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From The Sunday Times
November 11, 2007

Snakehead by Anthony Horowitz

Reviewed by Nicolette Jones

Age 11+

The latest Alex Rider book opens with a meeting of satisfyingly stereotypical criminal masterminds plotting revenge on the young hero. Meanwhile, after his space adventure in Ark Angel, Alex’s re-entry capsule lands in the Pacific. As he is called upon to save the world for the seventh time in 18 months, the forces of darkness lie in wait. He has to take on a snakehead, an organisation that smuggles people, drugs, weapons and human organs, and prevent a bomb that will trigger a tsunami. On the plus side, however, he will work with his late parents’ best friend. Exotic set pieces include a boxing match in underworld Hong Kong and stowing away with desperate refugees in a seaborne container. Ultimately, Alex is trapped and threatened with the sale of his body parts, starting with his eyes. The situation is surely inescapable. But the unexpected use of a filing cabinet, the float of a biplane and the sole of his trainer foil the villains. The novel is dark and damned clever, its preposterousness persuasively mitigated by just enough plausibility.

SNAKEHEAD by Anthony Horowitz
(Walker £12.99)

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