Review on Alex Rider: Eagle Strike (book 4) by Anthony Horowitz

By Aarav Kumar

Warning: Spoilers ahead

Hi guys, I am going to do a review on Alex Rider: Eagle Strike. Please Subscribe and like this review if you like it.

In this book, Eagle Strike, Alex Rider is on a mission, but this time it is not from MI6, he is going; in fact, MI6 told him NOT to go. Crazy, right? After all these years of Alex complaining that MI6 is using him for missions when he doesn’t want to go, and now finally he is going on a mission willingly without MI6’s conformation and without their support.

Anyway, let me just tell you a bit about the main villain, Damian Cray…

Cray was born in North London on October 5, 1950, baptized Harold Eric Lunt. Having a remarkable singing voice, Cray wished to be a pop star, though his parents forced him to go to the Royal Academy of Music in London despite his unhappy protests. When he was thirteen his parents were killed in a bizarre accident, a car falling on top of them from the top floor of one of their car parks, clearly, an incident their son orchestrated. Lunt later left the Royal Academy of Music and traveled the world, changing his name and becoming a Buddhist and a vegetarian. Later, he was part of a band, then went into a solo career, becoming famous.

Despite his charitable work, campaigns and beliefs, Cray had a much darker side to him; in order to fulfill some of his charitable notions, such as his campaign against animal testing, he ordered the assassinations of many people for the practices he was campaigning against, willing to go to any length to succeed. This went unnoticed until he called for a hit on Edward Pleasure, a journalist who was threatening to expose Cray. He also arranges the killing of a journalist who puts him on the spot asking awkward questions regarding the video game violence in "Feathered Serpent", the first game developed for the Gameslayer, based on the Aztec civilization.

Alex Rider began looking into Cray's actions after a confrontation with Yassen Gregorovich, who Cray sent to kill Edward Pleasure. Cray was planning a nuclear attack to annihilate major drug-producing parts of the world. Using the Gameslayer as a cover, he devised a way of hi-jacking the presidential plane Air Force One using a flash drive to launch the USA's supply of nuclear missiles. However, Alex had trouble convincing Alan Blunt that the charitable Cray is planning to destroy half the world, forcing Alex to investigate himself.

Alex hears that Cray is holding a conference to celebrate the launch of his Gameslayer console, and he decides to go there with his housekeeper Jack Starbright to see if he can find out anything about Cray. While he is there, Cray asks for a volunteer to test out Feathered Serpent, and the audience encourages Alex to be the one because he is the only child attending the conference. Alex does well in the game and Cray becomes annoyed that he has made it look too easy; he congratulates Alex on his progress but surreptitiously causes Alex to lose. He also secretly plans to get back at him someday for ruining the launch of his Gameslayer.

Later on, Alex infiltrates Cray's software company, CST, and sees Cray with Yassen Gregorovich; also present is Charlie Roper, a corrupt operative of the American NSA. It eventually transpires that Roper made a flash drive capable of hacking into any computer in the world. He then requests payment from Cray. (However, he was careless and had inadvertently leaked information on Cray's plans) After taking the flash drive, Cray kills Roper by locking him in a glass case and showering two million dollars worth of nickels onto him, which serves to both pay him and kill him. Alex is then caught by a guard and brought to Cray, who promptly has him locked into his game to make it more realistic. However, having previously played the game itself, Alex gets past all of the traps and escapes from the complex, but not without stealing Cray's valuable flash drive first.

Cray soon realizes that his flash drive has been taken from his desk, and he goes into a villainous breakdown from the fact that all his work and expense would have been for naught. He blames Yassen for sparing Alex when he could so easily have killed the boy on the boat and Yassen contemplates killing Cray but relents.

