Alex Rider #4: Eagle Strike by Anthony Horowitz

What were the odds I'd spot the assassin who killed my uncle while staying in the south of France? Alex, why couldn't you let it go? The vacation house was destroyed by a bomb, and Sabina's father was almost killed. I discovered the bombing had nothing to do with me, but I couldn't understand why had the assassin had been speaking to Sir Damian Cray hours earlier. Why would the world's most popular singer want to talk to a hired killer? The guy raises millions of dollars every year to help the needy and make the world a better place. MI6 didn't want to investigate him, but I wasn't willing to let it go. So, I now find myself facing another lunatic who wants to save the world. However, no one else knows what I'm doing, and no one will be coming the save me when things go wrong.

The facet of the stories that bugs me the most in the series is that Alex doesn't have any close relationships with other characters. I thought Sabina might fill that role, and she has a slightly bigger presence in this plot. However, she's still not as close of a friend as she could be, and Alex does most everything on his own. A scientist gives him the experimental gadgets we've come to expect that provide him unusual ways to protect himself. He faces more life-threatening situations, although this time they're more imaginative than in the past. They'd make exciting episodes on television or in a movie. The antagonist in this book is a bit different too. His heart is in the right place even though he plans to kill millions of people. His end-goal isn't to rule the world or to control different countries; he wants to force a change to save millions. A noble cause? Sacrifice millions to save millions? Overall, this book was entertaining with the spyish elements found in the rest of the series. It had a different feel to it, since Alex wasn't engaged in a sanctioned MI6 mission. If you've enjoyed the other books in the series, you'll like this one too.