Anthony Horowitz Alex Rider Undercover: Four Secret Files - World Book Day 2020

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Scorpia condemned Damian Cray as a madman.However, this is a debateable example, as their comments could be based on his Utopia Justifies the Means mentality (some SCORPIA Members are implied to be involved in the Drugs trade, which Cray plotted to eradicate in Eagle Strike) as much as his crimes. Alex Rider is a series of spy novels by the English author Anthony Horowitz. The novels revolve around a teenage spy named Alex Rider and is primarily aimed towards young adults. The series currently comprises 14 novels, as well as six graphic novels, seven short stories, and a supplementary book.

The CIA's various regional headquarters in different countries and states are named with the exact same initials—Centurion International Advertising in Miami, Creative Ideas Animation in New York, and Cairo Islamic Authority in, well, Cairo. Interquel: Although the main body of Russian Roulette is a Prequel, the Framing Device is set immediately before, and during, the final chapter of Stormbreaker. In Nightshade, Alex watches the 2015 film The Martian, moving up the year in the story even further. Sequel Number Snarl: Due to debate about whether or not Russian Roulette and Secret Weapon should be counted in the series' numbering, the forthcoming Nightshade has been variously described as the eleventh, twelfth or thirteenth book in the series.

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Particularly valuable, I thought, were the costumes that couldn’tbe easily guessed: asking a child to explain who their character was and to articulate why they had made certain clothing decisions was entertaining (often hilarious), informative and educationally beneficial.

Secret Weapon" (2003) (post- Skeleton Key. Revised and expanded version published in Secret Weapon) The Gunman in Russian Roulette is Vladimir Sharkovsky, who appears at the end is as Yassen's first assassination. The Film of the Book: Was subjected to an unusual variant of Executive Meddling in that one of the executives Horowitz worked with turned out to be a crook, resulting in the film not being as widely screened as it should have been, ensuring there wasn't enough profit for a sequel. (The fact that the movie was poorly received by critics didn't help matters.)

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In Snakehead, the reader learns that Major Yu already knows that Alex is disguised as an Afghan boy long before Alex himself does. Snakehead: Possibly either Captain de Wynter (although, barring Yassen, he's the first Alex doesn't kill, instead being killed by Major Yu when he fails to stop Alex escaping the Liberian Star) or Ash Especially prevalent in Ark Angel, when the soccer player is examining himself... and spends a good deal of time complimenting his body. No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine: This happens frequently with Alex. He's dined with almost every one of the Big Bad's in each book. First of all, it’s the twentieth anniversary of ‘Stormbreaker’, the first book in the series. This is the book that introduced me to Alex and really changed my life.

The newly-elected, incompetent Prime Minister in Crocodile Tears (released a few months before the 2010 General Election) is, if not David Cameron, clearly intended as a Conservative. Child Soldier: As Alex reflects, "...he'd never been given a choice. Nowadays, spies weren't employed. They were used." Chekhov's Gunman: Julius Grief, with a six-book gap between his unknown fate at the dénouement of Point Blanc and his reappearance as The Dragon in Scorpia Rising. Cold-Blooded Torture: Subverted several times. The bad guys seem to prefer bragging about what they're going to do to their victims instead of actually doing it (see Bond Villain Stupidity). Scorpia Rising - released 21 March 2011 in Australia, 22 March 2011 in the US and 31 March 2011 in the UK.

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Dropped a Bridge on Him: The CIA agents Troy and Carver get this in Skeleton Key, leaving Alex to finish the mission. Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World: Averted. Alex misses most of his schooling due to his missions. It's gotten to the point that everyone, both student and faculty, somehow knows that there's something wrong with him and that there's more to him than just "illnesses." Take Over the World: Dr Hugo Grief is the only Big Bad of the series to play this trope straight. Every other villain has a different motive altogether, despite the fact that many of them could easily aim for world domination if they wished (Damian Cray's plan involves him taking control of the entire United States nuclear arsenal, but he intends to use it to destroy the sources of the world's drug supplies, note Although the fallout of Cray's plan could very well have caused the end of the world and even though Invisible Sword could hold the world to ransom it is developed by Scorpia for the purposes of destabilising the British-American "special relationship"). Played straight in Scorpia Rising with Razim, who wants to create a measurable unit of pain and slowly kills people with various horrific instruments, like knives, syringes and many more, to measure the pain that they feel. He tortures a French spy; the author manages to spare the readers the details, though. ...Unless you want to read about that stuff... Especially glaring in Never Say Die. So, the Grimaldi brothers have captured Alex, and have him tied to a chair. Both of them are ex-members of SCORPIA who knew several of the members whom Alex had entangled with in the past, even name dropping some of them like Julia Rothman and Razim. They both blame Alex for the downfall of said organisation. How do they decide to kill him? By having Stallone drive him to a remote cliff, and using "Cement Shoes" to drop him to the bottom of the ocean. Naturally, Alex is saved from drowning by awaiting MI6 agents. What makes it worse is that both brothers admit that they should just put a bullet through Alex, but don't, because "They were brought up in a proper Mafia family."

The investigation into a break-in at Wimbledon that leads to Alex being suggested to take the Skeleton Key mission in the first place due to angering the Chinese Red Circle. Ratburger – Your child fancies the scruffy look. Perfect. Stripy t-shirt, old trousers/jeans, sunglasses if you have, scruffy hair.

Alex Rider: Undercover

Discounting Stormbreaker, the author seems to make it a point to have Alex appear shirtless at least once in each book. Rewatch Bonus: A lot of Julia Rothman's (and the other Scorpia members) actions take on a new meaning on a second reading of Scorpia, as do Force Three in a reread of Ark Angel and Ash in Snakehead. Series Continuity Error: Perhaps as a result of being the first entry in the series after a long hiatus, Never Say Die contains several of these: the characters of Wolf and Fox are conflated, and their previous meeting is referred to as when Alex took on "the gang known as Snakehead", when — as the original book made clear — a snakehead is a type of gang. The Sequel Hook at the end also mentions that MI6's captive is currently being held hostage at the secret facility on Gibraltar from Scorpia Rising, even though at the end of that book Mrs Jones decided to shut the facility down, although the short timeframe of the series means it is possible it just hasn't been closed down yet. (The first of these was corrected when the book was reprinted.) It involves every pupil, gives a book-centred focus for the entirety of the second half of the spring term each year, is both collaborative and creative, and makes our school environment a truly lovely place to be.