Snakehead (novel)

infobox Book |
name = Snakehead
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Anthony Horowitz
illustrator =
cover_artist = Michael Eaton
country = England
language = English
series = Alex Rider series
genre = Adventure, Spy novel
publisher = Walker Books
pub_date = flagicon|UK October 31, 2007
flagicon|USA November 13, 2007
flagicon|AUS September 28, 2007
english_pub_date =
media_type = Print ((Hardback & Paperback))
pages = 398 pp (400 with acknowledgments)
isbn = ISBN 978-1406309355 (first edition, hardback) and ISBN 978-1406305722 (paperback)
preceded_by = Ark Angel
followed_by =

"Snakehead" is the seventh novel in the "Alex Rider" series written by British author Anthony Horowitz. The book was released in Australia on September 28 2007, in the United Kingdom on October 31 2007, and in the U.S. on November 13 2007. The title comes from the name given to Asian gangs involved in people smuggling.

Plot

Alex Rider lands in the South Pacific after falling from outer space, and is taken to a military compound in Perth, Western Australia. He meets four young SAS soldiers, X-Ray, Scooter, Sparks and Texas. The five of them drive to the beach for a barbecue.

While Alex is collecting firewood, suddenly shells are falling and shots are being fired - he is in the middle of a training exercise. While trying to escape he steps on a land mine. Although warned by a soldier to wait for help, Alex decides to take matters into his own hands and jumps off the mine. Later he learns he was never in any real danger - it was a test to see how well he could cope with such situations. There was a tracking device in his shoe to let the military know where Alex was at all times.

Ethan Brooke, a blind "Alan Blunt" of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS), asks Alex to work for them, but he is inclined to refuse. Then the twist is revealed: he will be working with Ash, his father's best man and Alex's godfather. Their mission is to infiltrate a snakehead people smuggling operation between Bangkok and Australia disguised as Afghan refugees.

Meanwhile Scorpia has been hired to covertly assassinate a group of rich celebrities who have organized a make poverty history-type conference on Reef Island. Snakehead leader Major Yu heads the operation. Scorpia agents steal a powerful bomb codenamed Royal Blue from the British. Yu's plan, as Alex later learns, is to start a tsunami that will engulf Reef Island and devastate Australia's west coast.

In Bangkok, Alex encounters Fox, last seen in Stormbreaker, and is taken to an MI6 base. Mrs Jones asks Alex's help in finding Royal Blue. Smithers gives Alex some gadgets: a watch (when the hands are moved to 11 o'clock, a signal is activated), a belt which conceals a knife and a jungle survival kit, and three exploding coins. Later, Ash is unenthusiastic about the watch and the belt, suggesting they could compromise Alex's disguise.

The snakehead smuggles a disguised Alex to Darwin aboard a container ship. While on board he sees the stolen weapon. He calls Ash and activates the watch before being captured by Major Yu. Alex is sent to a hospital in the Australian rainforest where he is to be used as a donor for illegal organ transplants. Alex bides his time and despite encountering a savage dog, an electrified fence and a whitewater river, he makes his escape, having set the hospital on fire.

Puzzled by MI6's failure to respond, he opens the watch to find the battery missing. He replaces it with the battery from the tracking device in his shoe. Once rescued, he explains Yu's plan, and is sent with Fox, X-ray, Scooter, Sparks and Texas to the oil rig where Royal Blue is to be sunk and detonated.

Alex and Fox find the command room and Fox shoots Yu's assistant, before being shot himself by Yu. Alex is not surprised to find that the assistant is Ash, and that Ash was working for Scorpia and killed Alex's parents. Soon, Ash dies and Major Yu escapes. Alex detonates Royal Blue before it reaches the critical depth, so no tsunami is caused. Major Yu is killed by the resulting shockwave because of his fragile bone structure.

At the end of Snakehead, Jack Starbright, Alex's housekeeper, calls a mysterious person over for dinner. Alex, curious to know who it is, opens the door, and is stunned to see Sabina Pleasure, his old girlfriend that moved to San Francisco after the events of "Eagle Strike". They sit down for dinner and the book ends.

Paperback version

The paperback version of Snakehead was released in April/May, 2008. The cover is a black version of the hardback cover and the book is shorter in height than the hardback version. The paperback has an extended chapter showing the scene where Ash kills John and Helen Rider. Ash's true name, Anthony Sean Howell, is also revealed. Ash presses a 3-digit number on a phone and presses send. The plane the Riders are travelling on instantly explodes. In the novel, after the explosion, pretending to care, Ash walks toward the plane. The novel says "he limped toward the flames that for him would never die."

External links

* [http://www.alexrider.com/ Official website of the books]
* [http://www.walkerbooks.co.uk/Snakehead-9781406309355 "Snakehead" at Walker Books]
* [http://www.anthonyhorowitz.com/ "Official Anthony Horowitz's" (Author's) website]