Skeleton Key (Alex Rider)

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Max Grendel is a minor antagonist in the novel SCORPIA. He was an executive board member of SCORPIA who previously served as head chairman, having been a commander in the German secret police. He had an eye problem which causes his eyes to be permanently teary. He was the oldest member of the board at seventy-three. He also has two grandchildren named Hans and Rudi who were about the age of Alex Rider, and in his old age, it is said that he has grown sentimental. Not desiring that SCORPIA kill children the same ages as his grandchildren, he quits the organisation and Julia Rothman presents him with an executive briefcase as a retirement gift. However, once Grendel opens it, dozens of sand coloured scorpions ( Parabuthus species) are released. His heart gave up before the neurotoxins killed him.

Alex is an accomplished, skillful and proficient martial artist. Through a combination of his variety of skills and using whatever is around him as a weapon gives Alex an advantage against dangerous opponents, notably him being able to defeat Nile and Conrad through using his surroundings and their own weaknesses to defeat them, even when they've gained the upper hand and are close to killing him. He has exceptionally fast reflexes and relies mainly on the element of surprise and psychological and tactical advantages. Tom Harris is Alex's best friend at Brookland High School. He first appeared in the novel Scorpia, and has since appeared in Crocodile Tears, Scorpia Rising, Nightshade and Nightshade Revenge.In the epilogue of the novel, it transpires that when Alex explained his predicament to George Prescott, his office heard their conversation through Prescott's radio, which was still turned on. Initially, they didn't believe Alex, but when they discovered Prescott's death, they immediately notified MI6, who in turn warned the Russians. Alex is depressed after everything he has been through, but Sabina approaches Alex and invites him on holiday with her family in France for a couple of weeks, cheering Alex up. Not much is known about Alex's mother, Helen, but because she knew about John's profession and loved John, it can be assumed that she cared a lot for Alex and was a loving mother in the three months she knew him. She died in a arranged plane crash because of her husband's risky profession, leaving behind her orphaned son. [15] Ian Rider In the Alex Rider TV series, Joe Byrne is reimagined as a woman and the Deputy CIA Jo Bryne, played by Rakie Ayola.

The tagline, "Alex Rider is in deep water -- again" is a reference to a chapter title in Stormbreaker, "Deep Water", where Alex had to survive in a tank with the Portuguese Man-o'-war. Alex is onychophagiac (bites his nails). This is a common habit associated with anxiety due to nervousness and stress, revealed in Point Blanc. [18] Belinda Troy is a minor protagonist in Skeleton Key. She was a CIA agent partnered with Tom Turner (Glen Carver in the US version) and Alex Rider on a mission to Cuba to investigate General Alexei Sarov. She and Turner do not take to Alex, because he is a minor, and believe he is unnecessary and could put their mission in danger. When Turner is kidnapped on the Salesman's boat, it is hinted that she has feelings for him. She is killed in the same manner as Turner while attempting to infiltrate Sarov's headquarters. She is described as being "a couple of years older than he is (Turner), slim, with brown frizzy hair tumbling down to her shoulders". Sofia Jones (Number Six): The long-lost daughter of Mrs. Jones, who was partnered with Freddy Grey on the assassination that eventually led to Nightshade's exposure. She and Freddy appear to be romantically interested in each other. The CIA is building up a case against Drevin, storing all of their evidence in The Pentagon in Washington. Meanwhile, Drevin's Ark Angel project went over-budget, and he decided to also destroy it to get some insurance out of it instead of maintaining the project further. It is revealed that he plans to solve both these problems by blowing Ark Angel out of orbit with a bomb as it passes above Washington. The falling space station, guided towards Washington, would serve two purposes: destroy the Pentagon, with all its evidence against Drevin, and destroy the space station itself and claim some insurance. To prevent himself from being accused of sabotaging the project, he hired some men to form Force Three, a fake group of eco-terrorists, which will be blamed for Ark Angel's destruction.Sabina Pleasure: Twelve and a half. But don't worry Alex. In another twelve years you'll be perfect ALEX RIDER SERIES SKELETON KEY sudden stillness. Photographers hung, vulture-like, over huge telephoto lenses while beneath them, in green-covered bunkers, television cameras swung round to take in the first serve. The players faced each other: two men whose whole lives had led up to this moment and whose future in the game would be decided in the next few minutes. It was all so very English—the grass, the strawberries, the straw hats. And yet it was still bloody, a gladiatorial contest like no other. “Quiet please, ladies and gentlemen…” The umpire‟s voice rang out through the various speakers and then the first player served. Jacques Lefevre was French, twenty-two years old and new to the tournament. Nobody had expected him to get this far. He was playing a German, Jamie Blitz, one of the favourites in this year‟s competition. But it was Blitz who was losing—two sets down, five games to two. Alex watched him as he waited, balancing on the balls of his feet. Lefevre served. The ball thundered close to the centre line. An ace. “Fifteen love.” Alex was close enough to see defeat in the German‟s eyes. This was the cruelty of the game; the psychology of it. Lose your mental edge and you could lose everything. That was what had happened to Blitz now. Alex could almost smell it in his sweat. As he walked to the other side of the court to face the next serve, his whole body looked heavy, as if it was taking all his strength just to keep himself there. He lost the next point and the one after. Alex sprinted across the court, snatched up a ball and just had time to roll it up to the ballboy at left base one. Not that it would be needed. It looked as if there would be only one more serve in the game. ALEX RIDER SERIES SKELETON KEY dirty plates. There was no sign of the guard and for a moment Alex thought he‟d lost him. But then he saw a figure disappearing behind a series of translucent plastic strips that hung from the ceiling to the floor. He could just make out the man‟s uniform on the other side of the barrier. He hurried forward and went through. Alex realized two things at the same moment. He no longer had any idea where he was—and he was there on his own. He was in an underground chamber, banana-shaped, curving round, with concrete pillars supporting the roof. It looked like an underground carpark and there were indeed three or four cars parked in bays next to the raised walkway where he was standing now. But most of the space was taken up by trash. There were empty cardboard boxes, wooden pallets, a rusting cement mixer, bits of old fencing and broken down coffee vending machines, thrown out and left to rot on the damp cement floor. The air smelled bad and Alex could hear a constant whine, like an electric saw, coming from a garbage compactor just out of his sight. And yet the area was also used for the storage of food and drink. There were beer barrels, hundreds of bottles of fizzy drinks, gas cylinders and, clustered together, eight or nine massive white boxes—refrigerators, each one carrying the label RAWLINGS REFRIGERATION. Alex looked up at the roof. It was slanting upwards and the shape reminded him of something. Of course! The raked seating around Court Number One! That was where he was—in the loading bay beneath the tennis court. This was the underbelly of Wimbledon all right. This was where all the supplies arrived and where all the trash Left. And right now, ten thousand people were sitting just a few metres above his head, enjoying the game, unaware that everything they consumed throughout the day began and ended here.

