Alex Rider has been through a lot for his fourteen years. He's been shot at by international terrorists, chased down a mountainside on a makeshift snowboard, and has stood face-to-face with pure evil. Twice, young Alex has managed to save the world. And twice, he has almost been killed doing it. But now Alex faces something even more dangerous. The desperation of a man who has lost everything he cared for: his country and his only son. A man who just happens to have a nuclear weapon and a serious grudge against the free world. To see his beloved Russia once again be a dominant power, he will stop at nothing. Unless Alex can stop him first... Uniting forces with America's own CIA for the first time, teen spy Alex Rider battles terror from the sun-baked beaches of Miami all the way to the barren ice fields of northernmost Russia. Come along for the thrilling ride of a lifetime.
From School Library Journal
Grade 5-10-Fans of Horowitz's Stormbreaker (2001) and Point Blank (2002, both Philomel), and newcomers to the series alike, will not be disappointed with this rip-roaring escapade featuring the 14-year-old spy. Trying to return to a "normal" life as a schoolboy after a mere four weeks since his last MI6 adventure, Alex Rider is recruited right off the soccer field to check out some suspicious goings-on at Wimbledon. This assignment catapults him into a series of life-threatening episodes, such as coming face to face with a great white shark, dodging bullets as he dives off a burning boat, and being tied to a conveyor belt that is moving toward the jaws of a gigantic grindstone in an abandoned sugar factory. Soon the teen is single-handedly taking on his most dangerous enterprise yet. His mission is nothing short of saving the world from a nuclear attack, engineered by the psychopathic and egomaniacal former commander of the Russian army. Alex is armed only with a few specially designed gadgets, which are disarmingly age-appropriate: a Gameboy that doubles as a Geiger counter, a cell phone whose aerial shoots out a drugged needle that is activated by pressing 999, a Tiger Woods figurine that doubles as a small grenade when its head is twisted just so. This page-turning thriller leaves readers breathless with anticipation. When at last Alex returns home, his love interest, Sabina Pleasure, asks where he has been. "Well, I was, sort of- busy," he replies in a classic, understated, James Bond kind of way.
Elizabeth Fernandez, Brunswick Middle School, Greenwich, CTCopyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.Gr. 6-9. Fourteen-year-old British secret agent Alex Rider, last heard from in
Point Blank (2002), is back in another adventure. This time he's on an island near Cuba where he's up against a retired Russian general who plans to set off a nuclear device and, in the ensuing world chaos, take over the Russian government and restore the Soviet Empire. The general takes a shine to Alex once they meet, however, and he offers to adopt him as his son. Of course, this is the man's fatal mistake; Alex is there at the crucial moment to thwart the general's plans. This series unabashedly lifts details from the James Bond formula (minus the vodka martinis and casual sex) and transfers them to a novel for young adults. Yet, the Bond formula is the most successful in entertainment history, and there's no doubting the appeal of this action-packed spy novel.
Todd MorningCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.Review
"Horowitz has become a writer who converts boys to reading." Nicolette Jones, The Sunday Times * "Horowitz will grip you with suspense, daring and cheek - and that's just the first page!... Prepare for action scenes as fast as a movie." The Times on Point Blanc * "Done with enormous style, fun and suspense. Wannabe James Bonds will be completely hooked and eager for more." The Guardian on Point Blanc * "A hugely entertaining, fast-paced book which more than deserves five stars." www.cool-reads.co.uk on Point Blanc --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Anthony Horowitz is an extremely popular and prolific author. His books include Groosham Grange and its sequel The Unholy Grail; Granny; The Switch; The Devil and his Boy; the Diamond Brothers trilogy: The Falcon's Malteser, South by South East and Public Enemy Number Two; and the bestselling Stormbreaker, nominated for the 2001 Children's Book Award, and its sequel Point Blanc. Among his many TV credits are Murder Most Horrid, Midsomer Murders, Poirot and Murder in Mind. He is married with two children and lives in north London. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
