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Alex Rider #8
Crocodile Tears
It's just another day in the life of an average kid. If you're Alex Rider, that is. A con artist has realized there is big money in charity: the bigger the disaster, the greater the money flow! So that is what he will produce: the biggest disaster known to man, all thanks to genetically modified corn that can release a virus so potent it can knock out an entire country in one windy day. But Alex Rider will face whatever it takes - gunfire, explosions, hand-to-hand combat with mercenaries - to bring down his most dangerous adversary yet.
Often imitated, never equaled, the series that triggered a reading phenomenon is back, exhilarating and addictive as ever.
Often imitated, never equaled, the series that triggered a reading phenomenon is back, exhilarating and addictive as ever.
385 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2009
974 people are currently reading
10865 people want to read
About the author
Anthony Horowitz
345 books20.9k followersAnthony 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...
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...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,071 reviews
February 12, 2011
Another awesome book in the series! However...
-Sigh-
Dont get me wrong, I love Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider series. I've been reading them for 2 years ever since a librarian recommended his first story in the series. But...the stories all have one thing in common thats really starting to bother me.
Villians that seem more like a joke then a threat.
What I mean by this is the 'Im going to tell you all my plans and let my minons kill you instead of killing you myself. No. I will not kill you at this exact moment, even though it probably would save me alot of trouble.' This concept was used even worse then the others this time. Why? The main anti hero in this book KNEW Alex had been successful in pretty much all his missions. Instead of getting the hint that this kid is potentially dangerous and that it would be better off if he didnt know his plans, HE TOLD HIM ANYWAYS! I mean come on! If it wasnt for the idiot villians telling their plans, Alex would have been dead a long time ago! And while that is not a satisfying thought (I dont want the series to end! =[) I would actually feel a bit more respect for the villians...but alas, Im stuck with a different plot but the same exact concept as most of the books in this series.
(*To all Alex Rider villians: Get on the internet. Search and read 'Peters overlord list' or 'Stupid Plot Tricks'(the extended version of Peter's overlord list). Its a neat list that tells you what you SHOULD do to carry out your evil plots, cause' whatever you all are reading is obviously not working! Take a hint!)
-Sigh-
Dont get me wrong, I love Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider series. I've been reading them for 2 years ever since a librarian recommended his first story in the series. But...the stories all have one thing in common thats really starting to bother me.
Villians that seem more like a joke then a threat.
What I mean by this is the 'Im going to tell you all my plans and let my minons kill you instead of killing you myself. No. I will not kill you at this exact moment, even though it probably would save me alot of trouble.' This concept was used even worse then the others this time. Why? The main anti hero in this book KNEW Alex had been successful in pretty much all his missions. Instead of getting the hint that this kid is potentially dangerous and that it would be better off if he didnt know his plans, HE TOLD HIM ANYWAYS! I mean come on! If it wasnt for the idiot villians telling their plans, Alex would have been dead a long time ago! And while that is not a satisfying thought (I dont want the series to end! =[) I would actually feel a bit more respect for the villians...but alas, Im stuck with a different plot but the same exact concept as most of the books in this series.
(*To all Alex Rider villians: Get on the internet. Search and read 'Peters overlord list' or 'Stupid Plot Tricks'(the extended version of Peter's overlord list). Its a neat list that tells you what you SHOULD do to carry out your evil plots, cause' whatever you all are reading is obviously not working! Take a hint!)
November 12, 2017
In his 8th outing, Alex begins the book in Scotland where he is vacationing with the Pleasures and attends a New Years Eve party where he meets his new adversary, the Reverend Desmond McCain, a rich philanthropist whom he beats in a poker game in true James Bond style and in true Alex Rider style he ends up welcoming the New Year not by enjoying the fireworks but once again working against time and the elements to save himself and Sabina and her father from an icy grave....this incident leads to a yet another roller coaster adventure for Alex where he has to thwart Desmond's sinister plans which ultimately lead him to Kenya and through his ingenuity and smart sense, this 14 year old once again survives and saves the day and lives to see his 15th birthday!! :D
March 11, 2010
James Bond...at 14.
I had picked up Stormbreaker (the first book in this series. There's also a movie, but don't waste your time.) on a whim. I wanted to see how and why a 14 year old boy would be recruited to be a spy for M16. Much to my surprise it was a perfectly plausible reason.
This series is a lot of fun. Lots of cool spy stuff and some over the top action. (In one of the books Alex goes into outer space. Jumping the shark? Maybe. Did I still read it. You bet.)
My only complains are after a while the villains are pretty cookie cutter and again the plot fluctuates between believable and fantasy. (They're spy adventure books for teenage boys, so I mostly let it slide.)
Anthony Horowitz is pretty creative in coming up with new ways to keep bringing an increasingly reluctant Alex back to M16. I also like his writing style--descriptive, but efficient.
I am not sure how many more of these Horowitz is planning on writing, but every time I finish a new one I cross my fingers that it's not the last.
I had picked up Stormbreaker (the first book in this series. There's also a movie, but don't waste your time.) on a whim. I wanted to see how and why a 14 year old boy would be recruited to be a spy for M16. Much to my surprise it was a perfectly plausible reason.
This series is a lot of fun. Lots of cool spy stuff and some over the top action. (In one of the books Alex goes into outer space. Jumping the shark? Maybe. Did I still read it. You bet.)
My only complains are after a while the villains are pretty cookie cutter and again the plot fluctuates between believable and fantasy. (They're spy adventure books for teenage boys, so I mostly let it slide.)
Anthony Horowitz is pretty creative in coming up with new ways to keep bringing an increasingly reluctant Alex back to M16. I also like his writing style--descriptive, but efficient.
I am not sure how many more of these Horowitz is planning on writing, but every time I finish a new one I cross my fingers that it's not the last.
March 19, 2021
I listened to the audiobook version of this one with my son. This is one of his favorite series and this book did not disappoint.
Nothing groundbreaking. The story follows the same formula as all of the other installments and every Bond movie you've ever seen. It's a classic spy novel, but it is really well written with non-stop action and suspense, just as it should be.
Nothing groundbreaking. The story follows the same formula as all of the other installments and every Bond movie you've ever seen. It's a classic spy novel, but it is really well written with non-stop action and suspense, just as it should be.
April 21, 2019
You cannot defeat your enemies until you know who they are
When i think there really couldn't be any more you could throw at Alex and continue this series Anthony finds another way to extend this story even more.
Plot: Alex is trying to live a normal life away from MI6 after telling them once again that he didn't want to be used again by them at the end of book seven. However Alex is once again brought back into this world after almost dying in scotland along with Sabina and her father in a car accident that wasn't an accident.
Alex has been through so much in a year and i feel so bad for this kid because he keeps getting brought back into this world and after telling himself again and again.
Alex has come up with some clever ways on how he gets out of situations and i'm always surprised when he does because so many of these situations are impossible to get out of but Alex always does.
