Harsher in Hindsight: Killing off Scarecrow's love interest Libby Gant is easily the most powerful scene he's written. It's now even worse after Reilly's wife died at 37, resulting in him becoming a depressed shut-in for several months.
Any time a protagonist or supporting character's partner dies, now that Reilly's wife has unfortunately passed away.
Like You Would Really Do It: Killing Lily in The Three Secret Cities. He even admitted in the book-ending interview it was Alexander because he didn't want to have such a big Downer Ending.
Reilly has a tendency to spend large portions of text calling characters by their code names or nicknames. Sometimes this works, other times it doesn't. Six Sacred Stones might be easier to take seriously if the narrative didn't spend so much time calling elite and professional soldiers by names that a little girl gave them (Pooh Bear, Big Ears, Fuzzy etc.).
He also really likes faking out character deaths, pretending to kill them only to have them return alive in the very next scene. It becomes very predictable. This is especially true when he does it to main characters like Schofield or William Race, who he obviously isn't going to kill.
He tends to write sound effects (Blam!, Clunk!, Thwack!), which can get a little too campy after awhile.
NarmCharm: His books are entirely built around this: being cheesy action schlock that are kept afloat by badass characters and action that (mostly) manage to be both utterly ridiculous and utterly fun.
One-Scene Wonder: Lucifer Leary in Area 7, a Hannibal Lecter-style serial killer who almost eats Gant. He's only in the story for a couple of pages, but it's definitely memorable.
Sequelitis: Scarecrow feels like a significant step down in quality compared to the stellar Ice Station and Area 7. The action is just a tad too over the top to take seriously, the villains are mostly forgettable or so ridiculous they aren't believable (Killian feels more like a Bond villain than something you'd find in Reilly's previous works) and their goals are just silly, and the settings change so fast that it can be hard to keep up. This biggest sticking point is probably Gant's death, which unlike for example Book's death in Ice Station, feels like it was done purely for shock value. That it was also done by such boring villains as Killian and Noonan doesn't help. Essentially it feels like Reilly was trying to out-do himself and failed.
Tear Jerker: The scene where Scarecrow attempts to commit suicide after learning that Gant has died. His fight against Mother and her subsequent loss to him is further compunded when she finally tears up pleading…"Shane…don't." Luckily for her, he stops upon hearing that.
The scene where Lily appears to be dead after a Heroic Sacrifice and Jack West is beyond mere grief. Subverted gloriously a few moments later, when it turns out she's perfectly alive and well.
Zemir, the Badass IsraeliHero of Another Story, has the potential to be an interesting ally but never even directly interacts with Scarecrow.
Morally gray Mysterious BenefactorLillian Mattencourt has the potential to show up again either as an ally or (given that their mutual foe is dead) an enemy, only to be assassinated by a disgruntled Dragon Their Feet villain without it majorly affecting the plot.
In Scarecrow Returns:
Chad is involved with the development of an impressive Arctic-based weapon and shows some Hidden Depths in defying his Jerkass boss to go on a dangerous mission but then gets nothing interesting or sympathetic to do.
Ironbark, who gets captured and unceremoniously (and brutally) executed right after an impressive feat that could have made him and Scarecrow Fire-Forged Friends and would have made Ironbark a Non-Protagonist Resolver if not for the villain's backup plan.
In The Four Legendary Kingdoms, practically every non-villainous competitor besides Jack and Shane who has a chance to shine and possibly be a Worthy Opponent or Fire-Forged Friends with them gets killed without a fair fight within a few pages.
What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?: Reilly has consistently stated that he never deliberately invokes a political position with his work, but it doesn't take much digging to figure out whose side he's on.
He finally gives up all pretense in ‘’The Three Secret Cities’’ when Hades reveals Donald Trump’s election was not part of the Ancient Conspiracy...because the American public was stupid enough to do it on their own.
