Title: Alex Rider Point Blanc (Book 2)
Author: Anthony Horowitz
Genre: Fiction
The protagonist is a boy called Alex Rider, who is a fourteen-year-old. In the first book, "Alex Rider Stormbreaker," his uncle, who raised him, dies in a car crash, and he later learns that his uncle secretly worked for MI6, which is a spy organization. MI6 recruits him in his uncle's place and deploys him for a mission he successfully handles well. He's struggling to keep his job as a spy, a secret from his friends at school. He is also still determining if he wants to keep this job as a spy forever.
However, MI6 shortly contacts Alex, informing him they need his help again. An assassin, known by many as The Gentleman, kills a wealthy, well-known electronic billionaire in an elevator shaft. Soon later, another billionaire dies in questionable circumstances, and MI6 believes that the two murders are linked. The only proof they are somehow connected is that the two men have sons attending a particular French Alps school.
A South African scientist runs a school called Dr Grief, which rehabilitates complex and problematic children of rich and famous people. They want Alex to go to the school and pretend to be a student there and try and find any clues for what happened to the murdered men and try and find any suspicious and weird activities going on in the building. Alex doesn't want to go, but he's scared of MI6 and feels like he can't say no to them. MI6 assigns him a fake family to stay with for a week, and he learns how to fit in with them to act like a problematic rich kid. He's going undercover as the son of a wealthy supermarket mogul, David Freind. Alan Blunt and Mrs Jones, the head of operations at MI6, gave Alex a folder full of information and a cover story. Alex needs to know his cover story back to back, including all the facts and details of the Freind family.
Once the week with the Friends is over, MI6 has Alex accompanied to the mysterious school known as Point Blanc. He has to inform Dr. Grief and other teachers at the school about his bad behavior and the reason he's at the school in the first place. MI6 doesn't want them to know about his cover in case they're dangerous and have to do with the murders. Meanwhile, Alex has to make friends to get closer to them and learn more about them, the school itself, and what happens there. None are willing to talk when he tries to make friends with the boys.
The only boy Alex becomes friends with is James, and he is almost sure there is something wrong with the school. He noticed that all the boys were rebellious about school and refused to participate in the learning and activities, but they became holy overnight. Participating in the teaching and being extremely polite. This fascinated Alex, and he knew that MI6 was right about the school. James doesn't want to stay at the school because he doesn't want to become like the other kids. Alex must hurry up and acquire information from James before he gets wary of him.
Alex sees someone punishing James but cannot do anything about it. When he talked to James again, he was surprised to hear that James didn't want to escape anymore and seemed to be enjoying his time at the school. That freaked Alex out—it felt like James had been brainwashed. So, he secretly contacted MI6 to share his worries. But they needed more than just his concerns to take action. They told him to keep away from James for now and to find out more. They would step in once he had more precise information. The next day, Alex discovered that the James he was talking to wasn't honest; he was a clone!
The real James was locked up in a dark basement prison. Alex revealed who he was, and they planned to escape with other boys. But before they could put it into action, Dr. Grief caught them and took them prisoner first. Alex learned that Dr. Grief controlled the boys to take over the world one day. He specifically targeted the sons of billionaires because he thought they would be in powerful positions later. Some of the fathers started to get suspicious about their son's odd behavior, but it's unclear if they figured out the truth before Dr. Grief had them killed to protect his plans.
Now Alex knew he had to escape and let MI6 know what was happening. Meanwhile, MI6 was getting suspicious since they hadn't heard from him again, so they decided to take over the school and blow his cover. Alex made a daring escape by riding a snowmobile up a ski jump ramp and crashing it into Dr. Grief's helicopter so he couldn't get away. Just then, he stumbled upon MI6 raiding the school, and they saved him. They managed to capture all the clones except for one resembling Alex.
I really enjoyed reading Alex Rider Point Blanc for several reasons. First, the main character, Alex, is super relatable and cool. He's just a teenager who has to switch between his normal life and his spy life. I love how he faces really dangerous situations but still manages to be clever and resourceful. He has to fight bad guys and go on secret spy missions at such a young age, and it makes me feel like I could handle tough challenges, too.
The plot is packed with action, which kept me turning the pages because I love action-packed stories. From the very beginning, it's filled with exciting twists and turns. I mean, who wouldn't want to sneak into a mysterious school in the Alps? I know for certain I definitely would want to do that. The whole idea of an elite academy where something shady is going on had me on the edge of my seat. I found myself guessing what would happen next, and I love when a book surprises me!
I also appreciated the friendships in the story. Alex has to rely on John and his friends at MI6 and learn who to trust, which is really relatable for anyone in middle school. Plus, the writing is engaging and keeps things moving quickly, so I never felt bored. The cool gadgets and spy equipment were like something straight out of a movie, which made the experience feel even more thrilling.
The only thing I didn't like about the story was that, to an extent, it was predictable because I knew what was happening at the school and why all the kids were acting so well. In a particular scene, when Alex is on his way to the school, he and his escort Eva Stellenbosch," Dr. Grief's right-hand woman," have to stop at a hotel owned by the school. His drink got spiked, so he was extremely dizzy, so he went to lie in bed, and when he played in bed, the entire bed conveyed down a floor into a secret room, and a couple of doctors were examining his body and measuring him precisely.
From the amount of hair he had to the color and size of his pupils, at first, I didn't really think of it that much, but when I read that all the kids were becoming good kids overnight, I knew that they were all getting measured at the hotel, and when they arrived at the school, they would be cloned, so that kind of spoilt the book for me since I already knew what was going to happen.
Overall, I like Point Blanc because it's an amazing mix of excitement, mystery, and character development. It made me want to read more about Alex Rider's adventures, and I think it's a great series for anyone who loves action-packed stories and a bit of intrigue! Anthony Horowitz did a fantastic job writing this novel, and I'm definitely going to continue with this book series and read the third book, Alex Rider Skeleton Key.
If you read this book and liked it, you should try:
SilverFin by Charlie Higson
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
Spy School by Stuart Gibbs
etc
Nice review I have read the first book which was amazing, but I never thought to read the seconds. This review is so good I am going to buy the second book now!