After another hard mission that he wasn't supposed to be on at all i really hope that Alex can get away from the spy life and lead a normal one. I don't think this will happen since there is a another book after this one.
It's so hard to believe to find out Alex is only just about to turn 15 after there being 7 other books and it's crazy to believe this storyline is only set over the course of a year, it just goes to show how much one 14 year old has gone through.
When i think there really couldn't be any more you could throw at Alex and continue this series Anthony finds another way to extend this story even more.
Plot: Alex is trying to live a normal life away from MI6 after telling them once again that he didn't want to be used again by them at the end of book seven. However Alex is once again brought back into this world after almost dying in scotland along with Sabina and her father in a car accident that wasn't an accident.
Alex has been through so much in a year and i feel so bad for this kid because he keeps getting brought back into this world and after telling himself again and again.
Alex has come up with some clever ways on how he gets out of situations and i'm always surprised when he does because so many of these situations are impossible to get out of but Alex always does.
After another hard mission that he wasn't supposed to be on at all i really hope that Alex can get away from the spy life and lead a normal one. I don't think this will happen since there is a another book after this one.
It's so hard to believe to find out Alex is only just about to turn 15 after there being 7 other books and it's crazy to believe this storyline is only set over the course of a year, it just goes to show how much one 14 year old has gone through.
August 22, 2019
I’m really enjoying these Alex Rider books. Even though they are marketed as YA (and I am a little bit older than that, perhaps even considered OA), they are a delight to read. I’m plowing through them at a rate of one a month this year so, since it is August, this must be the eighth book in the series.
Alex has actually had a couple of months respite since his last mission in Australia (Snakehead) and he’s beginning to think he may have finally put his relationship with MI-6 in the past. But while on Christmas vacation in Scotland, he meets a philanthropist by the name of Desmond McCain and manages to embarrass him at poker. Alex doesn’t have a good track record with internationally known do-gooders so you can bet this guy won’t be much better.
In fact, the guy seems too good to be true: a champion-caliber boxer with a career-ending injury, a botched plastic surgery job to fix his face, a fortune earned in property development only to be caught in an insurance scam and sent to jail, a conversion to Christianity while in jail, even becoming a pastor, and finally founding a charity for the purpose of quickly responding to crisis areas around the globe. He has an ingenious plan to create just such a crisis in Africa via bioengineered poisonous plant spores destined to kill thousands and profiting from the millions of dollars that roll into his charity. In short, a slimy villain worthy of James Bond or even Alex Rider.
Another action-packed entry in the series wherein Alex goes from the frying pan into the fire and then into really really hot places multiple times, always upping the stakes and somehow surviving. His cleverness is on full display once again as are the gadgets provided by MI-6.
Can’t wait for September and book number nine!
Alex has actually had a couple of months respite since his last mission in Australia (Snakehead) and he’s beginning to think he may have finally put his relationship with MI-6 in the past. But while on Christmas vacation in Scotland, he meets a philanthropist by the name of Desmond McCain and manages to embarrass him at poker. Alex doesn’t have a good track record with internationally known do-gooders so you can bet this guy won’t be much better.
In fact, the guy seems too good to be true: a champion-caliber boxer with a career-ending injury, a botched plastic surgery job to fix his face, a fortune earned in property development only to be caught in an insurance scam and sent to jail, a conversion to Christianity while in jail, even becoming a pastor, and finally founding a charity for the purpose of quickly responding to crisis areas around the globe. He has an ingenious plan to create just such a crisis in Africa via bioengineered poisonous plant spores destined to kill thousands and profiting from the millions of dollars that roll into his charity. In short, a slimy villain worthy of James Bond or even Alex Rider.
Another action-packed entry in the series wherein Alex goes from the frying pan into the fire and then into really really hot places multiple times, always upping the stakes and somehow surviving. His cleverness is on full display once again as are the gadgets provided by MI-6.
Can’t wait for September and book number nine!
September 18, 2023
Kerana ingin mengekang identitinya sebagai agen MI6 terbongkar Alex terpaksa meminta pertolongan daripada Blunt. Dan ia datang dengan syarat Alex membantu Blunt dalam satu tugasan. Misi ini akhirnya membawa kepada penculikan Alex.
Dalam naskah ini terlihat manusia yang bertopengkan syaitan. Manusia yang berlindung di sebalik organisasi amal namun sebenarnya menggunakannya untuk kepentingan sendiri.
Dan SH suka part apabila mereka mengatakan sesiapa yang menguasai genetik tumbuhan boleh menguasai dunia. Kerana banyak sumber makanan adalah dari tumbuhan. Andai genetik tumbuhan ini diubah untuk ke arah yang baik seperti pengeluaran hasil yang lebih atau ketahanan kepada cuaca yang lebih tinggi tentu hasilnya baik. Tapi andainya genetik tumbuhan biasa yang kita lihat normal namun diubah menjadi bahan yang mematikan bayangkan sahaja apa kerosakan yang boleh terjadi.
Tajuk Crocodile Tears atau Air Mata Buaya ni SH rasa sangat kena dan bertepatan dengan isi ceritanya. Memang betul-betul palsu. Wayang semata. Tajuknya sudah cukup melambangkan isi di dalamnya.
Namun ada beberapa bahagian yang agak perlahan dan sedikit membosankan. Namun ada juga bahagian yang mampu memacu adrenalin. Rasa macam ikut sama dalam pengembaraan Alex.
Dalam naskah ini terlihat manusia yang bertopengkan syaitan. Manusia yang berlindung di sebalik organisasi amal namun sebenarnya menggunakannya untuk kepentingan sendiri.
Dan SH suka part apabila mereka mengatakan sesiapa yang menguasai genetik tumbuhan boleh menguasai dunia. Kerana banyak sumber makanan adalah dari tumbuhan. Andai genetik tumbuhan ini diubah untuk ke arah yang baik seperti pengeluaran hasil yang lebih atau ketahanan kepada cuaca yang lebih tinggi tentu hasilnya baik. Tapi andainya genetik tumbuhan biasa yang kita lihat normal namun diubah menjadi bahan yang mematikan bayangkan sahaja apa kerosakan yang boleh terjadi.
Tajuk Crocodile Tears atau Air Mata Buaya ni SH rasa sangat kena dan bertepatan dengan isi ceritanya. Memang betul-betul palsu. Wayang semata. Tajuknya sudah cukup melambangkan isi di dalamnya.
Namun ada beberapa bahagian yang agak perlahan dan sedikit membosankan. Namun ada juga bahagian yang mampu memacu adrenalin. Rasa macam ikut sama dalam pengembaraan Alex.
May 22, 2010
Anthony Horowitz needs to realise that eight books on, his formula is starting to get a liiiiitle bit old - it works when you are younger, but I guess the series just doesn't hold the same appeal for me anymore.
Alex comes back to school, flirts with Sabina for a bit, notices a few things which become important later on, get asked by MI6 to do something which ends up getting waaaay out of hand and saves the day alone, but ends up getting shot/injured/burned as a thank-you. It seemed like there was no character development or anything, really - but I guess it was an okay quick read, and there were some awesome stunt!moments - the walk through the Poison Dome, or that terrifying moment with the crocodiles.
