Anthony Horowitz

Alex Rider — (2000-2011) Young adult. Publisher: They told him his uncle died in an accident. He wasn't wearing his seatbelt, they said. But when fourteen-year-old Alex finds his uncle's windshield riddled with bullet holes, he knows it was no accident. What he doesn't know yet is that his uncle was killed while on a top-secret mission. But he is about to, and once he does, there is no turning back. Finding himself in the middle of terrorists, Alex must outsmart the people who want him dead. The government has given him the technology, but only he can provide the courage. Should he fail, every child in England will be murdered in cold blood. The first in a thrilling new series by British writer Anthony Horowitz, Stormbreaker will have pulses racing from start to finish.

Stormbreaker

You're never too young to die...

After a friend recommended the Alex Rider books, and the movie adaptation pricked my interest, I settled down with Stormbreaker, the first of what is (currently) a nine-book series. Alex is a fourteen year old English schoolboy who wakes early one morning to find that Ian Rider, his uncle and guardian since his parents' deaths, has been killed in a car accident. It's not long before the truth emerges: Ian wasn't a banker at all, but a high-ranking spy for MI6 who was killed in the line of duty. Now Alex himself has been asked to fill his uncle's shoes, as a lifetime of mountain-climbing, foreign languages, martial arts training and other unusual activities suddenly becomes clear to the young teen.

Ian had been undercover as a security guard at Sayle Enterprises, the company of a Lebanese businessman named Herod Sayle who plans to ship out thousands of cutting-edge computers to schools all around Britain. It sounds like the gift of a great philanthropist, but MI6 are suspicious and Ian's death only confirms their fears. Where does Alex fit into all this? The first prize in a Sayle-run competition is for a young girl or boy to be the first to try out the new Stormbreaker computer, and MI6 want Alex to take the place of the real competition winner in order for him to do some snooping. Alex has no choice - if he doesn't comply, the government will deport his beloved housekeeper Jack Starbright back to the United States.

So undercover he goes, armed with some clever gadgets (a zit cream that melts through metal, a yo-yo with a nylon string and a rather extraordinary Game Boy) in order to investigate the strange individual that is Herod Sayle (who comes complete with dangerous pets, larger-than-life henchmen, and a tragic back-story of his own).

When attention turned from boy-wizards to spy-kids after the success of Robert Rodriguez's movie Spy Kids, the market was suddenly flooded with demands for high-tech, fast-paced, savvy young spies, as seen with the likes of Kim Possible, Agent Cody Banks, the X's and so on. The story may not even be remotely plausible, but Anthony Horowitz has successfully jumped onto the spy-kids bandwagon and run wild with it. Alex is a smart, likeable kid and the plot so breathlessly fast-paced that any discrepancies in the story are effortlessly glossed over. The villains are villainous, the evil plot is nefarious, and the henchmen have names like Nadia Vole and Mr Grin (thanks to a knife-throwing accident at the circus, he sports a scar that pulls his face into a perpetual smile) — what more can you want? With practically every chapter ending on a cliff-hanger, this is a perfect book to try out on a reluctant reader.

If there is one thing that bothered me slightly, it's that Alex is a little too good to be true. I brought the martial arts and the physicality of the teenager, but when Alex bests Sayle in a snooker game or spouts a reel of computer jargon to Mr Blunt, my suspension of disbelief was stretched somewhat. Oh come on, I hear you say — in a story filled with giant jellyfish, submarines and teenage espionage, what's the big deal? In my opinion, it's fine — no, necessary — that in a book like this there are wild plot turns, but it needs to be balanced with a grounded, realistic protagonist that the reader can relate to. Alex makes too few mistakes during the course of the story (there are a few slips of the tongue, but nothing too serious) and at times displays superhuman skills, all of which distance him a little from the average reader. Looking at our culture's typical heroes, our favourites always seem to be the ones that slip up now and then, chastise themselves, have physical limits: Indiana Jones, John McClain, Batman — we like our heroes dark, fallible, and human. Am I expecting too much from a story that's meant to be pure entertainment? Probably, but it's also true that we never really get inside Alex's head, particularly as to his relationships with (what we suppose) are the two most important people in his life — Jack and Ian — and as such, he remains a little distant. However, this may change in future books, as it does seem that Horowitz is laying down seeds that will come to fruition in later books — I expect to see a lot more from Jack Starbright, Mrs Jones and Yassen Gregorovich (the Russian assassin that killed Ian Rider) in future books.

