Crocodile Tears (Alex Rider)

Join 14-year-old Alex Rider for another white-knuckle adventure that has him nearly drowned at the bottom of a Scottish loch, poisoned by super deadly gen-modified plants, consumed by flames in a warehouse fire, and eaten alive by African crocodiles. And that's just a start. Not to fear, the boy-spy escapes with his life, but barely and fans of the series will not be disappointed. The only thing that bothered me was the attempt to Americanize the original British text. US dollars are perplexingly the accepted currency in London (except on p 331) and while the editors change "underground" to "subway," 999 to 911, and "crisps and chips" to "chips and fries," other common British words and concepts remain unconverted--"shingle," for example, in the sense of a pebble beach, or "fringe" for "bangs". It's still a good read and probably no one will be the wiser.

Drugs,guns,and terrorists. Definately over anyone under 10's head. The book itself is action packed and thrilling. It's a definate page turner about a 14 year old spy. There's a lot of gunshooting,killing,and just plain old violence. If your reading this book try not to pick a favorite character or get too attached to one. They'll probably get shot,blown up,poisoned, or stabbed. Besides the intense violence, the book is really good. I highly recommend it for any boy over 9 or 10.

Drugs,guns,and terrorists. Definately over anyone under 10's head. The book itself is action packed and thrilling. It's a definate page turner about a 14 year old spy. There's a lot of gunshooting,killing,and just plain old violence. If your reading this book try not to pick a favorite character or get too attached to one. They'll probably get shot,blown up,poisoned, or stabbed. Besides the intense violence, the book is really good. I highly recommend it for any boy over 9 or 10.

"Crocodile Tears" is the newest book from the Alex Rider series: action thriller and suspense. The main character, Alex Rider is only 14 years old and is a teenage spy for the MI6. The book starts out with a bomb being set up in the nuclear power station in Chennai, India. Alex is on vacation with the Pleasure's, celebrating the New Year at an isolated Scottish castle overlooking the loch Arkaig. Alex meets Desmond McCain and that's when things start to heat up becoming action and suspenseful on each page. Again Alex is face-to-face with death as he tries to save the world once again.
This series is the best series hands down. I love how Anthony Horowitz keeps you on the edge of your seat. There is no way to predict what is going to be happening next. I also like how the book catches you on the first page. Once you start to read this book you won't be able to put it down. Another thing I like about "Crocodile Tears" is how Alex is always at the wrong place at the wrong time. For example, he is sent home from school for an event that accrued on a field trip at a GM genetic engineering facility and is locked in a warehouse that is burning. Mr. Horowitz puts him in the difficult situations and Alex finds a way out. The only thing I do not like about this series is that the author never provided us with enough information about the uncle. But do read this book, you will find out that this series is very entertaining.

CROCODILE TEARS is an intense action book that you will not be able to put down. In this Alex Rider adventure, Alex is once again forced back into another mission. His mission starts off on a school field trip where Alex has to sneak into Leonard Straik's office, the CEO at GM Bio Center, and get all the info out of his computer. Alex also overhears Straik talking to Desmond McCain about some special chemical, and decides to try and get a sample of it. He succeeds when he finds the sample sitting on Straik's desk. When Straik finds out what Alex is doing, he tries to chase him down, but luckily, Alex escapes. When he gets back, Alex takes the chemical to MI6. They analyze the chemical but cannot find anything harmful about it so they send Alex home. After he gets home he is supposedly finished being a spy but his curiosity gets the best of him once again. Therefore, if you like action books, this suspenseful thriller will keep you guessing until the end.

Crocodile Tears is an excellent addition to the Alex Rider series: fast paced, tense and dead exciting. It picks up two months after Snakehead. Alex is still 14 (although only just) and believes that he's completed his last assignment for MI6.

The book starts off with a bang (literally) as a bomb is exploded in a nuclear power station in India. The action then moves to Scotland where Alex is holidaying with the Pleasure family. He attends a lavish New Year's Eve party in a remote Scottish castle hosted by wealthy philanthropist Desmond McCain, who runs an international charity, First Aid. Alex is disturbed by his first encounter by McCain and wonders if there's a connection when shortly afterwards he narrowly escapes from what he suspects to have been a deliberate car accident.

Back in London, Alex is forced to turn to MI6 for help when a journalist threatens to expose his past. In return MI6 ask him to help them investigate the director of a highly secure GM research centre. Slowly the disparate threads of the story start to come together, but will Alex be able to pass on what he knows before the bad guys catch up with him?

I thought it was an extremely exciting story, a real page turner. It is slightly darker and more complex than others in the series: this is definitely "young adult" territory, although there are also parts which are highly reminiscent of scenes in the previous books. Alex is an appealing hero who is brave and highly resourceful. He has an uncanny ability to keep his cool when he's in danger and pulls off some impressive stunts such as catching a spear in mid air.

