:
"As a matter of fact, Mr Cameron, we did see Jurassic Park. From a very early stage in the development of this facility, we were cognisant of the dragons' dangerous potential."
Of course in very short time things do go drastically wrong and the visitors are soon running for their lives.
The Great Zoo Of China is a big, bold blockbuster. Reilly takes a little while to set up his basic premise and to provide the necessary information about the dragons and the zoo, but once these details are established the book rips into the gear and the action soon follows. Buildings are destroyed, buses and cars crushed, cable cars flung around with abandon and numerous human extras are quickly devoured as the story rapidly races through a series of increasingly spectacular action set pieces to the final breathless conclusion.
As with most of Reilly's books, credibility is strained very early on and readers will need to be forgiving of the frequent lapses in logic. Reilly does, however, devote considerable attention to creating an interesting typology for his dragons and he uses Cameron's experiences with large reptiles to help ground the story, to some degree, in the real world. The frequent use of diagrams and maps also helps to give a patina of credibility.
Easy flowing and very readable, The Great Zoo Of China is not a great piece of literature, but it is sure to appeal to Reilly's many fans around the world. With Christmas quickly approaching it will make an ideal gift for the undemanding thriller reader in your house.
