From School Library Journal
Grade 5-10-Fans of Horowitz's Stormbreaker (2001) and Point Blank (2002, both Philomel), and newcomers to the series alike, will not be disappointed with this rip-roaring escapade featuring the 14-year-old spy. Trying to return to a "normal" life as a schoolboy after a mere four weeks since his last MI6 adventure, Alex Rider is recruited right off the soccer field to check out some suspicious goings-on at Wimbledon. This assignment catapults him into a series of life-threatening episodes, such as coming face to face with a great white shark, dodging bullets as he dives off a burning boat, and being tied to a conveyor belt that is moving toward the jaws of a gigantic grindstone in an abandoned sugar factory. Soon the teen is single-handedly taking on his most dangerous enterprise yet. His mission is nothing short of saving the world from a nuclear attack, engineered by the psychopathic and egomaniacal former commander of the Russian army. Alex is armed only with a few specially designed gadgets, which are disarmingly age-appropriate: a Gameboy that doubles as a Geiger counter, a cell phone whose aerial shoots out a drugged needle that is activated by pressing 999, a Tiger Woods figurine that doubles as a small grenade when its head is twisted just so. This page-turning thriller leaves readers breathless with anticipation. When at last Alex returns home, his love interest, Sabina Pleasure, asks where he has been. "Well, I was, sort of- busy," he replies in a classic, understated, James Bond kind of way.Elizabeth Fernandez, Brunswick Middle School, Greenwich, CTCopyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 6-9. Fourteen-year-old British secret agent Alex Rider, last heard from in Point Blank (2002), is back in another adventure. This time he's on an island near Cuba where he's up against a retired Russian general who plans to set off a nuclear device and, in the ensuing world chaos, take over the Russian government and restore the Soviet Empire. The general takes a shine to Alex once they meet, however, and he offers to adopt him as his son. Of course, this is the man's fatal mistake; Alex is there at the crucial moment to thwart the general's plans. This series unabashedly lifts details from the James Bond formula (minus the vodka martinis and casual sex) and transfers them to a novel for young adults. Yet, the Bond formula is the most successful in entertainment history, and there's no doubting the appeal of this action-packed spy novel. Todd Morning
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Kirkus Reviews on Stormbreaker
What if James Bond had started spying as a teenager? Non-stop action keeps the intrigue boiling.

Book Description
Working as a secret agent for Britain’s most exclusive agency, Alex Rider has seen it all. He’s been shot at by international terrorists, stood face-to-face with pure evil, and saved the world—twice. But fifteen-year-old Alex is about to face something more dangerous than he can imagine: A man who’s lost everything he cared for—his country, his son—a man who has a nuclear weapon, and will stop at nothing to get his world back. Unless Alex can stop him first...

Card catalog description
Reluctant teenage-spy Alex Rider, on a routine mission at the Wimbledon tennis championships, gets caught up in Chinese gangs, illegal nuclear weapons, and the suspect plans of his Russian host, General Sarov.

About the Author
Anthony Horowitz has been called "the busiest writer in Britain" by a major British newspaper—and with good reason. He is passionate about his work, often writing ten hours a day as he tries to balance multiple careers as a popular novelist, playwright and screenwriter for television and movies. He is also the author of The Devil and His Boy and the Diamond Brothers mysteries.

ANNOTATION

Fourteen-year-old Alex Rider faces a desperate man who has lost his country and his son--and has a nuclear weapon and a serious grudge against the free world. To see his beloved Russia once again be a dominant power, he will stop at nothing. Unless Alex can stop him first.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Alex Rider has been through a lot for his fourteen years. He's been shot at by international terrorists, chased down a mountainside on a makeshift snowboard, and has stood face-to-face with pure evil. Twice, young Alex has managed to save the world. And twice, he has almost been killed doing it. But now Alex faces something even more dangerous. The desperation of a man who has lost everything he cared for: his country and his only son. A man who just happens to have a nuclear weapon and a serious grudge against the free world. To see his beloved Russia once again be a dominant power, he will stop at nothing. Unless Alex can stop him first... Uniting forces with America's own CIA for the first time, teen spy Alex Rider battles terror from the sun-baked beaches of Miami all the way to the barren ice fields of northernmost Russia. Come along for the thrilling ride of a lifetime.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Alex Rider, "the world's only teenaged secret agent," embarks on a third adventure in Skeleton Key by Anthony Horowitz. This time out, the British teen goes undercover as a ball boy at Wimbledon in the first stage of an assignment that leads to a showdown with a dastardly villain armed with nuclear weapons. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Children's Literature - Kathleen Karr

