Snakehead by Anthony Horowitz

Alex Rider literally falls from the sky when he is asked to participate in yet another mission. This time he's working for ASIS - the Australian Secret Intelligence Service. His job is to infiltrate a snakehead, a dangerous gang, in Indonesia and find out how they smuggle refugees. At first Alex refuses, he wants to go back to being a normal kid, but then the ASIS bribes him. They tell him that the agent accompanying him is his godfather Ash. This lures Alex into joining the mission because he thinks Ash will give him information about his parents. Alex reluctantly agrees to the mission and is soon transformed into an Afghan named Abdul. Things start going downhill from there. Major Yu, the leader of the Snakehead and a member of the dreaded Scorpia, knows that Alex is a spy. He doesn't kill Alex right away because he knows that he could be useful to him, so instead he puts Alex through many trials. On his last day before he is supposed to be transferred down the pipeline as an Afghan refugee he meets an undercover M16 agent and is brought to M16 headquarters where he is greeted by the familiar face of Mrs. Jones. He is informed that Scorpia has stolen Britain's newest bomb-The Royal Blue. M16 knows that Major Yu had something to do with it and they want Alex's help to recover it. Now it seems that Alex is working for two special intelligence agencies. The plot thickens as the story moves on and Alex finds out dark secrets about his parents and about Ash that will change his life forever.

Wow! This was the best Alex Rider book yet. It was jam packed with action, suspense and adventure. A really interesting fact about the book is Anthony Horowitz took a lot of time and researched so many topics that are talked about in the book. For example, he talked with a man from NASA about how one would reenter the atmosphere. This helped him accurately describe the whole first chapter of the book and made me like the book even more. Snakehead will keep you turning the pages one after another, desperate to hear what Alex is up to next. As always the book ends hanging you in mid air wondering if the end of being a spy for Alex has really come or if he has one more mission left in him. Anyone looking for a great adventure book, pickup Snakehead (or the first book in the Alex Rider series, Stormbreaker) and cuddle down into a chair and read it! Trust me you won't be able to put it down.