What if James Bond had started spying as a teenager? This thriller pits 14-year-old Alex Rider against a mad billionaire industrialist. Non-stop action keeps the intrigue boiling as Alex tries to stop the remarkably evil Herod Sayles from murdering Britain’s schoolchildren through biological warfare. Alex begins as an innocent boy shocked by the death of his Uncle Ian in a traffic accident. Suspicious of the official explanation, he investigates and finds Ian’s car riddled with bullet holes. He narrowly escapes being crushed in the car as it’s demolished, then climbs out of a 15-story window to break into Ian’s office. He learns that Ian was a spy, and reluctantly joins Britain’s MI6 intelligence agency. After surviving brutal training and armed with stealthy spy tools, Alex infiltrates Sayles’s operation as the teenage tester of the “Stormbreaker,” a new computer Sayles is giving to British schools. Thereafter he survives murderous ATV drivers, an underwater swim in an abandoned mine, and an encounter with a Portuguese man-o-war jellyfish before hitching a ride on an already airborne plane. The plot is, of course, preposterous, but young readers won’t care as they zoom through numerous cliffhangers. This is the first book in a series planned by the author, and may prove useful for reluctant readers looking for excitement. (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: May 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-399-23620-1
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Seven entertaining, mostly funny stories with themes that include first love, troublesome siblings, aggravating parents, and horoscopes. Most are in a female first-person voice; one exception recounts a first-day-of-school confrontation between a disillusioned teacher and a student whose brother's reputation has preceded him. A particularly clever vignette, ``Body Wave,'' is a one-sided conversation between a girl and her hairdresser, climaxing in a disastrous—but well-deserved—perm. The prolific author knows her young-teen audience; she keeps the tone light, barely suggesting a serious problem when two reluctant about-to- be stepsisters must spend a day and night together (``Don't Let the Bedbugs Bite''). Only one story (``Arnold Bing, the Carpet King'') suffers from silliness. Otherwise, thoroughly enjoyable. (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: March 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-590-45558-3
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Five macabre tales of murder or suicide victims returning to exact gruesome retribution: Bernard conceals the body of the pregnant local teenager he's killed beneath a huge bonfire, only to have a ``Burning Baby'' crawl out of the fire's heart and into his lap; a corpse rises to drag its murderer ``Under the Ice'' of a frozen fen; a retired schoolteacher feeds her illegitimate granddaughter to the ``Eels'' in a canal—and the favor is returned (``When the sun came up and filled the room with warmth, Miss Jervis lay quite still. Her nightgown, however, heaved with a life of its own''). Gordon's writing is simple and unforced; he describes his ghastlies with a deft precision that will leave readers shivering—and eager for more. For stout hearts only. (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1993
ISBN: 1-56402-067-3
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1993
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