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Eagle Strike by Anthony Horowitz
The Blurb On The Back:
Relaxing in the South of France reluctant MI6 agent Alex Rider is finally able to feel like any ordinary fourteen-year-old - until a sudden, ruthless attack on his hosts plunges him back into a world of violence and mystery. And this time, MI6 don't want to know.
Alex is determined to track down his friends' attackers, even if he must do it alone. But it's a path that leads to a long-buried secret - and a discovery more terrible than anything he could have imagined.
The good news is that whilst this does suffer from the old exposition and tell-not-show issues that mark Stormbreaker, Point Blank and Skeleton Key, as a story it feels more developed. The bad news is that in producing the story, Horowitz seems (to me) to have made some changes to the previously established canon.
One notable example of this is the fact that Alex's housekeeper, Jack Starbright is given far more of a role (which is necessary in order for Alex to work by himself) but now seems to be fully aware of the fact that Alex is a sometime spy working for MI6. Had this even been alluded to in the previous books, I wouldn't have had an issue with it but one of the comments that I've made in my previous reviews is that there's no discussion between Alex and Jack in relation to what he does, so to have this appear now - four books in - feels v. contrived and out of place in the context of the existing canon. A second good example of this is the fact that for this story to work, Alan Blunt, the head of MI6 has to not believe Alex when he suggests that the pop star Damian Cray is responsible. Given that Alex has worked for him 3 times and come up trumps each time, for Alan Blunt (a character we know to be suspicious and manipulative) to be so dismissive seems rather OOC. I had been hoping that there would have been a deliberate reason for this (i.e. Blunt was deliberately being dismissive in order to provoke Alex into investigating under his own auspices), but Horowitz makes it clear that this is not the reason and I think that's a big missed opportunity.
As I mentioned, the big villain in the story is Damian Cray, a Buddhist pop star and charity worker who's something of a cross between Elton John, Bob Geldoff and Bono. This is the first villain in the series that I've totally loved because Horowitz is making such a tongue-in-cheek reference that it's something an adult can really enjoy. Cray still suffers from Bond villain syndrome - an overly grandiose plan and being nuttier than a fruitcake - but at least his plan was well thought out (involving nuclear explosions and Air Force One).
I also enjoyed the fact that Horowitz brings back Yassen Gregorovich as Cray's henchman and this time, weaves the Russian assassin into the backstory of the Rider family and sets up Alex for the next book, Scorpia. The only thing that I was disappointed with is that Horowitz has seen fit to dispose of him - I'd have thought that a man as careful as Gregorovich would have been wearing a bullet proof vest and it would have been fun to have him survive and pop up again later on. There's also a tiny nitpick regarding Gregorovich's motivation - we're told that he would never be able to bring himself to kill Alex because of his friendship with Alex's father, and yet this friendship does not seem to have stopped him whacking Alex's Uncle Ian in Stormbreaker.
The plot moves quickly and the set-piece action scenes are pretty exciting. I was particularly intrigued by the scenes in the Amsterdam factory where Cray has set up a real life mock up for his computer game Gameslayer One: Feathered Serpant and the fact that Cray uses it to kill people just so that he can electronically copy the facial expressions to make the game more realistic. I did think that it was a shame for Horowitz to lever in the gadgets (although it is in character for Smithers to send something to help Alex and for Mrs Jones to want him to have some help) because I'd have liked to see what Alex could do without them, but the way the bike was used was effective and very visual.
The Verdict:
The books are improving and are growing on me as the series continues, but excessive exposition and tell-don't-show remain big issues. If there was ever a planned narrative arc to the series (and I have my doubts given the sudden introduction of the backstory here), then it's been handled in a clumsy and contrived manner. That said, I enjoyed the villain and I thought that the ending was a good set up for the next book.
Relaxing in the South of France reluctant MI6 agent Alex Rider is finally able to feel like any ordinary fourteen-year-old - until a sudden, ruthless attack on his hosts plunges him back into a world of violence and mystery. And this time, MI6 don't want to know.
Alex is determined to track down his friends' attackers, even if he must do it alone. But it's a path that leads to a long-buried secret - and a discovery more terrible than anything he could have imagined.
The good news is that whilst this does suffer from the old exposition and tell-not-show issues that mark Stormbreaker, Point Blank and Skeleton Key, as a story it feels more developed. The bad news is that in producing the story, Horowitz seems (to me) to have made some changes to the previously established canon.
One notable example of this is the fact that Alex's housekeeper, Jack Starbright is given far more of a role (which is necessary in order for Alex to work by himself) but now seems to be fully aware of the fact that Alex is a sometime spy working for MI6. Had this even been alluded to in the previous books, I wouldn't have had an issue with it but one of the comments that I've made in my previous reviews is that there's no discussion between Alex and Jack in relation to what he does, so to have this appear now - four books in - feels v. contrived and out of place in the context of the existing canon. A second good example of this is the fact that for this story to work, Alan Blunt, the head of MI6 has to not believe Alex when he suggests that the pop star Damian Cray is responsible. Given that Alex has worked for him 3 times and come up trumps each time, for Alan Blunt (a character we know to be suspicious and manipulative) to be so dismissive seems rather OOC. I had been hoping that there would have been a deliberate reason for this (i.e. Blunt was deliberately being dismissive in order to provoke Alex into investigating under his own auspices), but Horowitz makes it clear that this is not the reason and I think that's a big missed opportunity.
As I mentioned, the big villain in the story is Damian Cray, a Buddhist pop star and charity worker who's something of a cross between Elton John, Bob Geldoff and Bono. This is the first villain in the series that I've totally loved because Horowitz is making such a tongue-in-cheek reference that it's something an adult can really enjoy. Cray still suffers from Bond villain syndrome - an overly grandiose plan and being nuttier than a fruitcake - but at least his plan was well thought out (involving nuclear explosions and Air Force One).
I also enjoyed the fact that Horowitz brings back Yassen Gregorovich as Cray's henchman and this time, weaves the Russian assassin into the backstory of the Rider family and sets up Alex for the next book, Scorpia. The only thing that I was disappointed with is that Horowitz has seen fit to dispose of him - I'd have thought that a man as careful as Gregorovich would have been wearing a bullet proof vest and it would have been fun to have him survive and pop up again later on. There's also a tiny nitpick regarding Gregorovich's motivation - we're told that he would never be able to bring himself to kill Alex because of his friendship with Alex's father, and yet this friendship does not seem to have stopped him whacking Alex's Uncle Ian in Stormbreaker.
The plot moves quickly and the set-piece action scenes are pretty exciting. I was particularly intrigued by the scenes in the Amsterdam factory where Cray has set up a real life mock up for his computer game Gameslayer One: Feathered Serpant and the fact that Cray uses it to kill people just so that he can electronically copy the facial expressions to make the game more realistic. I did think that it was a shame for Horowitz to lever in the gadgets (although it is in character for Smithers to send something to help Alex and for Mrs Jones to want him to have some help) because I'd have liked to see what Alex could do without them, but the way the bike was used was effective and very visual.
The Verdict:
The books are improving and are growing on me as the series continues, but excessive exposition and tell-don't-show remain big issues. If there was ever a planned narrative arc to the series (and I have my doubts given the sudden introduction of the backstory here), then it's been handled in a clumsy and contrived manner. That said, I enjoyed the villain and I thought that the ending was a good set up for the next book.