I also thought the message about the corruptness of some charitable organisations, and that a person's humanity not their circumstances make a man, was quite interesting.
And one is able to relish in it's predictability - action, action, science and more action!
Alex comes back to school, flirts with Sabina for a bit, notices a few things which become important later on, get asked by MI6 to do something which ends up getting waaaay out of hand and saves the day alone, but ends up getting shot/injured/burned as a thank-you. It seemed like there was no character development or anything, really - but I guess it was an okay quick read, and there were some awesome stunt!moments - the walk through the Poison Dome, or that terrifying moment with the crocodiles.
I also thought the message about the corruptness of some charitable organisations, and that a person's humanity not their circumstances make a man, was quite interesting.
And one is able to relish in it's predictability - action, action, science and more action!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 22, 2022
Maybe not exactly as brilliant and heartfelt as the previous ones in the series (this is the 8th book after all)... but still just as bloodpumping thrilling, nail-biting exciting and pure breathless addictive as ever!
Anthony Horowitz is quickly becoming one my new favorite authors. And the one and only Alex Rider is plain AWESOME.
Anthony Horowitz is quickly becoming one my new favorite authors. And the one and only Alex Rider is plain AWESOME.
December 10, 2009
Crocodile Tears by Anthony Horowitz
Review by Mariah McCashland
I'm not a spy, but Anthony Horowitz made me feel like I was in Africa fighting along side Alex as he struggled to save the world yet again. Alex Rider is a forteen-year-old spy who works for M16, even though he never chose to be a spy. He was first introduced to the British intelligence agency when his uncle was murdered on a mission, and Alex was recruited to go and finish the job. Since then, he's been on six missions for M16. Alex doesn't want to be a spy. He just wants to be a normal boy, but somehow, he's always tangled in the middle of another mad-man's schemes and impossibly saving the world.
In Anthony Horowitz's latest action-packed Alex Rider adventure Crocidile Tears, Alex finds himself looking at a possible wrecking ball to his struggle for a normal life that goes by the name of Harry Bulman. He's a reporter who has found out Alex has been working under cover as an M16 agent, and he wants to tell the world. Alex would be a celebrity! That's exactly what Alex doesn't want. He wouldn't even be able to walk on the street without people pointing him out with curiosity, and all his struggle for a normal life would be a waste. He has to do the very thing he never ever wanted to do again. He has to go ask M16 for help. They make a deal with him, if he hacks into the computer of a man that works for Greenfields, then it will be as if Harry Bulman never existed.
Anthony Horowitz offers a unique writing style. He has a distinct voice that makes me feel like I could pick out his writing anywhere, even if I didn't know who the author really was. Because he is so vividly descriptive, I feel like I'm living the adventures of Alex in in the book.
The book is filled with action and suspense. It's a page-turner that will have you on the edge of you seat reading in the middle of the night until Alex gets himself out of the very last impossible situation.
Review by Mariah McCashland
I'm not a spy, but Anthony Horowitz made me feel like I was in Africa fighting along side Alex as he struggled to save the world yet again. Alex Rider is a forteen-year-old spy who works for M16, even though he never chose to be a spy. He was first introduced to the British intelligence agency when his uncle was murdered on a mission, and Alex was recruited to go and finish the job. Since then, he's been on six missions for M16. Alex doesn't want to be a spy. He just wants to be a normal boy, but somehow, he's always tangled in the middle of another mad-man's schemes and impossibly saving the world.
In Anthony Horowitz's latest action-packed Alex Rider adventure Crocidile Tears, Alex finds himself looking at a possible wrecking ball to his struggle for a normal life that goes by the name of Harry Bulman. He's a reporter who has found out Alex has been working under cover as an M16 agent, and he wants to tell the world. Alex would be a celebrity! That's exactly what Alex doesn't want. He wouldn't even be able to walk on the street without people pointing him out with curiosity, and all his struggle for a normal life would be a waste. He has to do the very thing he never ever wanted to do again. He has to go ask M16 for help. They make a deal with him, if he hacks into the computer of a man that works for Greenfields, then it will be as if Harry Bulman never existed.
Anthony Horowitz offers a unique writing style. He has a distinct voice that makes me feel like I could pick out his writing anywhere, even if I didn't know who the author really was. Because he is so vividly descriptive, I feel like I'm living the adventures of Alex in in the book.
The book is filled with action and suspense. It's a page-turner that will have you on the edge of you seat reading in the middle of the night until Alex gets himself out of the very last impossible situation.
August 10, 2022
I've looked for a good spy series and I was simply delighted when I finally picked up the Alex Rider series. Seven books later and I was dearly wishing that poor Alex would get a break from everything. I was glad when Anthony Horowitz ended the series with Snakehead.
But then this one came out and I was a little worried. Series, even good ones, can carry on only for so long! From the very beginning, Crocodile Tears was not my favorite, but I wasn't disappointed, either. The very first page contained the action and sinisterness that is so trademark of Alex Rider, and it didn't stop. I wouldn't say that I was ever held in suspense (because the books are pretty predictable), but I was certainly interested.
Alex himself is a good character. I don't say that often about teenage boy characters - they are almost always as annoying as real-life adolescent males. But I liked Alex from the start and still do. I felt terrible that Alex was once more wrenched from his life. And while I was never in alarm for his life, I felt sorry every time he was injured.
This wasn't Anthony Horowitz's masterpiece. Those dealing with Scorpia are my favorites. But after a rest, this was a good comeback. His writing style was still very much the same - movie-ish. Normally I don't like that, but for a series like Alex Rider, it works. He still went into great mechanical detail, showing off the research he did, knowing full well that his Readers don't know what he's talking about, but hey! It sounds cool and we Readers get the general jest of it, right?
There was one scene, though, that sent chills up my spine: Chapter 9 - Invisible Man. When MI6 deals with the journalist. It did creep me out and it was my favorite chapter. I re-read it when I finished the book. It is like a nightmare. What would it be like if it happened to you?? Creepy!!
Two thumbs up for Crocodile Tears. Normally the 8th book in a series doesn't turn out well, but Anthony Horowitz was successful in his comeback. However, I do hope he gives poor Alex a rest sometime soon in the future.
But then this one came out and I was a little worried. Series, even good ones, can carry on only for so long! From the very beginning, Crocodile Tears was not my favorite, but I wasn't disappointed, either. The very first page contained the action and sinisterness that is so trademark of Alex Rider, and it didn't stop. I wouldn't say that I was ever held in suspense (because the books are pretty predictable), but I was certainly interested.
Alex himself is a good character. I don't say that often about teenage boy characters - they are almost always as annoying as real-life adolescent males. But I liked Alex from the start and still do. I felt terrible that Alex was once more wrenched from his life. And while I was never in alarm for his life, I felt sorry every time he was injured.
