Product Description

Working as a secret agent for Britain’s most exclusive agency, Alex Rider has seen it all. He’s been shot at by international terrorists, stood face-to-face with pure evil, and saved the world—twice. But fifteen-year-old Alex is about to face something more dangerous than he can imagine: A man who’s lost everything he cared for—his country, his son—a man who has a nuclear weapon, and will stop at nothing to get his world back. Unless Alex can stop him first...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5424 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780142406144
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From School Library Journal
Grade 5-10-Fans of Horowitz's Stormbreaker (2001) and Point Blank (2002, both Philomel), and newcomers to the series alike, will not be disappointed with this rip-roaring escapade featuring the 14-year-old spy. Trying to return to a "normal" life as a schoolboy after a mere four weeks since his last MI6 adventure, Alex Rider is recruited right off the soccer field to check out some suspicious goings-on at Wimbledon. This assignment catapults him into a series of life-threatening episodes, such as coming face to face with a great white shark, dodging bullets as he dives off a burning boat, and being tied to a conveyor belt that is moving toward the jaws of a gigantic grindstone in an abandoned sugar factory. Soon the teen is single-handedly taking on his most dangerous enterprise yet. His mission is nothing short of saving the world from a nuclear attack, engineered by the psychopathic and egomaniacal former commander of the Russian army. Alex is armed only with a few specially designed gadgets, which are disarmingly age-appropriate: a Gameboy that doubles as a Geiger counter, a cell phone whose aerial shoots out a drugged needle that is activated by pressing 999, a Tiger Woods figurine that doubles as a small grenade when its head is twisted just so. This page-turning thriller leaves readers breathless with anticipation. When at last Alex returns home, his love interest, Sabina Pleasure, asks where he has been. "Well, I was, sort of- busy," he replies in a classic, understated, James Bond kind of way.
Elizabeth Fernandez, Brunswick Middle School, Greenwich, CT
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 6-9. Fourteen-year-old British secret agent Alex Rider, last heard from in Point Blank (2002), is back in another adventure. This time he's on an island near Cuba where he's up against a retired Russian general who plans to set off a nuclear device and, in the ensuing world chaos, take over the Russian government and restore the Soviet Empire. The general takes a shine to Alex once they meet, however, and he offers to adopt him as his son. Of course, this is the man's fatal mistake; Alex is there at the crucial moment to thwart the general's plans. This series unabashedly lifts details from the James Bond formula (minus the vodka martinis and casual sex) and transfers them to a novel for young adults. Yet, the Bond formula is the most successful in entertainment history, and there's no doubting the appeal of this action-packed spy novel. Todd Morning
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
What if James Bond had started spying as a teenager? Non-stop action keeps the intrigue boiling. -- Kirkus Reviews on Stormbreaker

Customer Reviews

Skeleton Key
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a teenage spy? If you have, then this is the book for you. Alex Rider is a 14 year old boy who never knew his father. His uncle, John Rider, who worked for MI6, told him that his father died in a plane crash and had been training to be a spy all his life only Alex just didn't no it yet. One day, Alex's uncle dies while on a mission and Alex is contacted by MI6. Soon after, Alex is sent on a number of missions by MI6.

In Skelton Key, Alex starts out by trying to save Wimbledon from a Chinese betting conspiracy and ends up with a contract on his life. Alex heads off to Cuba to help the CIA track down a missing bomb and soon finds himself in the clutches of an ex-Soviet general trying to destroy the world. It's up to Alex to save the world. If you like action and adventure, you should read this book.

Skeleton Key
Skeleton Key was a very good action or mystery book. Alex Rider a junior secret agent really made it like a young James Bond book. It provided excitement and non-stop action. It was in my opinion the best book out of the first two of this series of Alex Rider novels. This book was a good book and i would recomend it.

The best book in a brilliant series...
Skeleton Key, the sequel to Stormbreaker and Point Blanc, is surely the best book in this gripping teen spy series. Before you read it, however, make sure you read the others first so as to understand the story.

Just a month after his previous adventure at an exclusive school in the French Alps, sixteen-year-old Alex Rider is attempting to return to a normal life in London. But this is a wish quickly forgotten as an M16 agent recruits him for a mission during a school soccer game.
He is soon over in the USA, and taking on the role of the son of two up-tight and by-the-book CIA officers.

Together, they must infiltrate the home of an ex-Russian army commander. Trouble is, his house is an island in Cuba and Americans aren't exactly welcome in that part of the world.

Armed with some outrageous and extremely useful gadgets disguised as toys, Rider must soon try to win the trust of the Russian on his own, but finds himself in a seemingly losing battle against the rich and powerful man.

Alex discovers the Russian's deadly plot to take over the world, but will a young boy be able to stop him?

A terrific book that will having you struggle to put it down as you dive into the world of international spies, crazy military men and truly gripping suspense.

I gave this book 5 stars, and it deserves 6, so read it now and find out why!