Anthony Horowitz

The third, explosive mission in the number one bestselling Alex Rider series. In the third book in the number one bestselling Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz, teenage spy Alex faces his most dangerous challenge yet. Teaming up with the CIA, Alex must go to a remote Caribbean island called Skeleton Key, where the insane general Sarov is hatching explosive plans to re-write history.

Skeleton Key

Reluctant teenage-spy Alex Rider, on a routine mission at the Wimbledon tennis championships, gets caught up in Chinese gangs, illegal nuclear weapons, and the suspect plans of his Russian host, General Sarov.

Luke Harkness

Not as good as book 2 but still incredibly consistent

People love the Alex Rider books because they give you James Bond but written in a very relatable way. I'm 26 and he's 14, so it may not be THAT relatable. But it's definitely more relatable than some 40-something highly-trained spy.

The stories are constantly tense and this one doesn't deny us that feeling. I always feel like the villains are a little weak, but I guess the age this book is written for aren't worried about a convincing villain with an understandable motive. 4/5 would be about eight from me.

Alex Rider will soon be a star in his very own TV series! Alex Rider is an orphan turned teen superspy who's saving the world one mission at a time—from #1 New York Times bestselling author! Alex Rider has been through a lot for his fourteen years. He's been shot at by international terrorists, chased down a mountainside on a makeshift snowboard, and has stood face-to-face with pure evil. Twice, young Alex has managed to save the world. And twice, he has almost been killed doing it. But now Alex faces something even more dangerous. The desperation of a man who has lost everything he cared for: his country and his only son. A man who just happens to have a nuclear weapon and a serious grudge against the free world. To see his beloved Russia once again be a dominant power, he will stop at nothing. Unless Alex can stop him first... Uniting forces with America's own CIA for the first time, teen spy Alex Rider battles terror from the sun-baked beaches of Miami all the way to the barren ice fields of northernmost Russia. From the author of Magpie Murders and Moriarty.

Lynn Braden

Alex finds himself impersonating a ball boy during the Wimbledon Tennis Tournament.  His participation in this investigation brings him to the attention of a Chinese crime syndicate, so he must leave England for awhile.  The CIA uses this to their advantage as they recruit Alex to portray the son of a couple of agents posing as a family on vacation in Cuba where a Russian general has been building a nuclear bomb with stolen uranium.  As usual, Alex finds himself in the middle of the action.

Skeleton Key is the third entry in the Alex Rider series and definitely falls on the side of implausible.  An evil former general in the Russian army is the antagonist.  The general is more than a one dimensional character as he does give his reasons for his actions and actually considers Alex as a possible substitute for his dead son, but the plot and characters in this story are over the top, while some of the dialogue is stilted and unbelievable.  Overall, Skeleton Key delivers action and adventure, but doesn't add much to the Alex Rider series.

Toni Turner

I love this series so much! Like I've said a hundred times before it brongs back so much nostalgia for me. I am so happy I decided to reread the series finally. I missed Alex and Sabina so much.

Skeleton Key

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