This is the third book in the Alex Rider series.These Alex Rider books are spies books, basically Alex Rider, a 14 year old, is involved in missions, and has to play his part as spy there, even when he doesn't want to, when he just wants to be a normal kid, doing what normal kids should be doing.It's really interesting to see how he gets involved in all of that, because he lives in London and the MI6 sometimes finds missions in which Alex fits perfectly. Some agents hesitate because he is too young and because he may get hurt, but in the end, they always send him to those operations and he always ends up facing such troubles.I think the way Anthony Horowitz works with this idea is pretty believable, he justifies the use of Alex in those operations, otherwise i think the story would feel just plain stupid, but actually is good. These books are entertaining.In this third installment of Alex Rider, he starts helping a guy of MI6 to look for a guy in a tennis game, it's not an official operation, this agent just tells him to pretend he's working there and look for a suspicious Chinese guy. Turns out, Alex finds him, and this Chinese guy is part of a dangerous Chinese triad, and now Alex is in great danger with the triad. So, the MI6 contacts Alex, and tells him, they have to send him away to protect him, and the CIA in the USA is requesting help from someone younger, a kid. They want a kid, because they want to send some agents to an island called Skeleton Key near Cuba and they don't want to raise any suspicions, they want to enter the island looking like a family with the kid. So, they see it as the perfect situation to send Alex away, promising all the time, he won't get hurt, he won't have to do anything at all with the mission, just show up and pretend those agents are his parents and that's it... well, we may already guess that's not gonna be true, of course.Even though, these books are entertaining, they are full of clichés. As i already mentioned in my other reviews of Alex Rider, the villain always tells the whole plan, so Alex knows exactly what he's planning and could inform to the authorities eventually, they never kill Alex while they can, etc.In this book they also introduce a new character, which will become a love interest, i can predict that. Her name is Sabina Pleasure... seriously?... i mean, really? seriously? PLEASURE??? what's up with that name!... oh well...I don't like either how Anthony Horowitz tends to generalize things in many of his books, like for example, Alex was in Cuba and he was standing out a lot there because can you imagine how a British boy could look around many dark skinned Caribbeans??. The same thing he said in Evil Star in the Gatekeepers series when they were in Peru. First off, not everyone in Latin America or the Caribbean is dark skinned, and come one, why does he even have to state that... i feel some sort of racism in there.The second book of Alex Rider ended in a way that was supposed to make you confused about if Alex was dead or alive, and in this third book, it wasn't even mentioned... yeah, Alex is the hero, yeah Alex has good luck, yeah, now Alex is a super star spy, so yeah, it was obvious he was not gonna die!!, but still i think if the second book ended like that, the author should have mentioned it at least.The series is action packed, fast paced, entertaining, it feels like watching a movie, so maybe this is a good read for someone looking for something spy-like, i don't know..but for me, I'm done with Alex Rider, and i won't continue reading the rest of the books in the series.
The third installment of the spy- adventure series "Alex Rider" comes in the suspenseful and gripping form of Skeleton Key. Teenager Alex Rider, the disinclined but prized spy of the MI6, is in trouble with the Chinese Triads- in order to save him, the MI6 have to get him out of the country, and this means that he will have to act as the cover for two CIA agents as they investigate Russian General Sarov on a private island near Cuba. Anthony Horowitz writes the story in his usual no- nonsense style, not stopping for elaborate descriptions but forming thrilling, dramatic action scenes- however this book does have touches of subtle humour in it. An example of this is when Alex tries to drop his English way of speaking and act American in order to pose as the son of the two CIA agents (p123.) The book starts off in the trademark Alex Rider way- a slightly accelerated plot but one that is easy to keep up with even if you haven't read the first books. Then, it takes a darker turn as General Sarov himself is introduced- a dark, mysterious man with a henchman who seems to have walked straight out of a horror movie. Horowitz describes Conrad, Sarov's disfigured ex- terrorist minion, in a simple manner, but yet manages to paint a clear picture in the reader's mind. "A man walked into the room. "Walked", however, was the wrong word. There was no word to describe exactly how this man moved... his head sat at an angle on his shoulders... his right arm was shorter than his left... his right leg, however, was several centimeters longer than his left..." (p117.) Through an unfortunate turn of events, Alex loses his CIA partners and is kidnapped by Sarov. The story jerks in an unexpected direction with Sarov admits that he would like to adopt Alex. Horowitz performs a clever skill here- as Sarov tells Alex that he reminds him of his own son, who died many years ago, and as he adopts and pampers Alex with love and care (p230-232), Horowitz causes the reader to feel a spark of sympathy for the villain, softening his persona. General Sarov's evil plans are then made clear at the end of the book- he wants to detonate nuclear bombs, throw the world into chaos and then step in to rule over it himself. This causes a massive blow to the reader, who might have been feeling sympathy for Sarov, and then is reminded of his dark intentions.Horowitz writes Skeleton Key with his unique, suspenseful style, making sure the reader is glued to the book all the way through. I would recommend it to people aged 10 and above, as there are some violent scenes.
What do You think about Skeleton Key (2006)?
Alex Rider has been through a lot in his life. He has been almost electrocuted by a giant jellyfish, been held prisoner twice, and has stood face to face with evil. But none of his prievous experiences will even come close to this one. One day after soccer practice, Crawley, a man who works for MI6, appears, asking Alex to be a ball boy and keep an eye on the Wimbledon tennis tournament and watch for anything supspicious, since there had been a break in. Immediately, he spots a guard who is up to something supscious. After foiling the mans plan to sabatoge the tournament, Alex thinks that he will be able to sit back and relax on his vacation with one of the ball girls from the tournament, Sabina. While on this vacation, though, he is attacked by another man from the same gang that the mysterious guard was from. The two heads of MI6 propose to have him work for the CIA briefly on a mission while they try to let the gang that attacked him know that he is under their wing. With rumors of nuclear bombs, a Russian president making a visit to an old Russian general, Alex plunges headfirst into a mystery that is not what it seems.
—Andrew
I decided to read "Skeleton Key" by Anthony Horowitz because lots of my friends had read it and had said it was a great book. I had read the first book in the series before and I thought it was really good. The cover of the book isn't very exciting but the content inside the book definitely is.My favorite character in the book is Conrad. He is a really strange man with an eye to kill. Years before the book was set, Conrad was trying to sneak a bomb into a highly populated area when the bomb blew up on his body. He was blown into pieces and almost died. Specialist doctors managed to piece him back together. He is a messed up person with features well out of proportion.My favorite quote in this book is, "you're never too young to die...". This quote is very interesting because it leaves uncertainty to what will happen to Alex Rider (the main character). This could mean that he is going to die or it could mean he will be close to it.After reading this book I wondered if there really were secret agents in the world. It seems unlikely but it would be interesting if there was. In the book the main evil character tries to set off a nuclear bomb but doesn't succeed. This has made me think about all the horrible people in the world who want to terrorize countries or the whole world. This book was really great and I will definitely read more of the series by Anthony Horowitz.
—Jack
Max Pawlick Book Review Skeleton Key (Extra Credit) The book Skeleton Key, by Anthony Horowitz is the third and possibly best book in the Alex rider series. In the beginning of the series Alex is for the most part a talented but normal English 14 year old boy who lives in London and is taken care of by his uncle because his parents died in a plane crash when he was just a baby. That all changes with the death of his Uncle, Ian Rider, whom Alex later finds out is a spy for the British government.
—Max
