Chapter 2 brings Alex Rider back into our thoughts and my heart broke a thousand times. It starts with him looking in his reflection in the mirror, and thinking about his life in the past year. It recapped over everything he's done which was good for me as I hadn't read the books for so long but I guess it was probably unnecessary for some. This bit was so awful because he is so damaged by what's happened to him: not just physically (he still has a scar from a bullet wound left in book 5) but mentally. He has these memories of being knocked out, beaten up, shot at, attacked. And then the memories of those who died: Yassen Gregorovitch, who, like Snape, turned out to be kind of good; Ash, his godfather, who betrayed his parents and blew up their plane, killing him when he was only a baby (recognise Pettigrew/Jame and Lily Potter there?) and then of course his Uncle, Ian Rider whose death started this rollercoaster-ride of a few months with MI6.
It makes you think how much he's been through, and this is why I like the books so much: like Harry Potter, the hero doesn't just pop back up each time he's knocked down (literally and metaphoriaclly), he's a little bit worse off each time, and by the end he's been hardened by these experiences. It's so realistic. I feel like I'm about to cry.
So Alex is getting ready for this big fancy party celebrating the New Year. He's on holiday with his friend (or is it more than that?) Sabina Pleasure and her family in Scotland and this rich man has invited them to his SCOTTISH CASTLE WHICH IS LATER DESCRIBED EXACTLY LIKE HOGWARTS for NYE. Sabina's mum is ill (foreshadowing maybe? Watch this space) and isn't going so it's just Alex, Sabina and her Dad. They all know Alex is a spy because he helped to track down a man who tried to kill Edward Pleasure (Dad) in book 4. This man happened to be the most famous singer on the planet, but Alex defeated him and saved the day.
Edward and Alex discuss this past, and Alex makes it clear that he wants nothing more to do about MI6. Famous Last Words. Edward tells him about the man whose house they're going to, and one thing that BLEW MY MIND AND MADE A MESS ON THE FLOOR was this: the man in question, Desmond McCain, used to be a boxer and was tipped to win some big championship, but lost in the first round to another boxer called Buddy Sangster. A year later Buddy fell under a train in New York and died. This seems like a strange accident, but not a strange when you read that one fan gave him ONE HUNDRED BLACK TULIPS!!! Ok if you haven't read the series before this won't mean anything to you. But in book 2 there was this assassin who whenenver he killed anyone he would send the family BLACK TULIPS. Edward Pleasure doesn't think there's anything wrong with this Desmond guy, but it's obvious to me that there is because he must have ORDERED THE MURDER OF BUDDY SANGSTER. If I'm wron, feel free to laugh at me, but someone as talented and detailed as Horowitz wouldn't put this in by accident. I'm going to have fun with this I can tell.
So anyway, the chapter ends with them going into the castle and Alex reading a motto that says, "You cannot defeat your enemies until you know who they are" which Alex notes seems very fitting for him. I wonder if this will come into play later? Hmmmm.
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