ALA Booklist (Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 CST 2010)

Alex Rider, teenage British secret service agent, returns. This time, a wealthy villain schemes to make millions by creating disasters and then pocketing the money from false relief agencies. Alex discovers the bad guy's plan to cause famine in Africa, but he is able to expose the fake philanthropist, although he is nearly fed to hungry crocs in the process. Horowitz's series remains on top of the growing genre of YA novels that feature intelligence agencies employing teenagers. He knows how to pace a thriller and delivers one exciting scene after another. Alex Rider fans will rejoice.

Horn Book (Thu Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2010)

In his eighth appearance, teen spy Alex Rider agrees to just one more small task for MI6. But that mission makes the crafters of murderous botanical schemes interested in what he knows...enough to warrant a bi-continental kidnapping; the titular reptiles play a frightening role. Readers who like their action with no holds barred will race through this well-paced thriller.

School Library Journal (Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 CST 2010)

Gr 6-10 Alex Rider is only 14, but that hasn't stopped MI6, the British espionage organization, from recruiting him for dangerous missions. Here, Alex is enlisted in a seemingly quick and easy mission of downloading computer data while on a school trip to a lab immersed in the genetic engineering of plants. While there, he discovers a sinister plot involving a criminal turned preacher and philanthropist. As in the earlier installments, the book is chock-full of excitement and suspense from the first page to the last. It starts with a bomb at a nuclear plant in India, and along the way there is a charity black-tie card game, poison needles, car crashes, bullets, and exploding gel pens. Most of the backstory is explained, so no prior knowledge of the earlier books is necessary. Great for reluctant readers. Jake Pettit, Thompson Valley High School, Loveland, CO

Voice of Youth Advocates

In this action-packed latest installment of Horowitz's popular Alex Rider series, the reluctant teen spy is again drawn into the services of MI6. In return for the agency nixing a reporter's would-be exposÚ of Alex's life, he agrees to infiltrate the office of the director of Greenfields, a secretive genetic engineering company, during a class trip to the company's headquarters. Although he succeeds and vows to return to school and a normal life, Alex's curiosity gets the better of him and he is soon embroiled in yet another outrageous turn of events that includes being kidnapped and whisked off to Kenya to face the latest in a string of diabolical madmen bent on destroying the world. As in the last few series novels, Horowitz sacrifices character development for action, with little dialogue and only token appearances by supporting players such as Jack Starbright, Smithers, and Sabina Pleasure. In their place, he packs in enough explosions, fistfights, poisonous creatures, fires, and deadly weapons to ensure that middle and high school boysùand more than a few girlsùwill be clamoring for Alex's latest adventure. Each installment is more reminiscent of the James Bond films than the last, and one wonders if television and film writer Horowitz had one eye on his computer screen and one eye on the silver screen when drafting the latest Rider story. Although formulaic, the novel is cut from the same successful mold as its predecessors and will no doubt fly off library shelves with its appealing hero, exotic settings, and high-octane action.ùLeah J. Sparks.