Relaxing in the South of France with his friend Sabina Pleasure and her family, reluctant MI6 agent Alex Rider is finally able to feel like any ordinary fourteen-year-old.
Until a sudden, ruthless attack on his hosts plunges him back into a world of violence and mystery - and this time, MI6 don’t want to know. Especially when Alex tells them that Damian Cray - celebrity, human rights campaigner and the power behind Gameslayer, a new state-of-the-art games console - could be involved.
Alex is determined to track down his friends’ attackers, even if he must do it alone. But it’s a path that leads to a long-buried secret - and a discovery more terrible than anything he could have imagined.