Christmas at Gunpoint

Alex Rider #0.5

by Anthony Horowitz

A story taking place before Stormbreaker. Alex remembers when he and his uncle were at a ski resort in Gunpoint, Colorado for Christmas and he almost found out the truth about his double identity.




First published in The Daily Mail. But now available on Anthony's website or in the U.S.'s fully loaded anniversary edition of Stormbreaker.

Genres: Young Adult, Thriller, Adventure, Fiction, Espionage, Short Stories, Christmas

30 pages, Unknown Binding

First published December 30, 2006

About the author

Anthony Horowitz, OBE is ranked alongside Enid Blyton and Mark A. Cooper as "The most original and best spy-kids authors of the century." (New York Times). Anthony has been writing since the age of eight, and professionally since the age of twenty. In addition to the highly successful Alex Rider books, he is also the writer and creator of award winning detective series Foyle’s War, and more recently event drama Collision, among his other television works he has written episodes for Poirot, Murder in Mind, Midsomer Murders and Murder Most Horrid. Anthony became patron to East Anglia Children’s Hospices in 2009.

On 19 January 2011, the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle announced that Horowitz was to be the writer of a new Sherlock Holmes novel, the first such effort to receive an official endorsement from them and to be entitled the House of Silk.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/anthon...

Reviews

[Ishraque Aornob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alex Rider's first accidental mission. Interesting and suspensefull.

[Gaby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly, not the same quality as we're used to with Alex Rider.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this 20 page short story in about 15 minutes, maybe less and I was so completely enthralled with it, it had everything a long length novel has, but with less pages, but gives us a glimpse of Ian Rider, who dies before the first pages of Stormbreaker open. I found myself wishing I had a cool uncle like Ian, my life sure wouldn't be boring.

[catherine ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I look back on it, I wonder how stupid I could have been not to see what Ian Rider really was. A spy.

I feel like that sentence sums this up pretty well; the entire story was action-packed and so spy-esque that it felt so hard to believe that it took place before Stormbreaker, that all this happened and Alex never questioned it, or that Alex did all these things before he became a spy himself.

I also feel like it might be better if this book wasn't written in retrospect — I appreciate Alex acknowledging his obliviousness but that really just made it stand out to me even more.

[Lucie Chihandae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short, visual and interesting

[Becs · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wasn’t feeling this short story. I’m generally not a fan of short stories anyway - too little time to adjust to a new world and new characters - but given that this series is well established, it seemed less of a risk.

It wasn’t. The story takes place before the series as a whole, detailing an occasion Alex remembers in which Ian Rider almost reveals his true identity. It felt rushed, pretty boring and just didn’t grab my attention at all. Short stories are normally packed full of action, but this just felt like filler. Not for me.

ARC provided free from the publishers in exchange for an honest review.

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Normally I use five stars to signify something blew me away, but this is a short story. I only grade by was it entertaining and interesting and yes it was. I read this since it was included in my copy of Stormbreaker, but it was worth reading for itself and gives me a deeper appreciation of Alex.

[Annalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story comes before the proper series, when Alex is just thirteen.

And Ian Rider is still alive.

This is such a fun short story, although it's quite different from the rest of the series in that it's written in first person. Still, at least we got some Rider sarcasm 😂

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice prequel to Stormbreaker, introducing the character, letting us get a glimpse of Ian Rider in action, and setting the stage for later derring-do. Suspenseful, fun short story.

[Fabi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great short story, really nice to see Ian in action!

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty enjoyable short story in the Alex Rider-verse. It was neat to read about a not-quite-spy Alex at 13 doing pretty much what he would be forced to do later on (with a few references to his later adventures, such as comparing his ski down this mountain with his ski down Point Blanc in book two... at least this time he had proper skis though ._.), of his own volition. It wasn't super intense or detailed, but with it being so short I'm not surprised by that at all. A good short novella c:

[Rubi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story, to see Alex in action before he knew who/what his uncle was. I liked that it was told as if he was looking back....gave some perspective and I side info into Alex's mindset and how his life had changed. How he had had all the clues and didn't notice til months later.....
But even then he'd been a hero....loved it. Glad my mission files book came with it in it cuz I seem to be missing out on most of the Alex Rider short stories 😭😅

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before Alex Rider became Alex Rider.
On a skiing trip with Uncle Ian and not realizing that he has been groomed by a spy to be a potential spy.
Harrowing double black diamond skiing onto frozen Coldwater Creek and waiting for theinevitable crack to take him under, being threatened by the bad guys to hand over a laptop (that he also swiped....but as a good guy). As a teenager, and a young one at that, is this what he has to look forward to? Yikes.

[Theo · Rating 4 out of 5]

It said in the description that it was a pre-Alex Rider series and that was quite obvious as most of the ideas expressed were later carried out in the series. Interesting to see a kind of earlier view of what the author was thinking though.

[A Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't wait to read the future stories that show me what's going to happen between Alex and Sahara. I'm so glad that Alex got to spend time with his Uncle Ian its so sad that he passed away so soon afterwards.

[Izzie Owens · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute little short story that you should definitely read if you like the Alex Rider series. I read it after reading Stormbreaker because apparently it came in the deluxe edition or something. I found a copy to read on tumblr :)

[Lucas Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am quite surprised to read another Alex Rider short story that I like.
Christmas at Gunpoint takes place a year before Strombreaker (Alex Rider #1). I find it funny that this was the only time we ever saw Ian Rider (Alex’s uncle) alive.
The plot this time around didn’t seam rushed. 4/5 stars.

[Devon Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this story because it was short and actionpacked.

[Natalia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short story was included in one of the main Alex Rider books as a bonus feature. I liked the story - it was entertaining little read.

[Heather Pearson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good shot story. Gives addition al background of Alex and his uncle.

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was good seeing Alex in action before he became a spy

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A prequel to the Alex Rider stories which start properly with Stormbreaker. Short but enjoyable.

[Monique · Rating 4 out of 5]

They never talked about what happened here again...

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting, i am fascinated to see where this series goes! 😀😀 it's basically a young James bond and im all here for that

[Ryan Davis]

i actually like it thank u very much u idiots

[curtis :) · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was also fun and i liked getting an insight into alex's relationship w/ his uncle :)

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda fun, but it asks a lot more questions than it answers.

[Lacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this short story, Alex almost discovers his uncle’s profession, and helps to foil the kidnappers.

[Ranee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why did we never hear this story before?! Go, Alex!

[Curly bird · Rating 3 out of 5]

Deep down inside I want to say maybe Ian wasn't training his 14 year old nephew to be a spy