Alex Rider


Alex Rider is a series of spy novels by British author Anthony Horowitz about a teenage spy named Alex Rider. The series is aimed primarily at teens and young adults. The series comprises thirteen novels, as well as six graphic novels, seven short stories, and a supplementary book. The first novel, Stormbreaker, was released in the United Kingdom in 2000 and was adapted into a film in 2006 starring Alex Pettyfer. The novels are published by Walker Books in the United Kingdom. They were first published by Puffin in the United States, but have been published more recently by Philomel Books, also an imprint of Penguin Books.

Novels

List

  1. Stormbreaker - released 4 September 2000. Adapted as a graphic novel, released 3 July 2006.
  2. Point Blanc - released 3 September 2001. Adapted as a graphic novel, released 27 December 2007.
  3. Skeleton Key - released 8 July 2002. Adapted as a graphic novel, released 7 September 2009.
  4. Eagle Strike - released 7 April 2003. Adapted as a graphic novel, released 6 July 2012.
  5. Scorpia - released 1 April 2004. Adapted as a graphic novel, released February 2016.
  6. Ark Angel - released 1 April 2005. Being adapted as a graphic novel.
  7. Snakehead - released 31 October 2007.
  8. Crocodile Tears - released 11 November 2009.
  9. Scorpia Rising - released 21 March 2011 in Australia, 22 March 2011 in the US and 31 March 2011 in the UK.
  10. Russian Roulette - was released on 12 September 2013
  11. Never Say Die - released 1 June 2017 in the UK and on 10 October 2017 in the US
  12. Secret Weapon - was released on 4 April 2019
  13. Nightshade'' - was released on 2 April 2020 in the UK.

    ''Stormbreaker''

Stormbreaker was published in 2000 in the United Kingdom and in 2001 in the United States. Alex, the main character, is recruited by MI6 after discovering the truth about his uncle's life and death. He is sent to complete his uncle's latest mission: To investigate a multimillionaire named Herod Sayle and his creation, the revolutionary and newly developed computer called Stormbreaker, which Sayle is donating to every school in England. Alex later discovers that the Stormbreakers contain a deadly virus and that Sayle is planning to kill British schoolchildren. In the end Alex foils his plan and succeeds in his first mission.

''Point Blanc''

Point Blanc was published in the United Kingdom in 2001, and in North America in 2002 under the alternate title Point Blank. After the death of two billionaires, MI6 discovers a connection: the two men who died each had a son attending Point Blanc, a school for rebellious sons of billionaires located in the French Alps, owned by a scientist named Dr. Hugo Grief. MI6 sends Alex to investigate Point Blanc and Alex discovers that Grief is replacing the students with clones of himself, altered through plastic surgery to resemble the students, so that Grief can inherit the fortune and have complete power to rule the world. He even has a clone of Alex ready. However, Alex foils his plan and succeeds again.

''Skeleton Key''

Skeleton Key was published in 2002. After foiling a Triad plot to fix the 2001 Wimbledon tennis tournament by knocking out one of their members with a carbon dioxide tank, Alex is in grave danger of assassination. Forced to leave the country, MI6 sends him on a mission to Cuba with two CIA agents, where he is the only one of the three to survive. He encounters a former Soviet general, Alexei Sarov, with ideas for a nuclear holocaust and world domination under communist rule and who tries to adopt Alex.

''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 skeptical MI6. Cray releases a state-of-the-art games console called the 'Gameslayer'. Its first game, 'Feathered Serpent', is much more than it seems. It is up to Alex to discover the connection between the pop star, the video game, and the bombing of his vacation home. In the end, he will uncover a much larger plot, one involving the US government and the world's security. Alex got caught spying and was forced into a real-life version of 'Feathered Serpent' and manages to escape by cheating the way only a real human can unlike an avatar. He leaves Damian Cray's mansion but not before stealing a vital piece of equipment that Damian needs to make his plan work. He is then forced to give it up because Damian had kidnapped Alex's girlfriend, Sabina. He then goes onto Air Force One and watches Damian Cray launch nuclear missiles at the biggest drug supplying countries. Cray shoots Yassen Gregorvich and kills him, and Cray falls out of the plane and dies. Alex then stops the missiles before they can hit their targets. Just before dying, Yassen tells Alex to look for a criminal organization called Scorpia as his father worked with Yassen there. Sabina's family move to San Francisco.