This wasn't Anthony Horowitz's masterpiece. Those dealing with Scorpia are my favorites. But after a rest, this was a good comeback. His writing style was still very much the same - movie-ish. Normally I don't like that, but for a series like Alex Rider, it works. He still went into great mechanical detail, showing off the research he did, knowing full well that his Readers don't know what he's talking about, but hey! It sounds cool and we Readers get the general jest of it, right?
There was one scene, though, that sent chills up my spine: Chapter 9 - Invisible Man. When MI6 deals with the journalist. It did creep me out and it was my favorite chapter. I re-read it when I finished the book. It is like a nightmare. What would it be like if it happened to you?? Creepy!!
Two thumbs up for Crocodile Tears. Normally the 8th book in a series doesn't turn out well, but Anthony Horowitz was successful in his comeback. However, I do hope he gives poor Alex a rest sometime soon in the future.
December 2, 2019
The Indian agent's fate is just unbearably unfair. No other way to put it. Alex got some nerve,eh? So he decided leaving the Dragunov to the soldier was an act of heroic generocity?? Anyway, I bet you anything the only reason he hadn't stolen it was because it was much too heavy and useless for lil brat, being a complicated piece of machinery. In other respects, Alex is as spotless as he gets.
Man.. This episode and the ending of the life of the worthiest person in this book..
At very least they should have arranged infroming Indian secret service in detail. To make sure the fallen warrior's memory was honored accordingly. Which sadly has been left out entirely.
Man.. This episode and the ending of the life of the worthiest person in this book..
At very least they should have arranged infroming Indian secret service in detail. To make sure the fallen warrior's memory was honored accordingly. Which sadly has been left out entirely.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 5, 2023
OMG. Müssen Autoren immer noch einen draufsetzen? Uff... Der arme Alex.
Wieder sehr unterhaltsam und ich bin gespannt, was noch kommt.
Wieder sehr unterhaltsam und ich bin gespannt, was noch kommt.
December 5, 2022
Awesome as usual!
Yet another five star story in the Alex Rider series! And he actually turns 15 at the end of the book! Finally! 8 books.... 8 missions..... all in just one year! That would be a lot even for an adult secret agent! Anyway, I enjoyed this book just as much as all the rest! I will definitely be continuing this series!
Yet another five star story in the Alex Rider series! And he actually turns 15 at the end of the book! Finally! 8 books.... 8 missions..... all in just one year! That would be a lot even for an adult secret agent! Anyway, I enjoyed this book just as much as all the rest! I will definitely be continuing this series!
May 7, 2013
Do you like action? Adventure? James Bond? If you do, it is a great book to read. It comprises of high octane action and surprises in all corners of the story. It will leave you suspended, heart broken, and joy.
So this book is basically about a 14 year old boy named Alex Rider. He works for MI6, which is a spy agency for Great Britain. He tries to stop bad people from doing things that would create crisis throughout the world. Anthony Horrowitz also loves to use syntax throughout his book to excite and rush readers which is crucial to a book like this such as the quote, "If he fell!...He could imagine it. Smashing into the shingles." He uses them so effectively that made readers stop and think before continue on reading all the while bombard with words that made readers feel like they are in the shotgun position along with Alex. It shows that syntax is used for a very good reason and Horowitz use them so good and masterful. Horowitz also loves using a lot of figurative language to describe things that Alex encountered. Like when Alex is describing the crocodiles that he was supposed to get eaten by, "They were really the eyes of death," and, "They twisted and sliced their way through the water like two knife wounds."
The author use informal diction here mostly because of the reputation of the series and to help readers connect easier with the character Alex who is 14, which is about the young adults age.
One point of the book that was a big hit for me was the problem of food scarcity for the Third World today, and the author demonstrate it very clearly that they need him because Desmond Mccain wanted to create the poison ricin to kill the people of the Third World, specifically Africa. To destroy the population of Africa would make Mccain a very rich man because he would be able to scam people out of their donations.
However, throughout the Alex Rider series, I didn't really like the ideas that at some point in the story, the villain will eventually reveal their plans. I would like it to be a surprise, diving into Alex's mind to figure out what he thinks and ultimately the whole plan. This is pretty much the one point that i did not like about the book and the series.
As just previously mentioned, ricin which is a genetically modified food and a very powerful poison that could kill a person very easily. It is the exact poison that a man from Mississippi tried to sent to President Obama and a Congressman from Capital Hill recently.
After reading this book, it made me think how difficult life is in other parts of the world and how some people are exploiting it for personal gains and it is just not right. I would definitely recommend this book to those who love actions.
So this book is basically about a 14 year old boy named Alex Rider. He works for MI6, which is a spy agency for Great Britain. He tries to stop bad people from doing things that would create crisis throughout the world. Anthony Horrowitz also loves to use syntax throughout his book to excite and rush readers which is crucial to a book like this such as the quote, "If he fell!...He could imagine it. Smashing into the shingles." He uses them so effectively that made readers stop and think before continue on reading all the while bombard with words that made readers feel like they are in the shotgun position along with Alex. It shows that syntax is used for a very good reason and Horowitz use them so good and masterful. Horowitz also loves using a lot of figurative language to describe things that Alex encountered. Like when Alex is describing the crocodiles that he was supposed to get eaten by, "They were really the eyes of death," and, "They twisted and sliced their way through the water like two knife wounds."
The author use informal diction here mostly because of the reputation of the series and to help readers connect easier with the character Alex who is 14, which is about the young adults age.
One point of the book that was a big hit for me was the problem of food scarcity for the Third World today, and the author demonstrate it very clearly that they need him because Desmond Mccain wanted to create the poison ricin to kill the people of the Third World, specifically Africa. To destroy the population of Africa would make Mccain a very rich man because he would be able to scam people out of their donations.
However, throughout the Alex Rider series, I didn't really like the ideas that at some point in the story, the villain will eventually reveal their plans. I would like it to be a surprise, diving into Alex's mind to figure out what he thinks and ultimately the whole plan. This is pretty much the one point that i did not like about the book and the series.
As just previously mentioned, ricin which is a genetically modified food and a very powerful poison that could kill a person very easily. It is the exact poison that a man from Mississippi tried to sent to President Obama and a Congressman from Capital Hill recently.
After reading this book, it made me think how difficult life is in other parts of the world and how some people are exploiting it for personal gains and it is just not right. I would definitely recommend this book to those who love actions.
November 23, 2009
I think this is the 7th or 8th in the series and I am getting a little tired of Alex Rider. He is still a 14 year old boy and still a fantastic spy. The plot is pretty similar to the other books. There is a crazy madman who is plotting to do something horrible. Alex must stop him. What drives me nuts is the bad guy always catches Alex and then proceeds to tell him exactly what he is going to do thus revealing his genius plans. Alex always escapes and is able to stop the plan. Maybe if the evil genius wasn't such a blabbermouth he would get away with it. This book also has some violence. Alex is now killing henchmen left and right and nothing is ever said about how the violence is affecting him. The boys and girls who love Alex Rider will love this book. I don't know if I want to read another one.
