Skeleton Key
by Anthony Horowitz

SCHOLASTIC Books, 2006, 264 pp., $7.99
ISBN-10 0-439-66209-5

In Skeleton Key you follow in the shoes of the main character, Alex Rider. Alex is a 14 year old teenager that lives in England with his guardian named Jack. What most people don’t know about Alex is that he is a secret agent for an organization called “M16”. Alex is asked to go on a “harmless” mission to Skeleton Key with two CIA agents to investigate a man named Sarov. Sarov is a very wealthy man who used to be a General in Russia. When Russia became corrupt due to crimes such as robbery and drug deals, Sarov quit his job because he was so ashamed of the direction the country was moving towards. Now Sarov wants Russia back and he’ll do anything to get it. 

Anthony Horowitz does a great job of helping the reader get to know all the main characters in depth. He does this by expressing the person’s feelings or providing examples of the person’s life. An example would be Ian Rider’s (Alex’s uncle) influence on Alex Rider’s spying skills. Ian Rider was secretly training Alex how to be a spy without Alex even knowing as if Ian Rider had planned for Alex to become a spy. An example would be Alex’s pick-pocketing skills which he picked up just before his tenth birthday. It started out as a game that Alex and Ian would play. 

In Skeleton Key the main themes in my opinion are courage and survival. Alex has to do many things on his own and overcome many obstacles. An example would be when Alex chases after a boat that is suspected to have one of the CIA agents aboard with a very deadly man. Alex knows its very dangerous but puts his life at risk anyways. When he enters the boat he is not spotted but when he creates a distraction he would be lucky to get off alive.

Horowitz kept me on the edge of my seat by ending almost every chapter with a cliffhanger which made me want to keep reading more to see what is going to happen next. The book is full of excitement, action, and non-stop thrills. One example is when Alex jumps off a boat into the water. A shark spots Alex and starts chasing him. Alex enters an underwater cave he is attacked by the shark. Luckily the shark misses and Alex is struggling for survival character, Alex Rider. He does this by providing the reader with details of the scenery, perspective, and the emotions each of the character is feeling.  

I would recommend this book to readers that are in the age range of 9-12 years of age. There isn’t a huge variety of vocabulary use but it is still full of good descriptions that make you feel like you are experiencing the events that the character is going through. However, the story can be somewhat difficult to follow at times if you have not read the earlier books in the series as the story is a continuation of the previous book. Overall, I would rate the book very high and encourage others to read the book.

~ reviewed by Anthony H.