Point Blank by Anthony Horowitz

 

    Point Blank is the second book of the Alex Rider series, following book 1, Stormbreaker.
     To recap, Alex Rider is a 14 year old boy who lives with his uncle, Ian Rider, and the housekeeper, Jack Starbright. However, Alex's uncle died in a suspected car crash and was found with his seat belt unbuckled - a precaution Ian always made sure to take. Alex had never known much about his uncle, and to satisfy his curiosities, he started to hunt down clues about Ian. All of what he uncovered eventually had him all tangled up in MI-6, Britain's top secret intelligence agency. After completing a mission that his uncle started, Alex has been called back from his normal life to complete another mission.
     One of the United States' most powerful man has died, and nobody knows the cause. Michael J. Roscoe was leaving his office for lunch, and when he stepped into his elevator, he disappeared, and was later found dead at the bottom of the elevator shaft. What's more, his son, Paul Roscoe, was sent to a finishing school for the sons of rich men and women, due to Paul's unsteady relationship with his father. However, MI-6 is suspicious and has decided to send Alex in as a student to investigate. After living with a rich family to get to know his environment, Alex is sent to the school where, right off the bat, meets the odd director.
     It took me a while to get fully hooked, assuming a day or two is a while. However, despite the slow beginning, the story picked up fairly quickly and kept me intrigued to the very end of the book, and then some, where you are left with a cliff hanger. I loved the action in the book, especially in the end (but then again, who doesn't love a good action novel?) where there was even action on the very last page.
     However, the theme of the book was a little cliche. There's a bad guy who wants to rule the world, but there is one person or group standing in their way that they have to get rid of first. This theme appears a lot in novels and even sometimes in real life, but there is only one solution that Horowitz also seems to agree on: good will always prevail over evil, or at least that is the solution in fiction. Sadly, the same is not always true in reality, but plenty of times it is. I think that despite the cliche theme and the other little downsides, anyone who gets their hands on this book ought to read it. This book deserves an A- grade - a grade that could be better, but not by much. I anticipate that the following books will be even better than this book was.