January 30, 2013
Three Words: Awesome, Amazing, Fantastic. I haven't read any others (yeah I know that it is bad to start a book in the middle of a series) but I must say that I am very excited to read the others. The whole 007 agent-under-cover takes reading to a new level. What tops that, the spy is a 14 YEAR OLD! This is definitely going to be a new and unique series that I can probably relate to from when I was a kid.
January 5, 2024
One thing that I love the most about this series is the pace. It's just a fast, adrenaline charged experience with mindless action and feats that would bring Bruce Wayne to his knees. This book felt like a "filler" of sorts: nothing major happened and it was just... there.
I've always believed that the protagonist is only as good as the antagonist and the antagonist was simply dumb tbh. He seemed like a caricature of every mainstream superhero villain, his intentions were stupid, his method was even dumber and why the f does every villain EXPLAIN THEIR MASTERPLAN?
I've always believed that the protagonist is only as good as the antagonist and the antagonist was simply dumb tbh. He seemed like a caricature of every mainstream superhero villain, his intentions were stupid, his method was even dumber and why the f does every villain EXPLAIN THEIR MASTERPLAN?
October 16, 2022
This book was action-packed and filled with adventure, just like all of the others in the series. I liked all of Alex's near-death experiences in this volume, particularly because it would be SUPER hard to survive them. I mean, he's fourteen, and he's better than all of the other adult MI6 agents. But the only reason I didn't give this five stars is because it doesn't make sense why the villain didn't kill him before it was too late (he had a thousand chances).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 27, 2022
Overall Rating : B-
"There is only one Alex Rider "
Not as good as the others but plenty action packed for those looking for a good old fashioned spy chase.
"There is only one Alex Rider "
Not as good as the others but plenty action packed for those looking for a good old fashioned spy chase.
May 28, 2017
"We have only one," Blunt replied "There is only one Alex Rider."
I couldn't agree more with Blunt. There is indeed only one Alex Rider and only one Anthony Horowitz. In this book Alex takes on another vile and cruel villain. Alex being Alex stops him before any innocent lives are lost.
Now here's what I love about the book:
Alex Rider is amazing. He is talented and has a knack for what he is forced to do in the series. But what makes him one of my favorite characters is the fact that he does not like being forced. Ideally kids love spies and characters like these are patriots. See Cody Banks But Alex was the true depiction of a child if a child were to be recruited by MI6. He HATED going on those missions. Let's be honest. A child would.
The drama is almost nerve-wracking. Anthony could make the best thrillers out of the most futile of plots. I promise you, you are going to be on edge throughout the series.
Here's the reason this one didn't get five stars:
The villains tell Alex everything Why, oh why, do you have to tell your top secret plans to a boy who is now very well-known in the criminal world as a dangerous spy? Just get the fact that you can't kill him into your thick heads. He will live to see you go to jail or see you dieHe may even kill you Why can't Alex ever find something on his own?
Alex's luck is something you get tired of. People get lucky, some do have the "devil's luck" but Alex got lucky so many times you get bored by the time you reach this far in the series.
Alex's stunts were a little too far-fetched. Grabbing a rope hanging from a helicopter that is flying by when you are on a wobbly roof about to fall is hard enough. How on Earth can a fourteen year-old grab hold of a rope hanging from a plane while on a wobbly roof about to fall off? And how can he pull himself up when he is was feeling fatigued twenty minutes ago and don't forget the wind pushing on him. Insane. I know.
Don't get me wrong. I don't want Alex Rider to die but seriously a little less unbelievable stuff because this gets boring after some while.
I couldn't agree more with Blunt. There is indeed only one Alex Rider and only one Anthony Horowitz. In this book Alex takes on another vile and cruel villain. Alex being Alex stops him before any innocent lives are lost.
Now here's what I love about the book:
Alex Rider is amazing. He is talented and has a knack for what he is forced to do in the series. But what makes him one of my favorite characters is the fact that he does not like being forced. Ideally kids love spies and characters like these are patriots.
The drama is almost nerve-wracking. Anthony could make the best thrillers out of the most futile of plots. I promise you, you are going to be on edge throughout the series.
Here's the reason this one didn't get five stars:
The villains tell Alex everything Why, oh why, do you have to tell your top secret plans to a boy who is now very well-known in the criminal world as a dangerous spy? Just get the fact that you can't kill him into your thick heads. He will live to see you go to jail or see you die
Alex's luck is something you get tired of. People get lucky, some do have the "devil's luck" but Alex got lucky so many times you get bored by the time you reach this far in the series.
Alex's stunts were a little too far-fetched. Grabbing a rope hanging from a helicopter that is flying by when you are on a wobbly roof about to fall is hard enough. How on Earth can a fourteen year-old grab hold of a rope hanging from a plane while on a wobbly roof about to fall off? And how can he pull himself up when he is was feeling fatigued twenty minutes ago and don't forget the wind pushing on him. Insane. I know.
Don't get me wrong. I don't want Alex Rider to die but seriously a little less unbelievable stuff because this gets boring after some while.
July 22, 2020
"When the world is threatened by a diabolical madman, the British Secret Service knows the name to call—Alex. Alex Rider. (What, you were expecting someone else?) If you’re not familiar with the series, just think “James Bond in sneakers.” (At one point Horowitz even dresses the hero in a tuxedo and black tennis shoes.) Alex Rider is a perfectly normal British teenager, except that he’s been unknowingly trained as a spy by his uncle, an agent of MI6 (the British equivalent of the CIA). When his uncle is murdered in the first novel, Alex is recruited by the agency for both his talents and his age—because who would suspect a 14-year-old of being a spy?
By the time of Crocodile Tears, however, Alex is weary of the spy business. He just wants to be a regular schoolboy and spend time with his girlfriend, Sabina. He’s told MI6 and Sabina that he’s out for good. But when someone tries to kill Alex, Sabina and her father, Alex is swept back into action. In short order, Alex is infiltrating the laboratory of a bio-geneticist with a fascination for poisons and running afoul of a disaster-relief charity, and a penchant for showing up just a little too quickly after devastating industrial “accidents.”
By the time of Crocodile Tears, however, Alex is weary of the spy business. He just wants to be a regular schoolboy and spend time with his girlfriend, Sabina. He’s told MI6 and Sabina that he’s out for good. But when someone tries to kill Alex, Sabina and her father, Alex is swept back into action. In short order, Alex is infiltrating the laboratory of a bio-geneticist with a fascination for poisons and running afoul of a disaster-relief charity, and a penchant for showing up just a little too quickly after devastating industrial “accidents.”
March 11, 2015
The wanted spy named Alex finds himself going to a party with his girlfriend in Scotland in a house of someone very rich who owned a charity called first aid. Alex wanted to enjoy this party as much as he could. He somehow got into a game of poker against the rich guy called Desmond and 5 other people. He didn't want to play, but he couldn't refuse because Desmond was inviting him. Alex made a spectacular move and won the game. After the party, Desmond sends a sniper to blow one of the wheels off of the car where Alex, his girlfriend and her dad were and they get into a terrible accident. Then, Alex finds out that he is evil and gets sent into a mission against him and his evil plan. This book is about evil and betrayal.
