Who do you think they are? Genghis Khan? Joan of Arc? Napoleon? Well, you’ll never guess who all five are in this gung-ho tale, a cross between James Bond and Superman, great boys’ own stuff, where a load of clues must be solved before the world can be saved.
With the end of the world fast approaching, Jack West Jnr must rebuild the final pieces of the fabled, ancient 'Machine' - the only thing that can prevent global catastrophe. But he is out of clues, out of leads ...until he is presented with an ancient text about five unnamed warriors, great historical figures who were all in some way connected to the mysterious Machine. And so Jack and his loyal team set out to discover their identities - and their secrets. Soon Jack is on the trail of a legendary list of greats: from Moses to Genghis Khan and Napoleon, and finally to one most unlikely warrior, the unknown 'Fifth', who, it is said, will be there 'at the end of all things...'
Matthew Reilly wrote his first book, CONTEST, in 1994 whilst attending the University of New South Wales. It was rejected by every major publishing company. This caused Reilly to self-publish 1,000 copies using money borrowed from his family. Reilly went to a bookstore in Sydney and asked if he could place the copies on one of their book shelves. They accepted the offer . Very shortly after, the books had sold out and the owner of the bookstore called Reilly to order more books. One copy was read by Pan Macmillan, who immediately signed Reilly up to write ICE STATION, which became an international bestseller. Since then, he has been published in over fifteen countries, including Norway, Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, The Netherlands, South Africa, Japan and China. Reilly's main influences include Michael Crichton, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and possibly Art Bell.