Third in the "Alex Rider" adventures, this offering￯﾿ﾽfor those who don't know￯﾿ﾽis Horowitz and Britain's extension of Ian Fleming's James Bond, but for kids. Yes, fourteen-year-old Alex is a member (unwilling and unpaid) of MI6. Hauled from school at the whim of his masters, Alex begins this adventure by saving Wimbledon from a Chinese betting conspiracy. When the irate tong puts out a contract on our young hero, he is wafted to an island off Cuba to help the CIA track down a missing nuclear bomb. Things go from bad to worse, naturally, and when Alex's CIA "parents" are murdered, he finds himself in the clutches of an evil ex-Soviet general bound to destroy the world for revenge. Can Alex handle it? Silly question. For this black-belt, scuba-diving, horse-riding, crane-driving super teen nothing is impossible. All of the Fleming touches are borrowed, including MI6's tiny lethal toys, the characterizations of his intelligence "keepers"￯﾿ﾽand of course, the love interest. In this case she is tellingly named Sabina Pleasure. Overkill? Not in the context of the rest of the plot. Ian Fleming may be turning in his grave, but it's Tom Clancy who needs to keep an eye on young Alex. 2003, Philomel, Ages 10 to 14.

VOYA

This book delivers another nonstop action adventure starring Alex Rider. It is a fast-paced read that certainly will make readers hold their breath until the very last page. The book reads like a movie with its attention to imagery and detail. Nevertheless, readers of the first two Alex Rider novels might feel disappointed by the lack of attention to the cliffhanger from the second novel. VOYA Codes: 3Q 4P M (Readable without serious defects; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8). 2003, Philomel, 272p, Anna Banana), Teen Reviewer

KLIATT - Paula Rohrlick

Third in the Alex Rider series, this suspenseful adventure follows Stormbreaker and Point Blank, but it isn't necessary to have read the other titles to enjoy this one. Alex's uncle and guardian was a spy for Britain's MI6; now that he's dead, 14-year-old Alex has been reluctantly pressed into continuing his work. Like a teenaged James Bond, Alex dispatches bad guys with his quick wits, special skills (such as karate and expert skateboarding), and helpful gadgets from MI6, like a disguised grenade and bubblegum that can expand to crack any lock. Here Alex sniffs out a plot by a Chinese triad and saves the Wimbledon tennis tournament, surfs a monstrous wave and survives a deadly attack by a Jet Ski￯﾿ﾽand that's just in the first few chapters, before the main plotline kicks in, concerning a Russian general who is in possession of a nuclear bomb. The general resides on Skeleton Key, a Cuban island, and the CIA borrows Alex to help find out what this madman is up to. Naturally, nothing less than the future of the world hangs in the balance, and it's up to Alex to defeat the general, as well as to survive a exploding ship, a shark attack, and various attempts on his life. There's action every step of the way, and the book barrels right along. Alex even acquires an admiring girlfriend in between escapades, to make his character even more Bond-like; but this is a pretty chaste relationship, and the gore is relatively minimal, too. There is some xenophobia here, however: the Brits are the good guys, the American incompetent, the Chinese and Russians evil. This adventure series is highly popular, though, and this new outing will please Alex's many fans. (An Alex Rider Adventure). KLIATTCodes: J￯﾿ﾽRecommended for junior high school students. 2003, Penguin Putnam, Philomel, 208p.,

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