Nightshade Revenge

Anthony Horowitz's Nightshade Revenge is an Alex Rider thriller for 11 year olds that kicks off with a three-headed dog in Times Square.

What happens

The dog isn't real. It's part of an augmented reality game, seen through a headset that a frightened investigator has taken from a dead man's flat. As he hurries through New York, the game's creatures start to take an interest in him. There's a man with a rat's head, a flock of flying pigs and an octopus smoking eight cigarettes at once (SO weird). Then two girls step out in front of him in Central Park.

Back in London, Alex is sitting a mock maths GCSE and his brain won't cooperate. He's trying very hard to have a normal life. He wants to stay on for sixth form and go to university, and he's had enough of MI6 telling him what to do.

His best friend Tom isn't so keen on school. He'd rather leave and get on with his life. It's quietly sad, the thought that the two of them might be heading in different directions. (Tom also wants to know why adults are so rubbish, which will probably get a few nods.)

Then Tom vanishes from the skatepark on the South Bank. Alex chases the car on his skateboard along the river. He ollies over a pram, knocks an ice cream out of a man's hand and grinds along the railing of Westminster Bridge with the police after him. It's like watching a film chase! Anyone who skates will enjoy all the proper moves too (including one that really is called the Impossible).

This picks up after Nightshade and talks openly about how that one turned out. So that's the one to read first. And for a reader meeting Alex for the first time, the series starts with Stormbreaker.

Be warned, the opening killing is shocking. There's a bomb hidden where nobody would look, a pool of blood, and two children who think murder is fun. There are guns and kidnappers too. For a reader who finds violence upsetting, this will be a lot.

If they love a fast, dangerous thriller and can't get enough of Alex, they'll fly through it.

What to read next

If the kidnapping storyline grabs them, try Chris Bradford's Bodyguard: Hostage. A kickboxing champion from London is recruited by a secret outfit that trains young bodyguards to protect children from kidnappers.