Sam Reilly Books In Order
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Publication Order ofBooks
The name ‘Sam Reilly’ refers to a series of action adventure novels written by Christopher Cartwright. The books follow the exploits of a marine biologist with a hero complex.
+The Story
The Sam Reilly series begins with ‘The Last Airship’. In ‘The Last Airship’, readers are told about a secret airship that left Nazi Germany in the late 1930s carrying rich Jewish families and their treasures.
The airship met disaster, never arriving at its destination. When a clue pointing to the missing airship is discovered, all the wrong people get wind of it and initiate a treasure hunt chockfull of violence and mayhem.
It is here that Sam Reilly comes into the picture, becoming the one person capable of bringing sanity to the situation.
Sam Reilly is a marine biologist. He spends his days exploring the depths of the earth’s water bodies and making incredible discoveries. Sam is able to pursue the career of his choice because of his privileged upbringing.
Sam is the son of James Reilly, a wealthy shipping mogul, and he is quite wealthy in his own right, more than capable of undertaking expensive journeys and spending his days living a world of adventure.
The Sam Reilly books tell Sam’s story. Contrary to what some of his friends might assume, Sam’s life as a marine biologist is anything but dull. Sam is constantly stumbling into trouble, the kind that has the capacity to change entire nations and even shake the foundations of the world.
If he isn’t running after a priceless Spanish treasure, Sam Reilly is out there discovering the remnants of the mythical kingdom of Atlantis and the powers that saw to its destruction.
Sam lives for the thrill of discovery and adventure. More than just an ordinary treasure hunter out to garner quick wealthy, Sam wants to tread in places that have yet to experience modern civilization and find secrets most people can only dream of.
Sam’s job is complicated by all those other entities that wish to make those discoveries before him; and unfortunately for Sam, his rivals are typically driven by nefarious motives.
It falls upon the shoulders of Sam Reilly to safeguard humanity’s treasures from greedy hands. In some cases, Sam must save the entire world, a task the protagonist undertakes with a cool and collected head.
Some readers have described Sam Reilly as another variation of the James Bond persona, and for good reason. Sam is often represented as one of the more handsome men in his story.
He has a wealth of resources at his disposal, and there is no situation he has encountered for which he doesn’t have all the skills and the knowledge necessary to emerge victoriously.
And as one might expect, women always find their way into Sam Reilly’s bed. For some readers, Sam’s competence takes the tension out of the series because you never get the sense that he is in any danger.
More importantly, there is never any doubt that the marine biologist will come out on top. On the other hand, it has been suggested that you need larger than life heroes with extraordinary abilities like Sam Reilly to make a series like this possible.
Franchises like James Bond and Indiana Jones were built on the premise of impossible heroes who overcome ridiculous odds to save the day. It might not be possible to entertain readers with a rollicking ride of an adventure in the absence of a larger than life hero like Sam.
The Sam Reilly books are very fast paced and heavy on the action. In some cases, it feels like there’s an explosion going off every other chapter. Most of the stories Cartwright tells center on history.
Many an adventure begins with the author taking readers several decades, centuries, and even millennia into the past. There, Christopher Cartwright introduces a historical event with implications for the present.
Sam Reilly’s involvement starts when the historical event in question piques his interest and, in his efforts to perform research he uncovers a clue which suggests that what he might have dismissed as myth could be based on facts.
A notable aspect of these books is the attention the author gives to the physical elements of Sam Reilly’s work as a marine biologist. From scuba diving to piloting boats and flying planes, Cartwright injects such detail into the technical aspects of Sam’s work that one cannot help but conclude that the author must have a passion for those activities.
+The Mahogany Ship
The Emily Rose encountered disaster on the South Coast of Australia in 1812. Those individuals fortunate enough to survive the experience journeyed to Sydney Cove, the only settlement within reach, an undertaking that saw these survivors walk nearly a thousand miles.
Pushing inland, the survivors encountered something unexpected: a ship so large it could not have been built by the British Navy. Interactions with the natives began to shed some light on the mystery.
The ship in question was old, possibly even millennia old. And the survivors of the Emily Rose would be the last recorded witnesses of this great discovery. Despite mentions of the Mahogany Ship in the survivors’ journals, evidence of the ship was never found.
When an attempt to explore the mineral deposits of a deserted mountain in present-day uncovers a Spanish Gold Coin from 1518, talk of the fabled Mahogany Ship manifests once more; this is the sort of mystery that would consume Sam Reilly.
Unfortunately, Reilly is too busy fighting to keep the world’s marine life from destruction. Neither Reilly nor his team of ocean investigators realize that their task might be entangled with the mystery of the Mahogany Ship.
+Rogue Wave
Four scientists are leading the charge to discover a new source of energy. If everything proceeds as planned, the world will have an endless supply of energy, one capable of replacing fossil fuels.
But not everyone wants this discovery to come to light, and the four leading scientists are offered billions of dollars to squash the research.
The scientists in question know that their discovery could be worth more than the billions that have been offered to them. But they also know that refusing the offer might mean forfeiting their lives.
And their conundrum isn’t the only challenge Sam Reilly has to worry about. A weapon of immeasurable power has been unveiled and offered to the highest bidder. Reilly cannot allow the weapon to fall into the wrong hands.
But can he overcome the rigors of industrial espionage to safeguard the future of humanity?
Book Series In Order » Characters »
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I stumbled across these books by chance and so glad that I did. They make my morning and evening commutes enjoyable. I love the characters of Sam and Tom and their friendship. I like the historical and detailed facts all intermingled with the fast-paced story and adventure of each book. Makes for great listening.
I like these books, but they are more Like Dirk Pitt than James Bond, with some Tom Clancy thrown in.