Snakehead by Anthony Horowitz

Alex Rider is back on another mission even though he swore he was finished with the spy business. Right after literally dropping out of the sky, he is picked up and sent to the Australian Secret Service, who wants to enlist his help. At first he refuses, but when he finds out he could be working with his godfather, he realizes he wants to find more out about his dead parents.

The mission is to infiltrate a dangerous snakehead, or gang, in Indonesia to find out how they smuggle people into Australia. They are disguised as Afghan refugees. Things go wrong almost from the start. Because what Alex doesn’t know is that the head of the organization, Major Yu, also a member of Scorpia, already knows that the young Afghan refugee named Abdul is actually Alex. And Yu’s just biding his time until he can end Alex’s life.

Through the mission, Alex meets unexpected allies, more enemies, and discovers a horrible secret about his godfather Ash. I thought that Snakehead was the most exciting out of all the Alex Rider books yet. It was jam packed with action throughout the entire novel. Alex is constantly using his ingenuity to get out of sticky situations, and there are so many unexpected turns that make the story even more suspenseful and thrilling to read. My only complaint is that sometimes the story crosses over the line between credible and incredible, but other than that, this series is amazing.

I highly recommend this book to all action and adventure story fans. It might seem like more of a guy book on the surface, but girls will get into this series too. If you have read and like this book, then I also recommend the Gallagher Girl series by Ally Carter (see review for Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy here).

Rating: 4.5

Review copy from library