“Suddenly the helicopter was level with him, filling his vision.”

When a terminally-ill billionaire hires Kurst, a leader of the assassin/criminal group known as SCORPIA, to steal and deliver historical artifacts, the executive bad guy agrees and sets into motion a series of events that also places teen MI6 agent, Alex Rider in grave danger.  Many elite members of SCORPIA hold Alex responsible for their organization’s demise and several (led by a man named Razim) are ready to enact an intricate plan of revenge on the boy.  After an assassination attempt at Alex’s school leads to a high-profile helicopter crash, MI6’s Mrs. Jones and Mr. Blunt assign Alex to a mission in Cairo to investigate a school headmaster (Gunter) that will help keep him out of the media frenzy and (hopefully) more trouble.  Alex’s involvement in the Cairo mission is fairly short, but when he returns home to England, he discovers that his guardian (Jack Starbright) has been kidnapped by SCORPIA and his world quickly falls apart.  In order to not only to gain Jack’s freedom, but also to keep her alive, Alex must allow himself to be manipulated by SCORPIA while giving his everything to find a way to save the person he cares most about before SCORPIA’s devastating plan comes to a close.

From start to finish, this book is full of action, suspense, and mystery.  The characters are honest and believable, especially Alex who is a clever teen using his wit and skills to solve the many problems around him.  The mystery of the book is very fascinating with twists and turns throughout, but also a steady development that keeps building.  This ninth book in the Alex Rider series does very well to create a foundation from strong characters and story lines that urge the reader to continue in the series.