Snakehead
by Anthony Horowitz

Release Date: 31st Oct 2007
Publisher: Walker Books
ISBN: 978 1 4063 0935 5
RRP: £12.99

I once went into space... although you could hardly call me an astronaut. I think I was caught on the bottom side of a space boot for most of the journey, but I was sure to get myself unstuck before any kind of alien landing could take place. I love adventure as much as the next worm, but being left in zero gravity and minus degrees in the shade leaves me feeling a little space-sick.

Snakehead begins with our ever present hero, Alex Rider, coming into land from a trip to the nether regions of space... apparently. Honestly? It was the beginning that killed this one for me. Just as the human race has lost all its taste for space adventures and rocket launches, the beginning left me with a wandering consciousness desperate to escape to more stimulating climes. It may have been two years in the making, but I still couldn’t gather up much enthusiasm to hear about splashdowns and more nonsensical misadventures of the teenage spy. James Bond did this so much better, and with far more finesse and a little less attitude, thank you.
And I might be accused of being prudish, old-fashioned and past-it; but then I could counter that so is Alex Rider – past it, that is. Horowitz has had his day in the sun on this character and now it is time to put him to bed.

I suppose, in all fairness, there is rather limited choice available to the less discerning reader who just wants a quick fumble in the dark with some spy thriller... this one fills a gaping hole in the market and therefore you could potentially argue that it has its uses. But you’d need a hole in the head to want to read it.

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