July 22, 2023
Alex once again deep in trouble.....
October 27, 2019
Although I do read YA books, this is not my usual fare. When purchasing another hardback in a charity shop I was encouraged to take advantage of their two-for-one deal, and this book was the least worst of all those in offer. I know of Horowitz as a TV writer of renown, so thought it should at least be well-written.
I found that this was number 8 in a series about a young boy, Alex Rider, fourteen years old, who has been recruited by MI6, part of British intelligence. It comes across as quite a cliched James Bond scenario, down to its own version of Q who comes up with the gadgets though the one in this is called Smithers instead. I suspended my disbelief about this unlikely premise, and enjoyed the action sequences and general mayhem.
The story starts when the protagonist, Alex, attends a New Year party in Scotland with a friend of his and her father, a journalist. He meets the owner of the remote castle where it is held, a seemingly reformed businessman who was sent to jail for fraud (arson). The man now runs a charity called First Aid, which tries to be first on the scene to any disaster, and has recently assisted in India where a nuclear power station had a leak (which the prologue has shown was actually sabotage). The man seems startled when he later comes upon Alex and his friend's father discussing his homework about GM crops. When Alex leaves shortly afterwards in the company of his friend and her father, their car suffers an 'accident' which is nearly fatal.
Alex doesn't want to carry out any more missions for MI6, but is forced to when a rogue journalist comes after him threatening to expose Alex and ruin any chance he has of a normal life. In return, he has to do "one last job" for MI6 which involves getting into the office of the director of a GM firm and downloading the data from his computer. The job is meant to be free of major risks, but this proves far from the truth when Alex discovers that the manager of the charity is also there, and seemingly involved in a conspiracy.
I'm sure this goes down very well with the age group for which it is intended as it is basically a wish fulfilment fantasy. It is a page turning read with a lot of excitement, but for an older reader such as myself a lot of implausibility - would a villain really confess all his plans to a prisoner and then stroll away not even bothering to make sure he is killed as ordered? I recall such scenes from old Bond films, and it is a bit of a cliche of the genre, but there is a reliance on such things and also on very good luck and the very convenient help of another individual at various key moments which do rather stretch the suspension of disbelief, especially as some of the things Alex has to do in this story would push the stamina and capibility of a highly trained and fit stunt person or commando.
If it was written for older readers it would also have to deal with the effect on a fourteen year old boy of the traumatic events to which he is subjected. I gathered that he had been shot in the past, at Liverpool Street station, and although there is a token effort at showing he still has some reaction when he has to go there again, he doesn't appear to suffer any qualms from killing a number of men in this book, even though it is in self defence.
Overall, a good light read, but not memorable and requiring a lot of suspension of disbelief on the part of an adult reader so personally I can only rate it as a 3 star read.
I found that this was number 8 in a series about a young boy, Alex Rider, fourteen years old, who has been recruited by MI6, part of British intelligence. It comes across as quite a cliched James Bond scenario, down to its own version of Q who comes up with the gadgets though the one in this is called Smithers instead. I suspended my disbelief about this unlikely premise, and enjoyed the action sequences and general mayhem.
The story starts when the protagonist, Alex, attends a New Year party in Scotland with a friend of his and her father, a journalist. He meets the owner of the remote castle where it is held, a seemingly reformed businessman who was sent to jail for fraud (arson). The man now runs a charity called First Aid, which tries to be first on the scene to any disaster, and has recently assisted in India where a nuclear power station had a leak (which the prologue has shown was actually sabotage). The man seems startled when he later comes upon Alex and his friend's father discussing his homework about GM crops. When Alex leaves shortly afterwards in the company of his friend and her father, their car suffers an 'accident' which is nearly fatal.
Alex doesn't want to carry out any more missions for MI6, but is forced to when a rogue journalist comes after him threatening to expose Alex and ruin any chance he has of a normal life. In return, he has to do "one last job" for MI6 which involves getting into the office of the director of a GM firm and downloading the data from his computer. The job is meant to be free of major risks, but this proves far from the truth when Alex discovers that the manager of the charity is also there, and seemingly involved in a conspiracy.
I'm sure this goes down very well with the age group for which it is intended as it is basically a wish fulfilment fantasy. It is a page turning read with a lot of excitement, but for an older reader such as myself a lot of implausibility - would a villain really confess all his plans to a prisoner and then stroll away not even bothering to make sure he is killed as ordered? I recall such scenes from old Bond films, and it is a bit of a cliche of the genre, but there is a reliance on such things and also on very good luck and the very convenient help of another individual at various key moments which do rather stretch the suspension of disbelief, especially as some of the things Alex has to do in this story would push the stamina and capibility of a highly trained and fit stunt person or commando.
If it was written for older readers it would also have to deal with the effect on a fourteen year old boy of the traumatic events to which he is subjected. I gathered that he had been shot in the past, at Liverpool Street station, and although there is a token effort at showing he still has some reaction when he has to go there again, he doesn't appear to suffer any qualms from killing a number of men in this book, even though it is in self defence.
Overall, a good light read, but not memorable and requiring a lot of suspension of disbelief on the part of an adult reader so personally I can only rate it as a 3 star read.
December 15, 2010
When I first heard of its existence, I refused to believe it. I'd rid myself of the Alex Rider series at last, and Anthony Horowitz had said that Snakehead would be his last, and it ended satisfactorily. I don't even remember the ending anymore! I can't remember where I read him saying it, but damnit he did. And then, when I saw this at the book sale, I was furious. There was a total dramatic "Nooooo!" moment right then and there at the warehouse, and people were staring, but I didn't care. Damnit he promised. But I bought the book anyway, because I couldn't not do it. OCD and all ... *pause to read*.
*finishes reading*
It started out fine, and I thought for a moment this would be one heck of a book, and that at last, Mr Horowitz would deliver! First off, we're introduced to Ravi Chandra, who plants a bomb in a nuclear power station and doesn't live very long. I was okay with this part, other than the fact it seems quite obvious than Anthony has never really been to India. And then we cut to Alex, who's on holiday in Scotland with the Pleasure family (I'm serious. That's their last name). He seems to be spending a lot of time with this Sabina Pleasure girl. And here's where you're expected to check your brains at the door, if you haven't already. One, Sabina's dad is a journalist. How is he able to afford so many family vacations (every time we're introduced to his family, they are on a vacation), and take along a boy who is a friend of his daughter's for most of them? Sure, he did save her life. But he's a teenage boy! Perhaps it's just me. I do after all, come from a family where my mom shrieked the first time she saw me hug a male school mate.