''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. He is soon recruited by Scorpia and trains as an assassin where he discovers that he will assassinate Mrs Jones. He fails in this mission, but then is turned back onto MI6's side after being told his father was really working as a double agent for Scorpia and returns to Scorpia as a double agent himself. He discovers their plot to kill British school children and foils it. At the end of the novel, as Alex leaves Liverpool Street following his debriefing by Alan Blunt and Mrs. Jones, he is shot by a sniper hired by Scorpia, who wounds his chest.

''Ark Angel''

Ark Angel, published in 2005, follows Alex's second mission for the C.I.A. After nearly dying from being shot with a sniper rifle, 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. and targets the Pentagon, hoping to destroy files on him that the US have acquired. Alex is forced to go into space and destroy Ark Angel.

''Snakehead''

Snakehead was published in 2007. Taking place immediately after Ark Angel, the novel sees Alex recruited by ASIS, Australia's secret service, to infiltrate a Snakehead organization by posing as an Afghan refugee. Alex meets his godfather, Ash, and confronts the organization Scorpia for the second time. He learns that Ash was actually working with Scorpia and Major Winston Yu and then escapes from the trap.

''Crocodile Tears''

Crocodile Tears was published in 2009. It begins with Alex's girlfriend, Sabina and her family visiting the UK from San Francisco. Alex goes to Scotland with them. They go to millionaire Desmond McCain's mansion for a Christmas party, but after Alex offends McCain in a game of poker, their Nissan X-Trail falls into the lagoon. Alex is rescued by a man whose identity is later revealed. Alex is recruited by MI6 to investigate McCain, but is captured by him. He is taken to Kenya where he learns that McCain will poison Kenya, killing its inhabitants and animals and collecting 'charity money' that he will collect for personal benefit. Alex is nearly killed by McCain but saved by the man from before, who says his name is Rahim. Alex ultimately foils McCain's plan, but as they escape McCain kills Rahim. Alex then kills McCain, and is taken back to England.

''Scorpia Rising''

Scorpia Rising was published in 2011. In the book, Scorpia is hired by Greek trillionaire Yannis Ariston Xenopolos to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece. Scorpia's plan includes the laying of a false trail to Cairo, Egypt and blackmailing MI6 into returning the Marbles. MI6 falls for the trap and Alex is sent to Cairo, where he is dismayed to find that Scorpia has been pulling the strings all along. He also meets Julius Grief, his clone from Point Blanc who escaped from a MI6 prison in Gibraltar. He aims to personally kill Alex for avenging his creator's, Dr Grief's death. Alex is captured by Scorpia and manages to help his long time friend and carer after his uncle's death, Jack, escape. Scorpia anticipated this and laid a trap for Jack. Alex is destroyed by the news that she is allegedly killed but manages to stop Scorpia's plan and kill Julius. The book ends when Alex escapes and moves to San Francisco with Sabina's family. It is heavily implied he is changed forever and will never go back to his spy life. This is followed by a follow-up novel Never Say Die, also set in the Middle East.

''Russian Roulette''

Russian Roulette was published in 2013. It is told from the point of view of the infamous contract killer, Yassen Gregorovich. It is set from Yassen's childhood to his first two murders. It starts in a small Russian village, but continues with a deadly poison accidentally spreading through the city. Yassen's parents, who were forced to help create it, give him an elixir that will make him immune to the disease. He then lives on the streets of Moscow. His first burglary is a complete failure and he is enslaved by the owner of the house in Gorky Park he attempted to burgle, Vladimir Sharkovsky. He escapes three years later, aged nineteen, and joins Scorpia. He is hesitant to kill, and meets John Rider, Alex's father, a fellow Scorpia recruit, who becomes his friend and mentor. Following his realisation of Rider's work in MI6, he kills Vladimir and his son Ivan, both of whom tormented him. This is his first two kills in his career of an contract killer.
Horowitz lets us explore the story of Yassen Gregorovich and what made him the man he was.