Here are some things that parents may like to know:
- There is frequent violence in the book (similar to the previous books in this series). A couple of the villains die in particularly unpleasant ways.
- Alex ends up in a variety of frightening scenarios including being trapped in a car at the bottom of a lake, being dangled over hungry crocodiles and being trapped in a burning building.
- Alex causes the death of two people directly and several more indirectly. While the deaths could be attributed to self-defence, he never shows any signs of remorse or concern at their deaths.
- He also witnesses the deaths of several others, including one individual who has previously saved his life. Again, he shows no particular concern about this.
- No bad language, no romantic scenes.
- Alex is once offered alcohol, which he refuses.
- There are no positive female role models. With the exception of Alex's faithful housekeeper/guardian (and his friends the Pleasures), the women in this book are all either receptionists and nurses, or are emotionless and unpleasant.

This book is filled with action and suspense. It has many turning points which will leave you on the edge of your seat. This is a must read for teens and adults that enjoy James Bond type action. Except in this case the main character is a fourteen year old secret agent named Alex Rider. This is a must buy!

Was pretty awesome. I was really busy these past few days so it was more a blur than a book. But from what I read, and understood, it was a really cool adventure! Can't wait to read the next one! And sad, cause its the last one :(

Horowitz's new book is, like all the others, well studied, well written, and hard to put down. With his characteristic style of including every detail, Horowitz delivered another action-filled, fun, and thorough book. However, I can't help but notice how he seems to follow the same track. Sure the 'bad guys' and specific circumstances are different, and certainly the Bulman situation is unique, but overall, the plot was the same as most of the others: MI6 somehow uses an impossible situation to get Alex to do a 'quick, safe' mission, it turns out to be more, he does some investigating, the 'bad guys' find him out, he gets caught, they monologue to him, he saves the day. Honestly, I think it's time for Horowitz to give us something new, like he did in Scorpia. Don't get me wrong, the book is great, and it doesn't lack for action or originality, but a new general plot-line would be refreshing.
That all said, you can look forward to some interesting relationship scenes with Alex, Tom, Jack, even Blunt. Also, as predictable as the overall plot may be, Horowitz did manage to bring in a load of new and surprising aspects.

Alex Rider books are the best. I finished this in one day, it was that good. Alex is on another adventure and this time Sabina joins him from America. A journalist finds out about Alex's secret life and wants to write about it. MI6 will help him get rid of the man as long as Alex will help them in an investigation on a plant altering company. This adventure takes Alex everywhere from Switzerland to Africa with a mysterious stranger helping him along the way. Once you pick this book up, you won't put it down until you've finished.

SOME MINOR SPOILERS
He certainly has shown Higson who's the boss of Young Adult thrillers. He packs the most creative action sequences and the most adventure. This Rider novel is not very different than the others: the villain is respected but has had a criminal record. Still, this focuses on Alex's school and who is friends are. Sabina has a small role but comes in an amazing action sequence.
It also has some intense violence, like porcupines stabbing and poisoning a man, a spear slicing an ankle, and fire rushing everywhere with Alex in the middle.
Snakehead has been my favorite, and after an ok Ark Angel, I really wanted Horowitz to get his streak back. But, this is too similar to the first four novels. But they still had more charm. What saves this are the great action sequences.

THIS BOOK IS SO FREAKISHLY AWESOME!!!!!!!! This awesome book is about Alex Rider teen superspy trying to stop Desmond McCain from poisoning just about everyone. But when Alex has to get through crocodiles and through vicious tribesmen there is nearly no hope to be found.

This book is perhaps Alex Rider's most exciting adventure yet as he tackles a mad charity worker, some angry crocs, an African tribe and a selfish journalist.

The thing that I love most about this series is that it's actually realistic. Alex doesn't always have all the answers to everything, he doesn't escape from every situation completely unscathed, he isn't fearless. He has real humanizing, teenage characteristics and feelings that make him more relatable with us teenagers who read the book.

This is my favourite book of the series as I think it really cements the fact that he's still a child. An extraordinary child but a child all the same, and even Alan Blunt finally comes to realize that his treatment of Alex was harsh and unfair in the past.

good book i think his gadgets were pretty cool and McCraiveys plan geinus Alex really did good on the mission and should do more but there were some stupid parts like his disgues when he was drugged it was wrong and he never could have held his breath that long in real life he would have died but still it was an amazing book

After his last book I felt like he went downhill. Arc Angel was amazing, snakehead was great, this was OK. Something I totally recognized in this book as his care taker gives him gifts he gets a "Barack Obama baseball cap" which I found odd, but brushed it off, as it went deeper into the book part of the bad guys name was "Mccain". Coincidence? + I didn't feel as if this book was as good as the others, I felt it had a bang, but not a very good one. I was able to read it in about 3 hours, and in the end I felt this book didn't go as far as the other ones did.

This book is filled with action and suspense. It has many turning points which will leave you on the edge of your seat. This is a must read for teens and adults that enjoy James Bond type action. Except in this case the main character is a fourteen year old secret agent named Alex Rider. This is a must buy!