Back to the story. Things start moving pretty slowly, and initially it seems as though once again Anthony has no qualms in boring his readers with overly descriptive passages. But then, for the first time, he doesn't go overboard and suddenly it's fun to read again. In typical Alex Rider style, he wins a round of Texas Hold 'em on someone else's money, donates it all back, and half a dozen or so pages later, the car he, Sabina, and Mr. Pleasure are in plunges into the Loch Arkaig, and they are then rescued by a foreign-looking person. I think it was Indian.
Alex goes back to school, and after that, he spontaneously decides to go visit his uncle’s grave. He is then ambushed by three Asian dudes who start talking like real bad-asses, only, I’m not buying it because real people do not talk like that! And it was going so well, too! So anyway, Alex gives them the butt-whooping of their lives, and unbeknownst to him, he’s being photographed. *gasp*
The journalist has the cheek to pop up at his house, while he’s having dinner, and offer to do an expose, and cut him a 50-50 deal from whatever he makes. Apparently, Mr. Journalist did his research and has put together details of at least 4 cases that Alex is involved in, and whichever way you put it, what he plans to do would permanently destroy Alex’s chances of being a normal teenage boy. First off, it’s clear this journalist is bat nuts crazy. You do not go barging into people’s houses and threaten to reveal all their dirty little secrets, especially if said people have been known to land other people in the hospital. Same rule applies if you know they have connections to an intelligence agency.
So of course, Alex pays Mi6 a visit, and in return for helping him make sure his spy-life remains a secret, he has to steal some files from a GM foods research facility. Both bits are actually quite interesting. The journalist gets a taste of what life would be like if he ever mentioned the name Alex Rider again. To sum up, all his accounts would be frozen, the locks to his apartment changed, his car repo-ed, his identity replaced, and he would be arrested and charged for his own murder. Scary stuff. Alex, meanwhile, has the time of his life dodging bullets, running from guards, trying to navigate his way out of dome full of genetically modified toxic plants, murdering a dude, bombing up a chimney and falling onto the top of his own school bus as it leaves the compound. This in itself is a little odd. It seems the inside of the bus is sound proof, or everyone just ignored the loud thud that came from the top of the roof.
Alex gets suspended from school after he comes back onto the bus looking like he's just been through a war (the excuse given is that he fell out of the emergency exit. Really? What, were the teachers born yesterday?), and he decides that he’d like to use his time investigating the case a little further, based on stuff he heard the bad guys say. He nearly gets roasted alive, but somehow or another, he is immune to such things as toxic smoke inhalation and limps off homewards, all fine and dandy.
And then, here’s the good bit. He gets kidnapped. And he gets kidnapped well. Anthony Horowitz becomes about 70% creepier as you begin to wonder just how much time he spent dwelling on creating the perfect kidnapping. The gist is that the same idiot journalist ratted Alex out to the bad guys, and was shot to death for his effort. The bad guys stopped Alex on his way to school, chopped his hair up, stuck him in a wheel chair, chucked some ugly glasses on him, and drugged him just enough so that he’s paralyzed, his mouth is hanging open, and acting all brain damaged. Then in a series of black outs, he gets flown out of the country, and suddenly we’re in Kenya!
I’m going to skip the boring bits… Like him unwittingly helping the bad guys spray some shroom soup onto a wheat field that will biologically trigger the wheat to produce ricin; and where the bad guy (as all bad guys are wont to do) blabs about his past; how his charity, First Aid, was created to steal money from the general public, responding to disasters he engineered; and about his latest scheme.
Bad guy wants to know how much Mi6 knows about his dastardly scheme, (wasting quite a long time doing it, I might add) and this is how Alex ended up hanging on to the handles of a pole with 2 or 3 hungry crocodiles snapping at his buttocks. So far, what I have pictured is this: a horizontal metal pipe with handles built in like a periscope. Given that this is so, how come no one, including the ever-brilliant Rider, ever thought of hooking their legs onto the pipe to take most of their weight?
Anyhew, baddie gets bored and leaves with his posse of strong, dead-eye tribesmen, leaving his fiancé to watch Alex fall to his death. Fiancé gets shot from behind by (surprise, surprise) the foreign Indian dude from Scotland! He works for an Indian Intelligence Agency hell-bent on taking revenge on the bad guy for orchestrating the bombing in India. His mission is to kill the bad guy, which is helpful, but he isn’t a very good spy is he? Deviating from his missions like that to save random people.
Skip, skip, Indian spy passes out from his fever, that he got after his wound got infected, a wound that he got from parachuting in the night, and landing somewhere sharp and pointy. So, originally, Indian spy wants to bomb bad guy’s plane, but since he’s passed out and all, Alex figures he won't mind if he steals his bomb and uses it to destroy a dam to drown all the wheat crops. Indian spy rather conveniently wakes up in time to steal a plane and rescue Alex before he falls into the newly made waterfall and dies.
They stop off at some African village-ey place for fuel, and as Indian spy is lecturing Alex, his brains get blown out by bad guy, who has also stopped for fuel. What are the odds! Cool fight involving a gun, the same yucky mushroom soup, barrels of leaded oil, and a leftover explosive that Alex hadn’t used on his mission in the GM foods place, and then boom. Bad guy dies, and Alex is badly burnt. Winds up in the hospital. It's his birthday on Thursday, and he can't remember, but yay for him blah blah. The end.
3 stars feel right, but damn it…the way Alex’s housekeeper keeps harping on about “never again” is a bad sign. It means that Anthony Horowitz’s golden goose will be alive for a while yet. When will he put me out of the misery that is the Alex Rider series?
*finishes reading*
It started out fine, and I thought for a moment this would be one heck of a book, and that at last, Mr Horowitz would deliver! First off, we're introduced to Ravi Chandra, who plants a bomb in a nuclear power station and doesn't live very long. I was okay with this part, other than the fact it seems quite obvious than Anthony has never really been to India. And then we cut to Alex, who's on holiday in Scotland with the Pleasure family (I'm serious. That's their last name). He seems to be spending a lot of time with this Sabina Pleasure girl. And here's where you're expected to check your brains at the door, if you haven't already. One, Sabina's dad is a journalist. How is he able to afford so many family vacations (every time we're introduced to his family, they are on a vacation), and take along a boy who is a friend of his daughter's for most of them? Sure, he did save her life. But he's a teenage boy! Perhaps it's just me. I do after all, come from a family where my mom shrieked the first time she saw me hug a male school mate.
Back to the story. Things start moving pretty slowly, and initially it seems as though once again Anthony has no qualms in boring his readers with overly descriptive passages. But then, for the first time, he doesn't go overboard and suddenly it's fun to read again. In typical Alex Rider style, he wins a round of Texas Hold 'em on someone else's money, donates it all back, and half a dozen or so pages later, the car he, Sabina, and Mr. Pleasure are in plunges into the Loch Arkaig, and they are then rescued by a foreign-looking person. I think it was Indian.