It is stated in the afterword of Point Blanc that Rothman was inspired by Catherine Zeta-Jones. Sofia Helin is set to portray Rothman in the series. Ben Daniels is a minor protagonist who has appeared in Stormbreaker, Snakehead and Never Say Die. He first meets Alex at an SAS training camp in the Brecon Beacons, where Alex was sent by MI6 for training. In Snakehead, Ben secretly kills Anan Sukit, who was attempting to shoot Alex after he had beaten Sukit's fighter "Sunthorn" in an arena fight. Alex later meets Ben again, where he takes him to an MI6 outpost in Bangkok.

Skoda is an antagonist who has a minor role in Point Blanc, and is the main antagonist in the short story Alex Rider: Secret Weapon. His criminal name comes from the manufacturer of his car. He is a drug dealer who hooked many of the pupils at Alex's school on drugs.

In Scorpia Rising, there is an unnamed assassin in the prison that also contained Julius Grief. This was rumoured to be the Gentleman, although in Nightshade he was revealed to be a Caribbean hitman known as Mr Someone. The Big Circle (collectively) is a secondary independent antagonist in Skeleton Key. They are a Chinese Triad gang involved in drugs, vice, illegal immigration, and gambling. Alex first encounters them at the Wimbledon tennis tournament when they attempt systematic match fixing to earn money in bets. After Alex foils this plan, he becomes a major target of the Triad, who send a high-ranking member after him in Cornwall. After this member fails too, Alex is sent undercover with CIA agents Tom Turner (Glen Carver in U.S. publications) and Belinda Troy for his safety. At the end of the book, Mrs. Jones reveals she bargained with the Triad in a prisoner exchange to leave Alex alone. Herod Sayle (named Darrius Sayle in the film adaption of Stormbreaker) is the main antagonist in Stormbreaker. In the original UK edition, Sayle was born in the gutters of Beirut, Lebanon; the US edition changed his nationality to Egyptian. He was one of 13 children (nine boys and four girls). His father was a failed hairdresser (oral hygienist in the US version) and his mother took in washing. At age seven, he saved two rich American tourists from being crushed by a falling piano, who rewarded him by sending him to school in Britain. He was at first delighted at this prospect, but he was severely bullied because he was seen as a foreigner, with the worst bully being the future Prime Minister. Although he did very well in school, achieving nine 'O' levels, he came to hate British schoolchildren, claiming it took "only days" for him to hate the Union Flag. [4] David Friend • Smithers • James Sprintz • Michael J. Roscoe • Wolf • John Crawley • Fiona Friend • Julius GriefHe returned to England in the 1970s and enjoyed a hugely successful music career, starting a band called "Slam!” (a parody of Wham!). This shot him to fame at once. At the end of the 1970s, the band split up and he started a solo career. His first solo album, "Firelight", went platinum and he won several awards and released the single "Something for the Children" at Christmas time in 1986, with all funds given to charity. Cray campaigned for several issues, including saving the rainforests, ending world debt and banning animal testing. His tireless work for charity earned him a knighthood in 1990. The rich superstar then branched into hotels, television, and even started developing "Gameslayer", the most advanced and realistic game console of its time. Graham Adair • Smithers • Mark Kellner • George Adair • Tom Harris • Jerry Harris • Harold Liebermann He first appears in the novel after placing a bomb in The Salesman's ship, where he is seen by Alex Rider, although Alex doesn't know who he is at the time. Later, after Tom Turner (named Glen Carver in the US version of Skeleton Key) and Belinda Troy are killed in an underwater cave, Conrad kidnaps Alex and puts him in a crusher, only for Alex to be saved by General Sarov, who plans on adopting Alex. Alex is fluent in several languages - as well as his native English, he speaks fluent French and Spanish, and some German. He also speaks basic Italian and Japanese. [12] [26] For all his skills, Yassen is obviously best known for his assassinations; throughout the series, his reputation seems to be one of a man who makes no mistakes, and he is considered an active threat by MI6. He has been employed by Iraq, Serbia, Libya, and China. It is suggested that his training included, as is demonstrated on a single occasion when he convinces Alex not to shoot him by describing what will happen when he pulls the trigger, basic psychological warfare. He was also an expert with conventional weaponry and terrorist techniques, though both are demonstrated only once throughout the series before his death. Yassen made another appearance (in a scene set in the past) in the seventh book of the series, Snakehead. He was fluent in nine languages and was learning Japanese at the time of his death, while working with Damian Cray.