Scorpia [Paperback]

Anthony Horowitz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2006

paperback.

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic (March 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0439862256
• ISBN-13: 978-0439862257
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (119 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,985,515 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Anthony Horowitz's life might have been copied from the pages of Charles Dickens or the Brothers Grimm. Born in 1956 in Stanmore, Middlesex, to a family of wealth and status, Anthony was raised by nannies, surrounded by servants and chauffeurs. His father, a wealthy businessman, was, says Mr. Horowitz, "a fixer for Harold Wilson." What that means exactly is unclear -- "My father was a very secretive man," he says-- so an aura of suspicion and mystery surrounds both the word and the man. As unlikely as it might seem, Anthony's father, threatened with bankruptcy, withdrew all of his money from Swiss bank accounts in Zurich and deposited it in another account under a false name and then promptly died. His mother searched unsuccessfully for years in attempt to find the money, but it was never found. That too shaped Anthony's view of things. Today he says, "I think the only thing to do with money is spend it." His mother, whom he adored, eccentrically gave him a human skull for his 13th birthday. His grandmother, another Dickensian character, was mean-spirited and malevolent, a destructive force in his life. She was, he says, "a truly evil person", his first and worst arch villain. "My sister and I danced on her grave when she died," he now recalls.
A miserably unhappy and overweight child, Anthony had nowhere to turn for solace. "Family meals," he recalls, "had calories running into the thousands&. I was an astoundingly large, round child&." At the age of eight he was sent off to boarding school, a standard practice of the times and class in which he was raised. While being away from home came as an enormous relief, the school itself, Orley Farm, was a grand guignol horror with a headmaster who flogged the boys till they bled. "Once the headmaster told me to stand up in assembly and in front of the whole school said, 'This boy is so stupid he will not be coming to Christmas games tomorrow.' I have never totally recovered." To relieve his misery and that of the other boys, he not unsurprisingly made up tales of astounding revenge and retribution.


Anthony Horowitz is perhaps the busiest writer in England. He has been writing since the age of eight, and professionally since the age of twenty. He writes in a comfortable shed in his garden for up to ten hours per day. In addition to the highly successful Alex Rider books, he has also written episodes of several popular TV crime series, including Poirot, Murder in Mind, Midsomer Murders and Murder Most Horrid. He has written a television series Foyle's War, which recently aired in the United States, and he has written the libretto of a Broadway musical adapted from Dr. Seuss's book, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. His film script The Gathering has just finished production. And&oh yes&there are more Alex Rider novels in the works. Anthony has also written the Diamond Brothers series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love these books, December 16, 2005

By 

Camille "at the BookMoot!" (Texas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Scorpia: An Alex Rider Adventure (Alex Rider Adventures) (Hardcover)

At the end of Eagle Strike, Alex learns something about his father who died when Alex was a baby. He must find out the truth about his father's life and work so he is off to Venice to find a crime syndicate called Scorpia. This time he is on his own without any fancy gadgets or backup. When he meets Julia Rothman, one of the leaders of Scorpia, Alex is drawn into that criminal and terrorist world. He must decide what his future will be and reconcile what he learns about his father. If he joins them can he live with the consquences of the hideous attack Scorpia is planning on the city of London?

I listened to this book instead of reading it so I did not have the luxury of lingering slowly over the last few pages. The end of the book is an absolute shock. Horowitz is definitely writing these books with a bow to Ian Fleming. As a reader of the original Bond books, I was struck by how much the end of this novel echoed the ambiguous endings Fleming often used.

A set of Alex Rider books would make a great gift for a reader in your life.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Addition to a Great Series!, March 22, 2007

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Scorpia (Alex Rider Adventure) (Paperback)

Anthony Horowitz once again writes an incredible story and adds another chapter to the Alex Rider series. In this addition, our hero Alex must fight against the world's most powerful criminal organization to stop the murder of thousand of London's children, and himself. The book has many pages of intense action and suspense that makes every reader lose themselves in the book. It is definitely a page turner!

The story is mostly directed at teenage boys, but girls will like it too. The only people who would not like it is kids under the age of 10, since there are some parts that get a little too intense for that age group. If you like action and suspense, this book is just right for you. However, I do recommend reading the books before Scorpia in the series (Stormbreaker, Point Blank, Skeleton Key, and Eagle Strike). If you don't feel like reading all of the others, you wouldn't be too confused. But I highly recommend reading at least Eagle Strike, since a lot of the book is based off things that happen in it.

Overall I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars. The whole series (and Scorpia) are full of page turning action and wide-eyed suspense that will make readers beg for more!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So Coooooool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, February 20, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Scorpia: An Alex Rider Adventure (Alex Rider Adventures) (Hardcover)

This book is so awsome. It will put you on the edge of your seat. If you would like a change from boring old books, you got to read this one. It has many surprising twists and and action packed fighting. This book is the fifth in the series. If you do read this book, don't get depressed about the surprise ending. The series doesn't end at this book.