If you are looking for a rollercoaster ride, this is the book for you. I picked up The Great Zoo of China despite it's similarities to Jurassic Park (it's so close, the characters in Zoo say they feel like they are in Jurassic Park). Matthew Reilly has been called the King of hard-core action and with this book, I can tell you he delivers.
China has the money and workforce to create spectacular buildings, albeit with help from the best of other countries. Over the last 40 years, they have turned a huge area of a military no-fly zone into a gigantic nature park, complete with monorails, cable cars, amusement parks, swamps, and a mountain in the centre boasting a tower on top. Dr. 'CJ' Cameron from National Geographic is invited with her photographer brother to tour the park before it opens alongside top American and Chinese government officials. At the entrance to the park the grand secret is revealed: it is actually The Great Dragon Zoo of China.
Since finding a few eggs deep in a cave, they have been breeding hundreds of them for many years and are now ready to present the number one attraction in the world. There are several kinds flying loose, kept in by an invisible electronic field both over and under the park. Guests and vehicles are outfitted with individual protective fields for safety. CJ is amazed at the effort and wonders, as a reptile expert, how they control the dragons. There are about 50 pages of preamble before the cable car tour begins, quickly followed by the first massive attack. Surprisingly, the dragons are quite smart and not ready to submit.
Not only do they attack, but systematically destroy all that keeps the park going. From this point the novel never lets up, as they run from one attack to the other and the park is destroyed. Powerful and adept, the dragons throw tankers, helicopters, vehicles and parts of buildings to achieve their goal, as the humans try to escape from being swallowed whole, crushed by a burning car, or just eaten in little pieces. And now for the bad news: the surviving guests cannot reveal the secret before the Chinese have a chance to rebuild the damage and try again, so the military is also out to stop them escaping.
If you are interested by this point, you'll love this thriller. Sceptical at first, I was quickly impressed by the variety and speed of the action. It's juggernaut that doesn't stop for the usual explanations or romance - just full on inventive mayhem, as each section of the park is left in burning rubble.
It's different enough from Jurassic that it stands on it's own, and would be a terrific movie.
Non-stop action. Total destruction. High marks for intense thrills.
2014 / Mass Paperback / 442 pages
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