SuitabookStormbreaker
Anthony Horowitz
- Reading
- If the action feels overwhelming, pause after major danger scenes and talk about what the characters choose, not only whether Alex escapes. Afterwards, compare cleverness and courage with care, accountability and the cost of violence.
- Themes
- Child recruited into adult danger: Alex is recruited by MI6 after his uncle’s death and sent into dangerous spy work despite being fourteen. The book leaves its stance open to more than one reading.
- Violence as thriller excitement: The narrative repeatedly places Alex and others in shootings, killings, explosions and other lethal or graphic situations. The action is presented as exciting and adrenaline-fuelled, but one account questions whether the imagery is nourishing and notes a troubling identification with a shooter.
- Emotional reserve and heroism: Alex’s uncle dies, and one account portrays Alex as cold or stony while another presents him chiefly as highly competent and courageous. The character may offer a distinctive reluctant hero, though his emotional reserve can also make care and connection difficult to see.
- Worth knowing
- Before reading, consider how the reader responds to shootings, murder, explosions, drugging, electrocution and a gruesome jellyfish death. The book also includes mild epithets, smoking and wine.