Just a few months into his new life as Britain's top superspy, Alex Rider is in need of some serious r&r. But what should have been a fun, relaxing vacation on the south of France turns deadly. Alex will need to use all of his training to get out of this tight spot, because there's more than just his life at stake in this nail-biting story.
High Tension is a short story published as part of the Secret Weapon short story collection. It is set after the events of Point Blanc and was previously published as Quite a Ride and as Incident in Nice.
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.
Seriously. This could only happen to Alex. A lovely cruise in a parasail.... followed by the boat driver thus, needing Alec to (once again) put his "spy-skills" to use.
But seriously. I don't understand why he wouldn't stay behind to try and clear up what the heck happened at the end. I realise that he's a "super teen spy" and all but... REALLY?
Side note... this whole situation reminded me of the beginning of Hatchet, only this time it's not a plane and our teenager is a lot more equipped skill-wise for the small disaster ;D
Sooo I've just discovered the short stories on Anthony Horowitz's website and realised I HAVEN'T read them all before.
This, although short, definitely had the feeling of an Alex Rider story. On the one hand, it's so fun to read this and see a little bit more in Alex's life, but on the other hand... I FEEL SO SORRY FOR ALEX. HE LITERALLY CANNOT EVER CATCH A BREAK. 😂
This story wasn't about criminals or evil plots or any of the usual Alex Rider storylines. No, this was a simple story of Alex being unlucky haha He get involved in a bear boat accident and in trying to save himself and the lives of others at the beach, he has no choice but to take action and then once again hide before anyone noticed. Quite the the ride was quite the read. I rather enjoyed it 😊
It's been a while since I've actually read this, so my memory is a little fuzzy. Just bear with me here. First off, this [i]story[/i] (not [i]book[/i] - I'll get to that in a second) is only available as an e-book, so there's no way you'll see it in stores. I personally bought it on my Kindle a while back, expecting to have a novella that I could have finished soon but still get enjoyment from. And that leads to number two. In the Kindle Store, this story is priced at $1.99. Considering how much full-sized novels cost on the Kindle, you'd think that this is a novella, right? Nope. I finished this story in barely 20 minutes, and it wasn't even that interesting to begin with. All that happens is It's completely different from the rest of the series (both in interest factor and price-to-page ratio), and it hardly matches the tone of an espionage novel at all. Considering what Alex had been through before this story, he's overreacting about everything he thinks in this. Bottom line: don't buy it. You're not missing anything by not getting it. And if you do get it, you'll b missing $2 that you could be using to buy a soda or something. I give it 2 stars because, while I very much dislike it, it's far from being my least favorite book. And 1-star ratings are reserved for the worst.
Originally published as Quite a Ride and Incident in Nice and now titled, High Tension. The basic premise is the same but the names of the family Alex stays with are changed. This short story is set after Point Blanc and before Skeleton Key.
Alex is holidaying in France with his friend, Wilfred Sutton and the Sutton family. When Wilfred and his parents go to visit some old friends, they leave Alex in the care of their neighbor/housekeeper person and suggest that she take him parasailing. While parasailing, the boat driver has a heart attack and the boat starts to head for the busy shoreline. Alex uses all his skill to prevent injuries. This isn't my favourite Alex Rider short story, but it's not bad - mainly just a slice of life interlude rather than a real tale. 2 stars.