Words on Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz (Alex Rider #1)

After the death of his parents, Alex was sent to live with his uncle as a young boy, and he's stayed with Ian Rider and his housekeeper, Jack, ever since. When Alex learns that his uncle has been killed in a car crash, he's devastated and is left without the little family he had.

Quickly, though, Alex starts to see that things aren't quite adding up. Ian Rider was a banker, so why would his co-workers bring guns to the the funeral? Why would Ian Rider be described as patriotic? Alex is quickly learning that there was more to his uncle than meets the eye, and it's a theoy he backs up with some chilling evidence. After a closer inspection of Ian's car, Alex sees that the windows are riddled with bullet holes. Ian Rider may have crashed his car, but someone tried to kill him. The death of Alex's uncle was no accident.

Alex goes to the bank where his uncle worked and learns that Ian was a agent for M16, working for the british government. And now that his uncle is dead, his superiors want to use Alex to finish the mission that killed Ian. At first Alex is strongly opposed to the idea, but after being blackmailed, he reluctantly agrees.

Alex's job is to infiltrate the headquarteds of Sayle Enterprises, where he must find out what secret the owner, Robert Sayle, is hiding, and the same secret that Ian was killed to keep.

Alex was a new and interesting character. He's not only curious, but also willing to go very far to satisfy said curiosity, even if that means doing something totally insane, such as jumping out of buildings and climbing up very, very high flagpoles. He's brave and smart, and he's also very lucky. Many of the situations he finds himself in would be fatal if not for a good amount of luck.

Crawley, the man who roped him into working for M16 in the first place, isn't quite as awesome. He shamelessly blackmailed Alex and will do anything for the success of the mission, despite the fact that Alex is fourteen years old with no experience. This isn't true for Mrs. Jones, a M16 member who's almost motherly. She worries about Alex, afraid he won't make it because he is, after all, a kid. This leads to her being slightly at

odds with Crawley sometimes, understandably. A third M16 agent is Smithers, a warm, cheerful man who is very creative, dreaming up and building crazy spy gadgets for Alex to use.

Heron Sayle is a bit of a nutcase. He's charming at first, but when he doesn't get his way, he gets a bit nasty. He's a sore loser and bitter about things that happened decades ago, bent on revenge for things that are better left forgotten. Once he reveals how awful he really is, he goes full-out psychopath, and he has no shortage of interesting and devious ways to hurt the people that wrong him.

Another bad guy is Yassen, a contract killer. He's ruthless and cold-blooded, but, if my memory serves me correctly, also a badass. The author wrote a seperate book about him. I'll have to go back and reread that soon. After the other eight books in this series, of course.

Alex is living a life that's a fantasy we've all had at one point. A teen superspy, saving the world and battling impossible odds, complete with fun gadgets and no shortage of weapons. The book isn't that long, so it's a nice way to have a quick start on the series.

The first book wasn't as bloody as I remember the thers being, Stormbreaker isn't very funny, but there's plenty of action. I hope I see more of the characters' personalities in the second one, and I'm looking forwards to continuing the series! 4/5 stars.

#warandmilitary #assassinsspieshuntersandbodyguards #seriesstartandstandalones