''Never Say Die''

Never Say Die was published in June 2017 with a US release in October 2017. After the events of Scorpia Rising, Alex is left traumatised from the death of his caregiver and close friend, Jack Starbright. After being given a glimmer of hope about her survival,through an unknown email, Alex is thrust into the horrors of his past in a battle to recover his friend from the dead. Along the way, he encounters new foes who are nothing like anyone he has battled before. He foils their plans of making rich parents pay to get their children back so they could become billionaires. Never Say Die was published on 1 June 2017 in the UK. It was released in the US on 10 October 2017.

''Secret Weapon''

A collection of 7 adventures that Alex Rider experienced outside of the missions assigned to him by MI6. These stories occur throughout the series. Several of the chapters are short stories previously released by author Anthony Horowitz.
The thirteenth book in the series; Nightshade, was confirmed by Anthony Horowitz in May 2017. It will likely follow Alex in a battle against a new criminal organisation Nightshade which Mrs Jones had been reading a document about at the end of Never Say Die. After the assassination of an MI6-Agent in Rio de Janeiro, one of the assassins is caught. It is a 15-year old boy - Frederick Grey - who was presumed dead. The MI6-agents final words tell about a terrorist attack by 'Nightshade'. Mrs Jones recognizes her daughter when she sees a picture of Grey's escaped partner. Alex is send by Mrs. Jones to pretend to be Julius Grief at the Gibraltar prison where Julius was before escaping at the start of Scorpia Rising and where Frederick is being held and learn about the organisation Frederick works for. Unable to get the right information, when Alex becomes friends with Frederick, he decides to escape with Frederick and then infiltrate Nightshade's base of operations. An abandoned military base in Crete. There he learns that Nightshade uses brainwashed children to work as mercenaries for a group of Americans calling themselves the teachers. Alex' cover is blown by Nightshade's client and he is used as a distraction while Frederick and two other children perform a mass - assassination attempt at St-Paul's cathedral. Alex prevents the attack on the MP's, gathered at the cathedral for a funeral, by disabling the Teacher's communication system with their child agents. Alex tries to help Fredrick after his capture and promises Mrs. Jones to help her find 'Nightshade' who still has one of her children as an agent. Not knowing that 'Nightshade' is already plotting revenge against Alex. The 12th installment of the Alex Rider series sees him set off to Gibraltar. Nightshade was published on April 2, 2020.

Franchise

The audiobooks are read by Simon Prebble and Oliver Chris.

Supplementary books

Please note - Christmas at Gunpoint was later published as part of The Mission Files, material from these was included in Secret Weapon along with new material and are all available on Anthony Horowitz's website.

Extra chapters

Please Note - Resistance to interrogation and Coda are available on the author's website and they have all been included in certain editions of that book except Resistance to Interrogation which was included in certain editions of Never Say Die.

In other media

Video game

A based on the film was released on 7 July 2006, which received negative reviews.

Film

Horowitz wrote the screenplay for the feature film Stormbreaker, directed by Geoffrey Sax. Stormbreaker was an international co-production between companies and financiers from the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany, and released on 21 July 2006. Intended to be the first entry in a film franchise, Stormbreaker grossed between $20.7 and $23.9 million worldwide upon its theatrical release, failing to recoup its $40 million budget and making the film a box office bomb.

Television series

In May 2017, it was announced that ITV was developing a television adaptation of the Alex Rider novels. The series is being produced by Eleventh Hour Films, with Tutankhamen screenwriter and novelist Guy Burt acting as showrunner. Eleventh Hour Films is run by Horowitz's wife Jill Green.
In July 2018, it was reported that Sony Pictures Television had replaced ITV as Eleventh Hour Film's distribution and financial partner for a new Alex Rider television series. Sony Pictures Television's international and worldwide distribution divisions under Wayne Garvie and Keith Le Goy were attached to the film series. Burt had adapted Point Blanc, the second book in the Alex Rider novel series, for television. Horowitz will serve as executive producer for the series.
The first season was released on Amazon Prime Video in the United Kingdom on 4 June 2020. In New Zealand, the television series is distributed by TVNZ On Demand.