Point Blanc

Anthony Horowitz

‘Point Blanc’ follows Alex Rider, the teenage spy. This time he is sent to a prestigious boarding school for the troubled teens of rich men around the world. The action is fast paced, the hero realistic and the scenery really quite breathtaking.

Alex Rider, introduced first in ‘Stormbreaker’, is a reluctant spy, forced into action by MI6 (Englands’s Secret Service). Again he is up against a psychopath who wants to destroy England and all her countries. Armed with only a couple of special gadgets (not even a gun, to his great dismay) he is sent into the icy wilderness of Point Blanc.

Alex is a believable hero, not too heroic, but always on the side of good. It is hard to believe that MI6 wouldn’t care about bringing him home safe. But then again, the government never seems to have the individual’s (or even the majority’s) best interests at heart. Horowitz includes some nice scenery details – but not too much, just enough to set the scene. The narrative is again told in third person, which allows for including some extra details about the bad guys that aren’t immediately obvious to Alex.

I knocked this book over in maybe 2 hours, but it would take younger readers longer no doubt. It feels like cheating to review it, but my goal is to review ALL of the books on my shelf, not just the ones that suit me best!

The ending of the novel is quite unsettling – if you didn’t know there were more books in the series you could be seriously worried. All in all, it is an enjoyable book, and although not worth a reread by an adult perhaps, younger readers will enjoy rereading to catch each of the important turning points in the novel.

This is a great novel for the reluctant reader. Although it is probably best to read it after the first book in the series, you could probably get away with reading it first (although some of the suspense when you got around to reading the first book would be lost).