Matthew Reilly

Matthew John "Matt" Reilly (born 2 July 1974 in Sydney) is an Australian action/thriller writer. His novels are often praised for their fast pace, plot convolutions and intense action. His work is often compared to that of Dan Brown, John Birmingham or Jack Heath.

After graduating from Mt. Austin High School in 1988 and Sydney's St. Aloysius' College in 1992, Reilly wrote his first book Contest in 1994 whilst attending the University of New South Wales. It was rejected by every major publishing company in Sydney on the basis that his story concept was unoriginal and full of clichés and tired synonyms. This caused Reilly to self-publish 1,000 copies using money borrowed from his family. Unfortunately, some books were stolen from the back of his car and the original Contest books have become such a rarity that they have been known to fetch up to $300.