Scorpia
Style: Average
Attitude: Unobjectionable
Series: Alex Rider
Age Range: Young Teens
Period: Contemporary
Characters:
- The usual cast plus...
- Tom Harris is Alex's friend from school. He covers up for Alex without really knowing what his friend is up to.
- Julia Rothman is one of the members of Scorpia, an international criminal ring, specialising in corruption and assassination.
Synopsis:
Alex, taking advantage of a school trip to Venice, finds his way to the headquarters of Scorpia, where Yassen had hinted he could find out about his father. The organisation take him in and train him, and then send him to London to assassinate someone. Meanwhile they are building up for a plan which will leave millions of English children dead.
Notes:
Much more is revealed in this book of Alex's father, John Rider. Both sides make claims about him, and in the end it's clear enough what happened. What is also clear is that there is little to choose from between criminal organisations like Scorpia and national security services like MI6 or the CIA.
“If you're saying my father was so evil, what do you think that makes me?” Alex was trying to will himself to shoot. He had thought anger would give him strength, but he was more tired than angry. So now he searched for another way to persuade himself to pull the trigger. He was his father's son. It was in his blood.
“I don't think you're a killer, Alex. You never knew your father. Why do you have to be like him? Do you think every child is 'made' the moment they're born? I think you have a choice...”
Friday 12th August 2005