Alex goes back to school, and after that, he spontaneously decides to go visit his uncle’s grave. He is then ambushed by three Asian dudes who start talking like real bad-asses, only, I’m not buying it because real people do not talk like that! And it was going so well, too! So anyway, Alex gives them the butt-whooping of their lives, and unbeknownst to him, he’s being photographed. *gasp*
The journalist has the cheek to pop up at his house, while he’s having dinner, and offer to do an expose, and cut him a 50-50 deal from whatever he makes. Apparently, Mr. Journalist did his research and has put together details of at least 4 cases that Alex is involved in, and whichever way you put it, what he plans to do would permanently destroy Alex’s chances of being a normal teenage boy. First off, it’s clear this journalist is bat nuts crazy. You do not go barging into people’s houses and threaten to reveal all their dirty little secrets, especially if said people have been known to land other people in the hospital. Same rule applies if you know they have connections to an intelligence agency.
So of course, Alex pays Mi6 a visit, and in return for helping him make sure his spy-life remains a secret, he has to steal some files from a GM foods research facility. Both bits are actually quite interesting. The journalist gets a taste of what life would be like if he ever mentioned the name Alex Rider again. To sum up, all his accounts would be frozen, the locks to his apartment changed, his car repo-ed, his identity replaced, and he would be arrested and charged for his own murder. Scary stuff. Alex, meanwhile, has the time of his life dodging bullets, running from guards, trying to navigate his way out of dome full of genetically modified toxic plants, murdering a dude, bombing up a chimney and falling onto the top of his own school bus as it leaves the compound. This in itself is a little odd. It seems the inside of the bus is sound proof, or everyone just ignored the loud thud that came from the top of the roof.
Alex gets suspended from school after he comes back onto the bus looking like he's just been through a war (the excuse given is that he fell out of the emergency exit. Really? What, were the teachers born yesterday?), and he decides that he’d like to use his time investigating the case a little further, based on stuff he heard the bad guys say. He nearly gets roasted alive, but somehow or another, he is immune to such things as toxic smoke inhalation and limps off homewards, all fine and dandy.
And then, here’s the good bit. He gets kidnapped. And he gets kidnapped well. Anthony Horowitz becomes about 70% creepier as you begin to wonder just how much time he spent dwelling on creating the perfect kidnapping. The gist is that the same idiot journalist ratted Alex out to the bad guys, and was shot to death for his effort. The bad guys stopped Alex on his way to school, chopped his hair up, stuck him in a wheel chair, chucked some ugly glasses on him, and drugged him just enough so that he’s paralyzed, his mouth is hanging open, and acting all brain damaged. Then in a series of black outs, he gets flown out of the country, and suddenly we’re in Kenya!
I’m going to skip the boring bits… Like him unwittingly helping the bad guys spray some shroom soup onto a wheat field that will biologically trigger the wheat to produce ricin; and where the bad guy (as all bad guys are wont to do) blabs about his past; how his charity, First Aid, was created to steal money from the general public, responding to disasters he engineered; and about his latest scheme.
Bad guy wants to know how much Mi6 knows about his dastardly scheme, (wasting quite a long time doing it, I might add) and this is how Alex ended up hanging on to the handles of a pole with 2 or 3 hungry crocodiles snapping at his buttocks. So far, what I have pictured is this: a horizontal metal pipe with handles built in like a periscope. Given that this is so, how come no one, including the ever-brilliant Rider, ever thought of hooking their legs onto the pipe to take most of their weight?
Anyhew, baddie gets bored and leaves with his posse of strong, dead-eye tribesmen, leaving his fiancé to watch Alex fall to his death. Fiancé gets shot from behind by (surprise, surprise) the foreign Indian dude from Scotland! He works for an Indian Intelligence Agency hell-bent on taking revenge on the bad guy for orchestrating the bombing in India. His mission is to kill the bad guy, which is helpful, but he isn’t a very good spy is he? Deviating from his missions like that to save random people.
Skip, skip, Indian spy passes out from his fever, that he got after his wound got infected, a wound that he got from parachuting in the night, and landing somewhere sharp and pointy. So, originally, Indian spy wants to bomb bad guy’s plane, but since he’s passed out and all, Alex figures he won't mind if he steals his bomb and uses it to destroy a dam to drown all the wheat crops. Indian spy rather conveniently wakes up in time to steal a plane and rescue Alex before he falls into the newly made waterfall and dies.
They stop off at some African village-ey place for fuel, and as Indian spy is lecturing Alex, his brains get blown out by bad guy, who has also stopped for fuel. What are the odds! Cool fight involving a gun, the same yucky mushroom soup, barrels of leaded oil, and a leftover explosive that Alex hadn’t used on his mission in the GM foods place, and then boom. Bad guy dies, and Alex is badly burnt. Winds up in the hospital. It's his birthday on Thursday, and he can't remember, but yay for him blah blah. The end.
3 stars feel right, but damn it…the way Alex’s housekeeper keeps harping on about “never again” is a bad sign. It means that Anthony Horowitz’s golden goose will be alive for a while yet. When will he put me out of the misery that is the Alex Rider series?
January 9, 2022
I swear, this poor child.
He just wanted to go to a New Years Eve party in Scotland, and he's almost killed. He just wanted to go on a field trip with his science class and he's almost killed. Alex lives the roughest life and then just to add salt to the wound, people refuse to believe him because he's only fourteen.
I think he's also incredibly lucky in that he always escapes somehow AND is better than so many of the adult agents who have died doing the same missions he finishes.
I'm so invested in this series and for what, for some government official to say that because he's a kid, he's not worth their time? Pft. Please. Alex deserves better.
Anyway, onto the next book at some point this week LOL.
Happy reading!
He just wanted to go to a New Years Eve party in Scotland, and he's almost killed. He just wanted to go on a field trip with his science class and he's almost killed. Alex lives the roughest life and then just to add salt to the wound, people refuse to believe him because he's only fourteen.
I think he's also incredibly lucky in that he always escapes somehow AND is better than so many of the adult agents who have died doing the same missions he finishes.
I'm so invested in this series and for what, for some government official to say that because he's a kid, he's not worth their time? Pft. Please. Alex deserves better.
Anyway, onto the next book at some point this week LOL.
Happy reading!
August 24, 2021
2.5 stars.
Just doesn't add anything interesting to the series. Once you get to book 8 you shouldn't still be doing the same thing over and over. There needs to be a fresher plot, a more interesting villain, or some character development for Alex.
Just doesn't add anything interesting to the series. Once you get to book 8 you shouldn't still be doing the same thing over and over. There needs to be a fresher plot, a more interesting villain, or some character development for Alex.
Read
December 8, 2025still great fun, still doesn't _feel_ like a kids book
March 28, 2023
4.2/5
Pretty good book 😸
It did feel a bit like he was being transported a;l over the world in the span of a few pages but that’s okay 😺👍
Excited to read the next book
What’s with the crocodiles though? Only one scene with them..? 😕
Bye 🤠
Pretty good book 😸
It did feel a bit like he was being transported a;l over the world in the span of a few pages but that’s okay 😺👍
Excited to read the next book
What’s with the crocodiles though? Only one scene with them..? 😕
Bye 🤠
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