# Matthew Reilly
**Matthew Reilly** (born 1974 in Sydney) is an Australian author of fast-paced action thrillers who has sold more than 8 million copies worldwide in over 20 languages, and who broke into print in the 1990s by self-publishing his first novel, *Contest*, after major publishers rejected it[1](https://matthewreilly.com/about/) • [2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/reilly-matthew-1974). He is best known for two long-running series, the [Scarecrow](https://www.edgepedia.org/scarecrow) novels featuring Marine captain Shane Schofield and the Jack West Jr. adventure novels, along with standalone titles such as *Temple*, *The Tournament*, and *The Great Zoo of China*[3](https://matthewreilly.com/wp-content/uploads/the-heros-helmet.pdf). He later moved into filmmaking, directing the 2022 Netflix film *[Interceptor](https://www.edgepedia.org/interceptor-film)*[4](https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781761775703/).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | Sydney, Australia, 1974[1](https://matthewreilly.com/about/) |
| First novel | *Contest*, written at age nineteen while studying law at the University of New South Wales; self-published in 1996 in a print run of 1,000 copies[2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/reilly-matthew-1974) • [5](https://www.moneymag.com.au/matthew-reilly-novelist) |
| Breakthrough | *Ice Station* (1998), signed to Pan Macmillan Australia after an editor found the self-published *Contest* in a Sydney bookshop[1](https://matthewreilly.com/about/) |
| Main series | Scarecrow novels (Shane Schofield) and Jack West Jr. novels, plus standalones including *Temple*, *Hover Car Racer*, *The Tournament*, and *The Great Zoo of China*[3](https://matthewreilly.com/wp-content/uploads/the-heros-helmet.pdf) |
| Sales | Over 8 million copies worldwide, published in over 20 languages[4](https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781761775703/) |
| Screen work | Directed *Interceptor* (2022), the number one streamed movie on Netflix in Spring 2022, co-written with Stuart Beattie[4](https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781761775703/) |
| Recent work | *The Detective* (2025), first in a new Sam Speedman series, followed by *King's Ransom* (2026)[4](https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781761775703/) • [4](https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781761775703/) |
## Early career and self-publishing
Reilly wrote his first science-fiction action thriller, *Contest*, when he was nineteen, while pursuing a law degree at the [University of New South Wales](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-new-south-wales)[2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/reilly-matthew-1974). After every major publisher in Sydney rejected it, he self-published the book in 1996, printing 1,000 copies at a cost of $8 each and selling them into Sydney bookshops one store at a time[5](https://www.moneymag.com.au/matthew-reilly-novelist) • [1](https://matthewreilly.com/about/). His stated goal was to get the book onto shelves where publishers checked out the competition, and that is what happened: in January 1997, Cate Paterson, a commissioning editor at Pan Macmillan Australia, bought a copy at [Angus & Robertson](https://www.edgepedia.org/angus-and-robertson)'s Pitt Street Mall store and tracked him down through the contact details printed in the book[1](https://matthewreilly.com/about/). On the strength of *Contest* and early chapters of his next novel, she signed him to a two-book deal with Pan Macmillan[1](https://matthewreilly.com/about/). The original self-published editions of *Contest* later became collectors' items, with one selling on eBay for $1,200[1](https://matthewreilly.com/about/).
## Breakthrough with Ice Station
*Ice Station*, published in late 1998, was an immediate success in Australia and was bought by major publishers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany[1](https://matthewreilly.com/about/). It was his second novel and his first US publication[2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/reilly-matthew-1974). The plot sends a team of American scientists and Marines to Wilkes Ice Station in [Antarctica](https://www.edgepedia.org/antarctica), where something resembling a spaceship has been found in a cavern deep below the ice[6](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/authorpage/matthew-reilly.html). Reilly received an advance of $6,000 for the book and has described it as a deliberate response to Hollywood action movies: in a novel, he reasoned, the biggest action scenes cost nothing to stage[5](https://www.moneymag.com.au/matthew-reilly-novelist) • [1](https://matthewreilly.com/about/).
## The two series
**Scarecrow novels.** The series centers on Marine captain Shane M. "Scarecrow" Schofield and comprises *Ice Station* (1998), *Area 7* (2001), *Scarecrow* (2003), the novella *Hell Island* (2005), *Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves* (2011), and *Scarecrow Returns* (2012)[3](https://matthewreilly.com/wp-content/uploads/the-heros-helmet.pdf) • [6](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/authorpage/matthew-reilly.html). In *Scarecrow*, Schofield learns he is on a bounty hit list of fifteen of the world's most skilled military operatives, each head worth $18.6 million, with all targets to be eliminated within six days[2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/reilly-matthew-1974). *Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves* was the biggest-selling fiction title in Australia in 2011[1](https://matthewreilly.com/about/).
**Jack West Jr. novels.** The second series follows an Australian adventurer racing to solve ancient mysteries, beginning with *Seven Ancient Wonders* (2005, published as *Seven Deadly Wonders* in the US), continuing through *The Six Sacred Stones* (2007), *The Five Greatest Warriors* (2009), *The Four Legendary Kingdoms* (2016), *The Three Secret Cities* (2018), *The Two Lost Mountains* (2021), and *The One Impossible Labyrinth* (2022)[1](https://matthewreilly.com/about/) • [6](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/authorpage/matthew-reilly.html). Reilly chose countdown-style titles for the sequels after meeting readers who had started with *Scarecrow* or *Area 7* without realizing they were sequels to *Ice Station*[7](https://matthewreilly.com/resources/faqs/).
