Alex Rider

Alex Rider is a series of spy novels by British author Anthony Horowitz about a 14-15 year old spy named Alex Rider. The series is aimed primarily at young adults. Nine novels have been published to date, as well as three graphic novels, three short stories and a supplementary book. The first novel, Stormbreaker, was first released in the United Kingdom in 2000 and was adapted into a motion picture in 2006 starring Alex Pettyfer. A video game was released in 2006, based on the film. The novels are published by Walker Books in the United Kingdom. They were first published by Puffin in the United States, but have also been published more recently by Philomel, also an imprint of Penguin Books.^[1] The graphic novels are published by Walker in the United Kingdom, and by Philomel in the United States.

Novels

Stormbreaker

It was released in the United Kingdom in 2000 and in the United States in 2001. Alex, the main character, is recruited by the British secret service after discovering his uncle's assassination. Once recruited, he goes undercover as a scholar winning a prize to explore suspicious rumors of some sort of virus at Herod Sayle's manufacturing plant in Cornwall.

Point Blanc

Point Blanc was published in the United Kingdom in 2001, and in North America in 2002 under the name Point Blank. Alex investigates Dr Hugo Grief, a South African scientist who runs Point Blanc, an academy in the French Alps. Dr Grief is replacing the sons of rich, influential people with clones of himself, which have been modified to look like the boys themselves, through plastic surgery, so that he himself will be in these positions of power. It's a matter of life and death for Alex, who must escape from the academy and report back to MI6.

Skeleton Key

Skeleton Key was published in 2002. After foiling a Triad plot to fix the 2001 Wimbledon tennis tournament, Alex is in grave danger of assassination. Forced to leave the country, MI6 sends him on a mission to Cuba with two CIA agents (one of which believes that he is useless), where he is the only one of the three to survive. He encounters a former Soviet general, Alexei Sarov, with plans for a nuclear holocaust, starting at the Russian nuclear submarine base in Murmansk, and world domination.

Eagle Strike

Eagle Strike was published in 2003. Damian Cray, a world-famous pop star, hopes to destroy the world's drug-making countries by hijacking the United States' nuclear arsenal. Suspicious of him, Alex takes Cray on without the help of the sceptical MI6. Cray releases a state-of-the-art games console called the 'Gameslayer'. Its first game, 'Feathered Serpent', is much more than it seems. Alex finds the Sloterdijk factory near Amsterdam in Holland and makes an important discovery. He battles the real-life reconstruction of 'Feathered Serpent' at the factory, before being captured by Cray himself. Cray sets off a number of missiles that will destroy almost half the earth and Alex sets them all off. At the end of the novel, whilst refusing to shoot and kill Alex, Yassen Gregorovich is murdered by Cray. However, Cray meets a gruesome end.

Scorpia

Scorpia was published in 2004. Following the advice of the assassin Yassen Gregorovich, Alex tries to find the criminal organization "Scorpia" to find out the truth about his father. Little does Alex know, he is soon whisked into Scorpia where he discovers his dark side. Alex meets one of the leaders of Scorpia, Julia Rothman, who is in charge of a terrible weapon that would instantly kill thousands of innocent London schoolchildren in a matter of seconds. He tries to destroy this weapon high above London, and is shot by a Scorpia sniper outside the MI6 headquarters at the end of the novel, which leads to the beginning of the next book in the series, Ark Angel.

Ark Angel

Ark Angel, published in 2005, follows Alex's second mission for the C.I.A. He investigates Nikolei Drevin who builds a hotel in outer space called "Ark Angel". Drevin secretly tries to destroy Washington D.C., the capital of the U.S.A and targets the Pentagon, hoping to destroy files on him that the U.S. have acquired. Alex Rider has to fight for his life in this great Alex Rider novel.

Snakehead

Snakehead was published in 2008. Taking place immediately after Ark Angel, the novel sees Alex recruited by ASIS, Australia's secret service, to infiltrate a Snakehead organisation by posing as an Afghan refugee. Alex meets his godfather, Ash (Anthony Sean Howell), and confronts the organization Scorpia for the second time.