Cray sends his men to search for Alex, but Yassen Gregorovich informs Cray that Alex is close friends with Sabina and catches her to hold her hostage. He then tells Alex that if he does not get the flash drive back, he will kill Sabina. Alex tries to find a way of outsmarting Cray: he puts a small pack of glue in it and threatens to squeeze, but Cray orders Yassen to torture Sabina if Alex does not hand the flash drive over. Left with no choice, the boy eventually admits defeat and returns the flash drive to the villain.

Cray later carries out his plan, code-named "Eagle Strike", and proceeds to launch the USA's arsenal of nuclear missiles using his flash drive. He then hijacks Air Force One after killing the crew and takes Alex and Sabina on board with him, so that they can witness the devastation about to take place. Eventually, Cray orders Yassen to kill Sabina and Alex after they annoy him with threats. Yassen refuses, however, claiming that he "doesn't kill children". (However, this is technically a lie as evidenced by his involvement in the Stormbreaker project)

Infuriated, Cray shoots Yassen and then Alex; unbeknownst to him, Alex had been wearing a bulletproof vest given by Smithers and is unharmed. He and Sabina then attack Cray. Cray attempts to kill Alex with a headshot. Sabina eventually pushes a drinks trolley into Cray and Alex hurls him out of the open doorway, whereupon Cray is sucked into one of the jet turbines, vaporizing him. The damaged engine, having sucked in the drinks trolley, forces the plane to crash-land.

In the end, when Yassen was shot, this what happened according to the book, “ ‘Please…’ Yassen’s voice was too soft. It was the last thing he wanted to do, but Alex crawled through the wreckage of the cabin and over to him. He remembered Cray’s death only happened because Yassen had refused to kill him. ‘What happened to Cray?’ Yassen asked. ‘He went off his trolley’ Alex said. ‘He’s dead?’ ‘Very.’ Yassen nodded, as if pleased. ‘I knew it was a mistake working for him,’ he said. ‘I knew.’ He fought for breath, narrowing his eyes for a moment. ‘There is something I have to tell you, Alex’ he said. The strange thing was that he was speaking absolutely normally as if this were a quiet conversation between friends. Despite himself, Alex found himself marveling at the man’s self-control. He must have only minutes to live. Then Yassen spoke again and everything in Alex’s life changed forever. ‘I couldn’t kill you,’ he said. ‘I would never have killed you. Because, you see, Alex… I knew your father.’ ‘What?’ Despite his exhaustion, despite all the pain from his injuries, Alex felt something shiver through him. ‘Your father. He and I…’ Yassen had to catch his breath. ‘We worked together.’ ‘He worked with you?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘You mean… he was a spy??’ ‘Not a spy, no, Alex. He was a killer. Like me. He was the very best. I knew him when I was nineteen. He taught me many things…’ ‘No!’ Alex refused to accept what he was hearing. He had never met his father, knew nothing about him. But what Yassen was saying couldn’t be true. It was some sort of horrible trick. The sirens were getting nearer. The first of the vehicles must have arrived. He could hear men shouting outside. ‘I don’t believe you,’ Alex cried. ‘My father wasn’t a killer. He couldn’t have been!’ ‘I’m telling the truth. You had to know.’ ‘Did he work for MI6?’ ‘No.’ The ghost smile flickered across Yassen’s face. But it was filled with sadness. ‘MI6 hunted him down. They killed him. They tried to kill both of us. At the last minute I escaped but he…’ Yassen swallowed. ‘They killed your father, Alex.’ ‘No!’ ‘Why would lie to you?’ Yassen reached out and took hold of Alex’s arm. It was the first physical contact the two ever had. ‘Your father… he did this.’ Yassen drew a finger along the scar on his neck, but his voice was failing him and he couldn’t explain. ‘He saved my life. In a way, I loved him. I love you too Alex. I’m glad you are with me, Alex.’ There was a pause and a spasm of pain rippled across the dying man’s face. There was one last thing he had to say. ‘If you don’t believe me, go to Venice. Find Scorpia. And you will find your destiny…’ Yassen shut his eyes and Alex knew he would never open them again.”