How To Grow Your Geek: Parenting and More!

Thought I would do another book review for you, I have been reading a lot. Just have not have time to write stuff up. But I finished the second book in one of my favorite series, so I had to share.

Point Blank (A Alex Rider novel) – a review by Darcy Low

“Trapped! When an investigation into a series of mysterious deaths leads agents to an elite prep school for rebellious kids, MI6 assigns Alex Rider; fourteen year old reluctant spy to the case. Before he knows it, Alex is stuck in a boarding school high atop the Swiss Alps with the sons of the rich and powerful, and something feels wrong. Very wrong. These former juvenile delinquents have turned well behaved, studious…..and identical overnight. It’s up to Alex to find out who is masterminding this evil plot; before they find him. The clock is ticking, but this time; is Alex’s luck about to run out?”

Anthony Horrowitz is back with the second Alex Rider book, and this one is far darker than the first one. It’s month’s after Alex’s first mission and he is back to his old school, trying hard to fit back in. But after all his training and what he has experienced, he has changed as a person. When he witness drugs being sold to some of his friends at the school, he uses his skills to bring them in. (In a very funny scene, even if it you had to suspend your belief a bit.)
After MI6 comes in and cleans up the mess, they tell Alex about a new mission they want to send him out on. A very rich and powerful businessman son dies under mysterious means, and all clues point to a boys boarding school high up in the Alps. It is a type of school that only allows a certain number of students at a time and is run by a VERY creepy old guy called Dr Grief. This guy could be a James Bond villain easy. He is a African doctor that has come up with a system that he says will turn around kids of the ultra rich that are rebellious and and embarrassment to their parents.

I like how they set that up too, these are parents that are too busy or just have no idea on parenting; to deal with their own kids. So they pay big amounts of money and ships their sons off to the school. I see everyday people at the mall dropping their kids off, hoping someone else can watch them for a few hours. So I can so see this.

The story takes a while to get going, and you are almost halfway though it before you get to the school itself. At first I was worried, but then I started to figure out what the writer was doing. He was letting the suspense build and build, then once the action got going; you had better hold on tight!

Alex is sent in undercover as the son of a Grocery store chain CEO, he is “Punked” out and is sent to live a week with the family. The parents are told the truth about him, but their daughter is not. She is a very spoiled and stuck up, and hate Alex from the very start. In one part her little games almost gets him killed, which ends in one of the best lines I ever read in a book.

Once he gets to the school, he meets the students. They all seem the same, studious, polite and very boring. Not the rebellious kids that he was told was sent there. They all seem to act and move and react the same way, almost like they were the same person. All but his roomate, who tell Alex that these are NOT the same kids he came in with. They have all been changed overnight and he is very scared.

The only way off the mountain is two ways, by the helicopter that brought Alex, and a long ski slope that has not been used in a long time.

The school itself is guarded by over forty German soldiers, and Dr Grief’s second in command is a woman that looks like she like to dish out pain. Pretty odd for a school, wouldn’t you say?

Overall I was wowed once again by this book, it took a while for the plot to get going; but like I said once id did it was a roller coaster ride. The villain’s plans for how his is going to take over the world is believable to me. I could see that happening and how it could have worked. But there were two things that really set this book a part from the first, was a little plot point I hope they continue in the later books. Don’t worry it’s not a spoiler. Mr Blunt, the head of MI6 that is always sending Alex out is rather cold when it comes to putting him in danger, at one point Alex uses a device to call them in and get him out of the school. When Mr Blunt is told this, his reaction is; let’s give him another 24 hours. Then we will send someone in, let him get more information we might need. His second in command, Mrs. Jones; is starting to disagree with him more and more, and is starting to feel they are taking far too many risks with Alex being so young. Could be conflict there I am hoping that keep going back too.

The other thing is the ending, I won’t say anything on that other than; is that really him? Or could it be the other one??? hmmmmmm

If you have not read any of these books, I really recommend it. Teens will like the fact that someone our age is doing the whole James Bond thing, and parents will like it for just the same reason. All of the spy stuff is written just as good as the movies.

You’ll like this guys, give it a try.

Darcy