The White Carnation

Alex Rider #0.4

by Anthony Horowitz

A short story about Yassen Gregorovich and one of his contracted jobs.

As part of the Horowitz live event in June, each participating school was sent a reading resource document to prepare for the event. What’s even more exciting is that document contained an exclusive Alex Rider short story, The White Carnation.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Mystery, Young Adult, Action, Espionage, Mystery Thriller

14 pages, Unknown Binding

First published June 1, 2013

About the author

Anthony Horowitz, OBE is ranked alongside Enid Blyton and Mark A. Cooper as "The most original and best spy-kids authors of the century." (New York Times). Anthony has been writing since the age of eight, and professionally since the age of twenty. In addition to the highly successful Alex Rider books, he is also the writer and creator of award winning detective series Foyle’s War, and more recently event drama Collision, among his other television works he has written episodes for Poirot, Murder in Mind, Midsomer Murders and Murder Most Horrid. Anthony became patron to East Anglia Children’s Hospices in 2009.

On 19 January 2011, the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle announced that Horowitz was to be the writer of a new Sherlock Holmes novel, the first such effort to receive an official endorsement from them and to be entitled the House of Silk.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/anthon...

Reviews

[Steff Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

| Reader Fox Blog |


I’ve always been a pretty big fan of Anthony Horowitz. This started with his Alex Rider series, of course, and so naturally, I couldn’t help myself when I found out that he’d written a short story about one of his side characters. I didn’t really have a lot of expectations for this, of course, since it has firstly been a great deal of time since I read the series but also because the character this story is about was never one that I was particularly attached to. Still, I was curious enough to feel that it was worth reading.

I didn’t love The White Carnation nor is it something I think I’ll remember well later on in my life or ever bother to re-read, but it wasn’t bad either. The one-shot-esque story about everyone’s favorite assassin from the Alex Rider series was intriguing enough to keep me interested and had just enough of a connection to the original stories to be somewhat enjoyable. Now, since it’s been a long time since I read the series—my copies have been sat in my little brother’s room for several years at this point and reading this has made me quite tempted to ask for them back so I can read them once again—but I do have a vague recollection of this particular story being mentioned at some point within the novels.

I think it’d be interesting to return to the original series just to see where the connection actually does exist. Ultimately, The White Carnation is a rather fascinating psychological look into the personality of the assassin and the experience that shaped him and his mind for his actions in the Alex Rider novels. It’s small and definitely isn’t a necessary read for anyone, but it’s still something I found quite cool to be able to read.

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[catherine ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

The twist was pretty predictable and honestly I wish he went ahead and killed her, whether he knew or not because that would have made it so much more interesting.

[Nancy The book junkie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5/5

Review coming soon!

[Rubi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some plp say they saw it coming, I didn't.....was a funny lil twist there at the end and once again Yassen proves not to be a totally cold blooded killer. I enjoyed it, though it was hard to find because this wasn't in MY copy of Russan Roulette 😔

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

liked this short story about Yassen. gives an insight to his good side.

[Jessie (thatchickwithabook) · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first dip into the world of Alex rider and call me intrigued 🤔 😏

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable backstory.

[curtis :) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.75*

so fun

[Lacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I expected from a paid assassin.

[Philip · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very well written and an interesting premise, but the story goes nowhere and stops halfway through. This feels like an opening chapter of a novel, not like a short story in its own right. I know Horowitz writes these shorts for free so we can't expect a five hundred page manuscript, but I felt this premise was ruined by the shorter page count.

[Bronwyn Lok · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full review at http://bronzelock619.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-white-carnation-alex-rider-04.html.

This short story about Yassen Gregorovich can be found at http://cdn.anthonyhorowitz.com/royalandgeneral/files/russianroulette-whitecarnation.pdf. It is also at the back of the book of Russian Roulette: The Story of an Assassin , which is perfect since both are stories about Yassen. It is a nice story, showcasing Yassen's exceptional observational skills. It had also shown once again that even though he was a contract killer, he does follow his own code of honour. However, the story was really short, and much too predictable. It was not as exciting as all the things Yassen had been through in his own book, but it is still enjoyable.

[Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an Alex Rider short story about one of Yassen Gregorovich's assignments, before he even knew about Alex. You can read it online here.

Really, for being of such short length, it quite enthralled me. The characters were interesting, the writing very good—my only problems were:

1. The plot was too predictable; there was an instance where I guessed something before Yassen figured it out. Really, for an assassin, you'd expect him to be sharper.

2. It was too short. I think this could've been a really amazing novella if it had been longer, maybe a group of short stories revolving around Yassen.

It was still very good and highly recommendable. I would definitely say you should read it if you like Yassen or the Alex Rider series.

[Mella · Rating 1 out of 5]

A short story featuring Yassen Gregorovich - the assassin who kills Alex's uncle. Yassen undertakes a contract for a hit and the results don't turn out as expected.

Especially for me - this was not what I was expecting and frankly kind of weird. The client wants to die so she pays Yassen to kill her but poses as her fake twin sister to do so. Yassen refuses and then seems to think he's saved her. I thought it was going to be more - more action or more drama or him saving an innocent in a difficult situation but it was just this short interlude about some woman who wanted to die and he did not kill. Weird. 1.5 stars.

[Sam K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short insight into one of Yassen's assignments. Like Russian Roulette, the story is told from Yassen's point of view, and so we gain a nice, further understanding of Yassen as an assassin. (It even states that The White Carnation is "a further extract from the diary of Yassen Gregorovich…".

The story itself isn't mindblowingly packed with action, and even has somewhat of a philosophical ending. A light read which is enjoyable enough; 4 stars.

[Roz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another enjoyable read from Anthony Horowitz.

Yassen Gregorovich has always fascinated me. I won't go into details, as it will spoil the Alex Rider series, but he has always seemed to be more than an assassin. I enjoyed seeing a little into his mind.

[L · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Yassen Gregorovich short story? Fantastic.

[Mii · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a great read!

[Samar Saluja · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5.0

Provides interesting insight into Yassen's character.

[itrat · Rating 3 out of 5]

i can’t lie, i’m really really curious as to where monica peretti ended up and if she ever thinks of him

[Frans Kempe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short story about a assasin sparing the life of a woman.