Skeleton Key is the third in the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz. I previously reviewed Stormbreaker and Point Blanc. In this one, fourteen year old MI6 spy Alex gets a chance to work at Wimbledon before the actual mission starts. It's like two stories in one.
At Wimbledon, Alex befriends Sabina Pleasure, another volunteer. Aside from his duties, he notices strange behaviour from some of the players, and manages to expose the machinations of a Chinese Triad's sabotage through a wild kickboxing fight. Later, Sabina invites Alex to Cornwall for a surfing holiday, where again someone tries to kill Alex off in a crazy water fight. He needs a break!
MI6 team up with the CIA and send him on a working vacation to Miami, posing as the child of two other agents, Carver and Troy. Rather than relaxing on the sidelines, Alex finds himself alone to run the mission.
Russian General Sarov has been buying uranium to build a bomb, hoping to change the direction of world power. He is helped by a hunchbacked assistant, his twisted body held together with metal pins. Sarov's private key is the vacation place of the Russian president, and Alex goes night diving to infiltrate the compound. Exploding boats, undersea traps, and a kidnapping to a Russian port - the graveyard of Russia's nuclear fleet - make this a complex and involving entry.
Alex is more aware on this mission, and quick to take over when things go wrong. Sarov makes a good villain, and his crazy plan gets quite far. With Alex travelling from Wimbledon to Cornwall, Miami to Murmansk, Skeleton Key is packed with action. It is most like a James Bond novel with it's crossing story lines and complex plot.
Recommended as the best entry in the series so far!
2002 / Tradeback / 327 pages
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