Other than that, I have little to complain about. The Alex Rider series is all set to be a great reading experience, and Point Blank is next on my reading list. —Rebecca Fisher

Stand-alone Novels

The House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Novel — (2011) Publisher: London,1890. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are enjoying tea by the fire when an agitated gentleman arrives unannounced at 221b Baker Street. His name is Edmund Carstairs and he is being menaced by a wanted criminal who seems to have followed him all the way from America. Intrigued by the man's tale, Holmes and Watson find themselves swiftly drawn into a series of puzzling and sinister events, stretching from the gas-lit streets of London to the teeming criminal underworld of Boston. As the pair delve deeper into the case, they stumble across a whispered phrase, “the House of Silk” — a mysterious entity and foe more deadly than any Holmes has encountered, and a conspiracy that threatens to tear apart the very fabric of society...

The House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Novel

FORMAT/INFO: The House of Silk is 304 pages long divided over a Preface, twenty numbered/titled chapters, and an Afterword. Narration is in the first person, exclusively via Dr. Watson. The House of Silk is self-contained. November 1, 2011 marks the North American Hardcover publication of The House of Silk via Mulholland Books. The UK edition (see below) will be published on the same day via Orion Books.

ANALYSIS: Between 1887 and 1927, Sherlock Holmes appeared in fifty-six short stories and four full-length novels written by the famous detective’s creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Since then, the popular character has appeared in countless stories in literature, film, television and other media, but 2011 marks the first time in eighty-one years that a new Sherlock Holmes novel has been fully endorsed by the Arthur Conan Doyle estate. That novel is The House of Silk.

The House of Silk is written by Anthony Horowitz, a choice I admit both surprised me and was a little worrisome at first. After all, not only had I never read anything by Anthony Horowitz before, but I thought he only wrote children’s novels. So I wasn’t sure what to expect from Horowitz in The House of Silk. However, after finishing the book, I can say with utmost confidence that Anthony Horowitz was the right person for the job. From Dr. Watson’s faithful narrative voice to the accurate portrayal of Sherlock Holmes and his recognizable idiosyncrasies, vices, and amazing powers of deduction to a skillfully executed plot full of signature Holmesian twists and revelations, Anthony Horowitz has written a Sherlock Holmes adventure that is not only rewardingly true to the originals, but also possesses a modern sensibility that will succeed with contemporary audiences.

Story-wise, The House of Silk takes place during the winter of 1890, but according to Dr. Watson’s Preface, the book was written a year after Sherlock Holmes’ death. As to why Watson waited twenty-five years before writing down the adventures of The Man in the Flat Cap and The House of Silk, not to mention giving instructions that the manuscript not be opened for one hundred years, the doctor explains that “the events which I am about to describe were simply too monstrous, too shocking to appear in print”, but goes on to state that “perhaps future readers will be more inured to scandal and corruption than my own would have been.” Which is indeed true. From here, The House of Silk starts off a bit slow with Holmes accepting a case that Watson describes as “trivial,” but eventually evolves into a conspiracy that encompasses “murder, torture, kidnap and the perversion of justice”. Along the way, Wiggins and the Baker Street Irregulars, Inspector Lestrade, Mycroft Holmes, and Sherlock’s gift for disguises all play a role in the novel, while Professor Moriarty may or may not make an appearance.

CONCLUSION: Initially I had concerns about The House of Silk due to my unfamiliarity with the author Anthony Horowitz, but any doubts I had were quickly put to rest the moment Sherlock Holmes was introduced in the novel. From then on, it felt like I had stepped back in time and was reading one of the original Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which is about as good as it gets. In closing, The House of Silk is a tremendous literary achievement by Anthony Horowitz and a triumphant return to 221b Baker Street for Sherlock Holmes fans old and new alike... —Robert Thompson

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