Alex Rider: Stormbreaker

Stormbreaker (Alex Rider #1), by Anthony Horowitz
ISBN: 0142406112
Publisher: Puffin, 2006

In the middle of the night, the doorbell rings. Instinctively, Alex knows it will be the police (after all, who else rings the doorbell so late?). He also knows it will be bad news, and isn’t too shocked when the police announce that his uncle, Ian Rider, died in an automobile accident. Only when Alex begins prying for more details do things begin to seem fishy. Why was his uncle not wearing his seatbelt that night? He always wore a seatbelt. After Alex finds bullet holes in his uncle’s car, he is kidnapped by MI-6, the Special Operations unit of Britain’s intelligence agency. They confess that Ian Rider worked for MI-6, and was assassinated during a mission. But then they announce that the only person who can complete Ian’s work is Alex himself! Although Alex is only fourteen, he goes through a whirlwind training session and sets off to save his country from a dangerous, secret plot.