## Standalone novels and range
Reilly's standalones show a wider range than the two series. *Temple* (1999) sends a linguist, William Race, into the Peruvian jungle to recover an Incan idol carved from thyrium-261, a meteoric material that can fuel a weapon of mass destruction; Publishers Weekly described the book as having a gift for momentum that never lets up[8](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780312266592). *Hover Car Racer* (2004) is a young readers' series set in a near-future world of hovercraft racing, which Reilly spent eight months writing and chose to publish himself online rather than sell to a publisher[6](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/authorpage/matthew-reilly.html) • [2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/reilly-matthew-1974). *The Tournament* (2013) is a historical thriller narrated by the thirteen-year-old Princess Elizabeth Tudor, who accompanies her tutor Roger Ascham to Constantinople for the world's first international chess tournament in 1546[6](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/authorpage/matthew-reilly.html). *The Great Zoo of China* (2014) imagines a new zoo in Guangdong Province whose exhibits are dragons[6](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/authorpage/matthew-reilly.html). His other titles include *The Secret Runners of New York* (2019) and *Mr Einstein's Secretary*[1](https://matthewreilly.com/about/).
In 2025 he began a new series with *The Detective*, a crime novel introducing private detective Sam Speedman, set in the American South, published by Pan Macmillan Australia in October 2025 and by Orion in the UK in spring 2026; the sequel *King's Ransom* was announced for 2026[4](https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781761775703/) • [4](https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781761775703/).
## Screen work
Several of Reilly's books have been optioned without reaching the screen: [Paramount Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/paramount-pictures) optioned *Ice Station* but never made the film, and [Walt Disney Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/walt-disney-pictures) bought the rights to *Hover Car Racer* while the book was still in manuscript, with several screenplays written but no film produced[1](https://matthewreilly.com/about/). ABC US Network Television optioned the Jack West series for a television project with producer [Mark Gordon](https://www.edgepedia.org/mark-gordon) and writer Michael Seitzman[1](https://matthewreilly.com/about/). The option that became a finished work was *Interceptor* (2022), which Reilly co-wrote with Stuart Beattie and directed; it was the number one streamed movie on Netflix in Spring 2022[4](https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781761775703/) • [9](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/interceptor-matthew-reilly-stuart-beattie-elsa-pataky). Reilly has described the shift from novels to film as a move from a solitary pursuit to a necessary collaboration[9](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/interceptor-matthew-reilly-stuart-beattie-elsa-pataky).
## Style and reception
Reilly's novels are built on extremely fast pacing, short sentences, frequent scene changes, and detailed technical descriptions of weapons, vehicles, and locations; his books regularly include diagrams and lists, which he draws himself and treats as reading aids rather than complete pictures of the settings[10](https://sobrief.com/books/ice-station?report_issues=true) • [7](https://matthewreilly.com/resources/faqs/). Reviewers have consistently noted the same qualities: Publishers Weekly called *Temple* a thriller that "delivers all the excitement it promises" while observing that his writing is at points crude and his characters cartoonish[8](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780312266592), and the London Independent described his adventure yarns as potentially reviving "an ageing genre"[2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/reilly-matthew-1974).
On Australian radio in 2005, Reilly argued that the commercial character of his fiction has a measurable benefit: his books create new readers, most often non-reading teenage boys who go on to read other authors[11](https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/archived/perspective/matthew-reilly/3367938). Several of his titles, including *Seven Ancient Wonders* (2005), *The Five Greatest Warriors* (2009), *The Tournament* (2013), *The Great Zoo of China* (2014), *The Four Legendary Kingdoms* (2016), *The Three Secret Cities* (2018), and *The Secret Runners of New York* (2019), have been the biggest-selling Australian fiction titles in their years of release, according to his publisher[1](https://matthewreilly.com/about/).
Reilly studied law at the University of New South Wales and worked briefly as a paralegal before writing full-time[2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/reilly-matthew-1974) • [5](https://www.moneymag.com.au/matthew-reilly-novelist). He has lived in Los Angeles and writes roughly four days a week[1](https://matthewreilly.com/about/) • [7](https://matthewreilly.com/resources/faqs/).
## References
1. [About Matthew Reilly, official website](https://matthewreilly.com/about/)
2. [Reilly, Matthew 1974-, Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/reilly-matthew-1974)
3. [About Matthew Reilly, The Hero's Helmet press release PDF](https://matthewreilly.com/wp-content/uploads/the-heros-helmet.pdf)
4. [King's Ransom: A Detective Sam Speedman Thriller, Pan Macmillan Australia](https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781761775703/)
5. [Matthew Reilly on mysteries and making money, Money magazine](https://www.moneymag.com.au/matthew-reilly-novelist)
6. [Books by Matthew Reilly and Complete Book Reviews, Publishers Weekly](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/authorpage/matthew-reilly.html)
7. [FAQ, Matthew Reilly official website](https://matthewreilly.com/resources/faqs/)
8. [Temple, Publishers Weekly review](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780312266592)
9. [Matthew Reilly and Stuart Beattie Talk 'Interceptor', Netflix Tudum](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/interceptor-matthew-reilly-stuart-beattie-elsa-pataky)
10. [Ice Station summary and style analysis, SoBrief](https://sobrief.com/books/ice-station?report_issues=true)
11. [Matthew Reilly, ABC Radio National, Books Alive talk (2005)](https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/archived/perspective/matthew-reilly/3367938)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Literature and written works › Writers and literary biographies › Fiction writers: novelists and genre › Crime, mystery, and thriller writers › Surnames J to W*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license