Crocodile Tears

Crocodile Tears was published in 2010. While taking a vacation with Sabina Pleasure in Scotland, Alex is rudely interrupted by an assassination attempt that nearly kills Sabina's father. The culprit is soon revealed to be corrupted rescue agency called "First Aid". Alex must now embark on a mission to stop their next money-making scheme, involving a terrible man-letting. He spoils Desmond McCain's plans and saves the day.

Scorpia Rising

Scorpia Rising, the ninth and latest novel, was published on 21 March 2011. In the book, Scorpia is hired to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece. Their plan includes the laying of a false trail to Cairo and blackmailing London into returning the Marbles. MI6 falls for the trap and Alex is sent to Cairo, where, unbeknown to Alex, Scorpia has every planed and pulling the strings. This is the last of the Alex Rider series.

Future

Originally, Yassen was to follow Snakehead as the eighth book, and would be the final Alex Rider novel. However, Horowitz rethought this idea, following negative responses during school visits.^[2][3][4] Crocodile Tears was instead released as the eighth book, in November 2009. According to the acknowledgements at the end of Scorpia Rising, Horowitz still plans to release Yassen, but not as a part of the series.

Franchise

Novels

1. Stormbreaker (4 September 2000)
2. Point Blanc (3 September 2001) (entitled Point Blank in the United States)
3. Skeleton Key (8 July 2002)
4. Eagle Strike (7 April 2003)
5. Scorpia (1 April 2004)
6. Ark Angel (1 April 2005)
7. Snakehead (31 October 2007)
8. Crocodile Tears (12 November 2009)
9. Scorpia Rising (21 March in Australia/22 March 2011 in the US/31 March in the UK)

Supplementary books

• Alex Rider: The Gadgets (17 October 2005)
• Alex Rider: The Mission Files (6 October 2008)

Short stories

• Alex Rider: Secret Weapon (9 February 2003)
• Alex Rider: Christmas at Gunpoint (1 January 2007)
• Alex Rider: Incident in Nice (9 November 2009)^[5]
• Alex Underground
• Resistance to Interrogation, an extra chapter in Stormbreaker

A Taste of Death-(March 2012 for World Book Day)-takes place in Alex's past, someone returns to attack him.

Films

• Stormbreaker (21 July 2006) (titled Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker in the United States)

Video games

• Alex Rider: Stormbreaker (25 September 2006)

Reception

So far Alex Rider has received critical acclaim with Guardian newspaper calling it "Explosive, thrilling, action packed". It also sold 12 million copies in total for the entire series. Horowitz was praised with Daily Mirror commenting "Horowitz is pure class, stylish but action-packed...being James Bond in miniature is way cooler than being a wizard." and The Times saying "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!". Clearly Alex Rider has been a very successful series. The Daily Telegraph says "The perfect hero.. genuine 21st century stuff.", www.coolreads.co.uk said "Furious fast paced!". The audiences have been very positive giving it 5 or 4 stars. Sunday Times says it "Brings a new meaning to the phrase 'Action Packed'." Independent on Sunday says "Every bored schoolboys fantasy, only a thousand times funnier, slicker and more exciting...genius.." and Financial Times reporting "Addictive pacey novels". Daily Express says "Adults as well as kids will be hooked on the adventures of Alex Rider...Harry Potter with an attitude" and finally Books for Keeps concluding "An ingenious, fast paced action-adventure."

Influence

In the years following the release of Stormbreaker, many other book series by British authors aimed at young readers and featuring teenage spies as their main characters have been published, notably A. J. Butcher's Spy High, Joe Craig's Jimmy Coates, Charlie Higson's Young Bond, Robert Muchamore's CHERUB & Henderson's Boys, Sam Hutton's Special Agents, Andy McNab & Robert Rigby's Boy Soldier and Chris Ryan's Alpha Force & Code Red. While it is unknown how much Anthony Horowitz's books have influenced the writing and publishing of these books, one can safely speculate that the success of the Alex Rider books contributed to some extent to the commissioning and/or acceptance of some/all of these book series by publishing houses.

References

External links

• Official website of the books
• Archive of Official website of the film by Internet Archive
• Official Penguin website of the books