Hell Island is a horror/adventure novella, written in conjunction with the Australian Books Alive promotion, by thriller writer Matthew Reilly While it is the fourth book released in the Shane Schofield series, it is a standalone novella in the Shane Schofield universe, supplementing the storylines in the novels Ice Station, Area 7, Scarecrow, and Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves. In the interview at the back of Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves, Matthew Reilly stated that "Hell Island exists as a nice side adventure for Scarecrow and Mother, and a great short book for new readers who might wish to try my work." Hell Island was released in retail stores in 2007 after only being available through the Books Alive program. Plot summary Hell Island is a remote Pacific Island that no one knows about. It does not feature on any map. It was used by the Japanese during World War II as a remote airfield, but it was soon taken over by American forces in 1943. During the time the book is set, the location is used by the U.S. government for scientific experiments on apes. The U.S. government is using the island for Project Stormtrooper, wherein apes are being engineered in such a way that they become super-soldiers. The book opens with Schofield's ten-man Marine Recon team parachuting onto the deck of the soon-to-be-decommissioned aircraft carrier, the USS George Washington, along with three other special forces teams – a Delta Force team, a squad of SEALs and a team from the 82nd Airborne Division. The Delta team make landfall on the island while the other three teams investigate the aircraft carrier. Shane Schofield realises that the carrier is being used for the specific project after the Airborne and SEAL teams are quickly slaughtered. A DARPA scientist, whom Schofield's team stumble across, explain that the enemy is a group of genetically and electronically enhanced gorillas, armed with modified M-4 Colt Commandos and extremely deadly in melee combat. The few remaining Marines kill significant numbers of the gorillas in a large battle on board the aircraft carrier, eventually departing to investigate the island. Schofield comments that the island is home to an extensive tunnel network dating from World War II, which features an uncommon self-destruct mechanism: sea doors which can flood the lower parts of the tunnel system in the event of an enemy force capturing the base. Schofield