Scorpia
ISBN: 9780744570519
Description
Still reeling from the terrible discovery he has made about his father, teenage MI6 superspy Alex Rider, is determined to find out more. Travelling to Italy, he manages to infiltrate the glamorous world of Claudia Rothman, beautiful society hostess and member of the international criminal organization, Scorpia. She reveals that Alex's father was murdered by MI6, in an operation masterminded by Head of Special Operations, Mrs Jones. Shocked and angry, Alex faces a choice: to continue to work with the British security services, or to become an agent for Scorpia - and get revenge.
Reviewed on 6th February 2013
While the fifth Alex Rider book contains the usual exciting scenes and vital mission to save the world, it seems quite bitty and lacks the strength of the first two books. Following the revelation at the end of the last book, Alex heads to Italy to attempt to find Scorpia, and learn about his father.
The story is full of peril, action, twists and turns and a group of characters who really could have been plucked from a James Bond story. In fact it's almost too Bond-like, becoming almost a parody.
Alex comes across as rather a weak character, and there's little to make the reader too fond of him. He doesn't seem to act like a real boy a lot of the time, and it feels unbelievable where other authors writing about teenage spies manage to make the events more realistic.
It's not the worst book in the series though and does well to make the plot more relevant to the character and less of a random stand-alone adventure. It will be interesting to see where things progress in the later novels.
