I loved Alex Rider as a kid. I must have read the first five books like fifty million times. Since I'm in the middle of a Cherub reread I thought I'd come back to Alex. It's kind of funny reading them now - I don't quite remember them being so depressing. Alex is a lot more jaded than I ever remember him being. It's also warranted but yeah. MI6 and Alan Blunt and Mrs Jones make me so angry. Poor Alex gets screwed way too often. I also remember Alex being a lot more talented than he is. But to my adult eyes, it seems like he's getting by more on luck than pure ability. Still they're great books with lots of action. I probably would only rate it 4 stars these days, but I'm going to stick with my original rating for posterity.


It really sucks that Alex keeps having to catch up on his schoolwork. Mainly because it's not really his fault he's not there - he didn't exactly sign up to be a spy. And as for him feeling all alone - aren't psych evals a requirement of spy work? I mean really - he's a fourteen year old boy - he should definitely be required to talk to someone about what the hell he's going through. But then it's not like M16 really care - I mean he does call for backup and they ignore him. The mystery in this one was creepy. Clones freak me out. And the ending! Ugh. The fire and not knowing which is which - very creepy.
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Point Blanc (2001) (Alex Rider #2) by Anthony Horowitz. The second outing for our reluctant young spy. MI6 comes calling and Alex Rider answers the call though he would rather not. This is how he differs from the Young Bond character who is actively looking for danger, but is not propositioned by the secret service. Not that Rider avoids the stuff.
Here he is sent to a small, male only, school for the children of the rich who can not fit into other academic settings. High in the Alps, Rider meets the school’s two masters and the handful of teens that compromise the class. Each is the troubled son of a very rich or powerful man, and only a few like being in this setting.
I felt as if I had read this before and then remembered that Mr. Horowitz is not only a huge fan of Ian Fleming’s work but has lately finished up a trilogy of pretty nifty Bond books. He doesn’t take the plots of any Bond book but there are shadows of Fleming’s work strewn throughout the Alex Rider novels, Point Blanc being a fine homage to On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
There is something very wrong in the school, which is cut off from the lower villages. Alex must discover what is turning these rebellious lads into perfect little gentlemen, and in at least one case, seemingly overnight.
The action ramps up for our teen hero who suddenly finds himself alone and in trouble. There is an exciting ski chase scene which is the only way to write about skiing. Mr. Horowitz brilliantly captures the adrenaline rush of a furious downhill run that others only wish they could.
The book had a very surprising twist at the end. To me it was unexpected but very reminiscent of a book by Ira Levin. No matter, our hero manages to come out ahead, saving the day and the children of the ultra-rich so they can go back to being what they were before all this took place.
Or can they? ( )

Alex finds himself in trouble when he attempts to put an end to a drug dealer who has been working outside his school. Mr. Blunt and Mrs. Jones use this to blackmail Alex to work for them again going undercover in a school called Point Blanc where strange things have been reported by the parents of students who have been sent there. When a wealthy businessman is killed right after calling Mr. Blunt about the school, it is decided that someone must go into the school posing as a student, and their only option is Alex.

Point Blank is the next action packed addition to the Alex Rider series. Just like Stormbreaker, this book follows Alex as he is one again thrust into the world of spies against his will. In this book, as in the first, we start to see that even though Alex isn't thrilled about the work, he does seem to have a certain need to follow through on his efforts, and his skills seem up to the challenge. There is still so much about Alex's personality that isn't clear, but more was revealed in this book as we find him being more sarcastic with a darker world view. Overall Point Blank continues to develop more of the story behind Alex Rider. 3 1/2 stars. ( )

I read 'Stormbreaker' the first Alex Rider book, a year ago and had a great time. It was everything I'd thought it would be except that the people Alex works for, the 'good guys' were really rather unpleasant.

I'd meant to get back to Alex sooner but... so many books, so many good intentions, so little time, yada yada yada. Anyway, I included the second book in my Cold Comfort Reads challenge because much of it is set at the top of the French Alps in winter.

I enjoyed the fact that the book didn't plunge Alex straight into a conflict with an eccentric super-villain in his Alpine Aerie (although we definitely got there in the end, right down to the disposable guards and the 'Before-I-kill-let-me-share-the-details-of-my-evil-plan-for-world-domination monologuing from the uber-villain).

The scene is set with a high tech, very elaborate assassination. Then we move to Alex, who is back in his civilian life but who has found it no longer fits him well We watch as he extracts a spectacular if ill-conceived revenge on the guy selling drugs at the gates of his school. Then we meet MI6, who are just as unpleasant as they were last time, and they set Alex up with a whole new identity, part of which puts him at a billionaire's home for a few days, pretending to be his son. I quite enjoyed watching Alex deal with the posh-boy wannabe toughs. I thought he let them get off lightly. The scene with the horse I could have lived without but it was still fun.

Then Alex is in the mountains, undercover, trying to figure out what the evil genius is up to. What the evil genius was up to was no more absurd than the average Bond villain and a lot more original but it still turned my suspension of disbelief into a bungee jump.

The action scenes on the mountain were joyously over the top. Hurtling down a black run in the dark while being chased by guys on snowmobiles equipped with machine-guns. Wonderful stuff.

The ending was a little odd but was still fun.

I'm hoping not to leave it a year until my next visit with Alex. He's the perfect distraction from a miserable world.

My enjoyment was greatly enhanced by listening to the audiobook version, narrated with verve and energy by Oliver Chris. Click on the SoundCloud link below to hear a sample.
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Liked this better than Stormbreaker, because the involvement of a 14-year old spy seemed more credible, but perhaps it just took a second book? Alex Rider is coerced to masquerade as a hell child of a magnate to enter a prestigious school, where miscreants are re-educated. When two parents die under unusual circumstances, MI6 decides something is wrong there. Alex is sent to a mountaintop in Switzerland, where he is basically on his own to discover what is rotten there and uncovers a devious plot by a sociopath. Addendum: Great murder at the beginning involving a holographic projection of an elevator in an empty shaft!! ( )