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Alex Rider #2.5

High Tension

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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.

20 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 9, 2009

5 people are currently reading
1197 people want to read

About the author

Anthony Horowitz

345 books20.9k followers
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...

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5 stars
117 (30%)
4 stars
110 (28%)
3 stars
111 (29%)
2 stars
30 (7%)
1 star
13 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
Profile Image for Natalie.
834 reviews62 followers
July 23, 2018
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
Profile Image for catherine ♡.
1,707 reviews172 followers
May 12, 2022
Really not that interesting but the action scenes are always really cool in these.
Profile Image for Annalie.
279 reviews74 followers
May 12, 2017
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. 😂
Profile Image for Rubi.
2,648 reviews15 followers
April 2, 2018
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 😊
Profile Image for Luke.
821 reviews40 followers
May 4, 2021
Alex is definitely quite lucky!
Profile Image for curtis :).
773 reviews
December 30, 2021
nothing happened here but I still really liked it for some reason? like it was fun

maybe it’s just bc someone’s being nice to Alex for once
513 reviews3 followers
December 14, 2022
Alex Rider goes parasailing. For once, the grave danger to Alex and other people is not orchestrated by an evil mastermind.

And smoking is bad for health.
Profile Image for Ranee.
1,354 reviews18 followers
July 23, 2023
Way to keep a cool head, Alex, and a tight grip!
Profile Image for Jessica.
38 reviews32 followers
November 11, 2014
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.
1,577 reviews54 followers
March 17, 2021
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.
Profile Image for Natalie.
2,099 reviews
September 4, 2013
A good short story featuring Alex Rider. It just was too short to be worth the $1.99 I paid for it. It should have been only 99 cents.
Profile Image for Mii.
1,243 reviews33 followers
April 3, 2015
This book was a great read!
3 reviews
July 16, 2017
Okay, Not the Best

This book was okay, I didn't really see a point, but it wasn't terrible. I probably wouldn't buy it, I just borrowed it.
Profile Image for Sarah.
249 reviews
August 5, 2011
alex rider manages to get out of another tricky situation
Profile Image for Emily.
37 reviews5 followers
January 3, 2012
Pretty good as short stories go, especially a fourteen page one.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews

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