Never Say Die

August 15, 2017
After ending his Alex Rider series with flashback volume Russian Roulette (2013), Horowitz revives his bestselling adventure series, sending his hero on a pursuit that is very, very personal.Held captive by sadistic enemies in Scorpia Rising (2011), Alex was forced to watch the murder of his best friend and caregiver, Jack Starbright. Now safe, recovered from his wounds, and with his enemies dead, the white, English teen has moved to San Francisco with his foster family, the Pleasures, also white. He's trying to live a normal life; he's going to school, trying to fit in, not standing out even though he'd like nothing better than to trounce the local bullies. Then, out of the blue, he receives a truncated email: "ALEXX / I'M AL." Immediately, against all odds, he knows that Jack's alive and trying to reach out to him. His guardians don't believe it, having seen the footage of Jack's death. But Alex won't give up--and it doesn't take him long to slip away and start a globe-trekking search for the only person who has always been there for him. The time has come to be there for her, regardless of the consequences, with or without the help of his friends from MI6. This time, he's on his own. In his usual breakneck fashion, Horowitz whisks Alex from one improbable situation to another, all of which Alex survives by using his wits and whatever else happens to be at hand. It's as if there'd been no interruption; this installment is sure to please Alex's legions of fans. (Thriller. 10-14)

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August 1, 2017
Grades 6-8 The 15-year-old superagent swings back into action in his eleventh outing, after a fragmentary e-mail message convinces him that his nanny-sidekick, Jack Starbrightkilled (supposedly) before his eyes in Scorpia Rising (2011)is still alive. As his search takes him from Cairo to Saint-Tropez and, finally, to an abandoned coke factory in deepest Wales, he becomes entangled in a pair of murderous crime bosses' fabulously baroque scheme to snatch a busload of children of the superrich. Once again amid races, chases, hails of bullets, and increasingly spectacular explosions, the teenage James Bond pulls off one awesome feat of derring-do after another, while allies from previous episodes pop up at convenient times to render aid, and adversaries come to bad, generally self-inflicted ends. Having given his hyperpopular series something of a breather, Horowitz now sets it back on track with a fresh caper that roars along to a (naturally) explosive climax and tidy resolution. If the broad teaser at the end is any indication, Alex's career is in no danger of slowing down. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Demand hasn't lessened for everyone's favorite teen spy in his absence; this series relaunch will have plenty of takers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2018
A message that seems to be from Jack Starbright, who Alex thought was dead, sets the ostensibly retired young spy on another high-stakes international adventure, one that ultimately involves a (disturbing) threat on the lives of a group of children. This is the sort of whirlwind, adrenaline-driven mission that fans have come to expect from the series.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)