It's just another day in the life of an average kid. If you're Alex Rider, that is. A con artist has realized there is big money in charity: the bigger the disaster, the greater the money flow! So that is what he will produce: the biggest disaster known to man, all thanks to genetically modified corn that can release a virus so potent it can knock out an entire country in one windy day. But Alex Rider will face whatever it takes - gunfire, explosions, hand-to-hand combat with mercenaries - to bring down his most dangerous adversary yet. Often imitated, never equaled, the series that triggered a reading phenomenon is back, exhilarating and addictive as ever.

When an investigation into a series of mysterious deaths leads agents to an elite prep school for rebellious kids, MI6 assigns Alex Rider to the case. Before he knows it, Alex is hanging out with the sons of the rich and powerful, and something feels wrong. These former juvenile delinquents have turned well-behaved, studious—and identical—overnight. It's up to Alex to find out who is masterminding this nefarious plot, before they find him.

From School Library Journal Grade 5-8–In this second book in the series, 13-year-old Nick Diamond refuses to be enlisted in Chief Inspector Snape's plan to make him the undercover cellmate of the notorious Johnny Powers in order to worm out the name of the Fence, the 15-year-old's partner in crime. But when Nick is mysteriously caught with a famous jewel in his pocket during a class field trip and he is arrested, tried, and sent to Strangeday Hall for young offenders with great expediency, it becomes clear to him that the Scotland Yard inspector wouldn't take no for an answer. Nick soon finds himself fleeing prison with Johnny and sneaking around London's underground to save himself (and his hapless brother, Tim). Horowitz has a knack for puns and humor, and he successfully combines it with a nonstop action mystery that has everything from hydraulically controlled buses to secret caverns. A readable and exciting adventure. About the Author Anthony Horowitz has been called "the busiest writer in Britain" by a major British newspaper—and with good reason. He is passionate about his work, often writing ten hours a day as he tries to balance multiple careers as a novelist, playwright, and screenwriter for television and movies. He is also the author of The Devil and His Boy and the Alex Rider Adventures.

Incorporating original, never-before-published material from 007 creator Ian Fleming, New York Times bestselling author Anthony Horowitz returns literary legend James Bond to his 1950s heyday in this exhilarating and dashing thriller.The world's most famous spy, James Bond, has just returned victorious from his showdown with Auric Goldfinger in Fort Knox. By his side is the glamorous and streetwise Pussy Galore, who played no small part in his success. As they settle down in London, the odds of Galore taming the debonair bachelor seem slim—but she herself is a creature not so easily caught.Meanwhile, the struggle for superiority between the Soviet Union and the West is escalating. In an attempt to demonstrate Soviet strength, SMERSH plans to sabotage an international Grand Prix in the hot zone of West Germany. At the Nürburgring Racing Circuit, Bond must play a high-speed game of cat and mouse to stop them, but when he observes a...

***THE NO. 1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER***A spy is dead. A legend is born. This is how it all began. The explosive prequel to Casino Royale, from bestselling author Anthony Horowitz.M laid down his pipe and stared at it tetchily. 'We have no choice. We're just going to bring forward this other chap you've been preparing. But you didn't tell me his name.' 'It's Bond, sir,' the Chief of Staff replied. 'James Bond.' The sea keeps its secrets. But not this time. One body. Three bullets. 007 floats in the waters of Marseille, killed by an unknown hand. It's time for a new agent to step up. Time for a new weapon in the war against organised crime. It's time for James Bond to earn his licence to kill. This is the story of the birth of a legend, in the brutal underworld of the French Riviera.

From School Library Journal Grade 5-8–Nick Simple's life is anything but simple. His parents have moved to Australia, leaving him in the care of his incompetent older brother who is trying to make a living as a private detective and changes the family name. They are visited by a dwarf who leaves a package with them for safekeeping and later turns up dead. Set in England and filled with a variety of colorful characters, the plot reads like a 1940s P.I. movie. Like Horowitz's "Alex Rider" series (Philomel), the teen protagonist relies on his wits to thwart the enemy. Short chapters, with a conflict in each one, will appeal to reluctant readers. From Booklist Gr. 4-8. Thirteen-year-old Nick is the younger (and brighter) half of the Diamond Brothers, the world's worst detective agency. Dwarf Johnny Naples becomes their client, entrusting the two with a mysterious package (a box of Malteser chocolates) just before he is killed, leaving Tim Diamond, literally, holding the gun. With Tim in jail, Nick is forced to solve the case--hopefully before someone murders him, too. Originally published in Britain (where it was also released in film and television versions), this pays homage to the "hard-boiled-detective-with-a-snappy-comeback" genre and to The Maltese Falcon book and film that the title spoofs. Horowitz's classic cast of quirky villains-- including The Fat Man, Gott and Himmel, Beatrice von Falkenberg, and the Professor--and nonstop action and clever, deadpan humor ensure the novel will be a popular choice.

The game is once again afoot in this thrilling mystery from the bestselling author of The House of Silk, sanctioned by the Conan Doyle estate, which explores what really happened when Sherlock Holmes and his arch nemesis Professor Moriarty tumbled to their doom at the Reichenbach Falls.Internationally bestselling author Anthony Horowitz’s nail-biting new novel plunges us back into the dark and complex world of detective Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty—dubbed the Napoleon of crime” by Holmes—in the aftermath of their fateful struggle at the Reichenbach Falls.Days after the encounter at the Swiss waterfall, Pinkerton detective agent Frederick Chase arrives in Europe from New York. Moriarty’s death has left an immediate, poisonous vacuum in the criminal underworld, and there is no shortage of candidates to take his place—including one particularly fiendish criminal mastermind.Chase and Scotland Yard Inspector Athelney Jones, a devoted student of Holmes’s methods of investigation and deduction originally introduced by Conan Doyle in “The Sign of Four”, must forge a path through the darkest corners of England’s capital—from the elegant squares of Mayfair to the shadowy wharfs and alleyways of the London Docks—in pursuit of this sinister figure, a man much feared but seldom seen, who is determined to stake his claim as Moriarty’s successor.A riveting, deeply atmospheric tale of murder and menace from one of the only writers to earn the seal of approval from Conan Doyle’s estate, Moriarty breathes life into Holmes’s dark and fascinating world.

From School Library JournalGrade 6–9—A hearing aid that picks up the thoughts of a murderer. A boy who unwittingly gets into an elevator full of cannibals. A cell phone that receives calls from the dead. A haunted cottage with a deadly curse. These are just a few of the topics covered in the nine spooky stories written by the bestselling author. The selections are more creepy than hide-under-the-covers scary, but each one has a twist that readers will enjoy. This collection is sure to be in demand.—Michele Capozzella, Chappaqua Public Library, NY Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistIn Horowitz Horror (2006), the author of the Alex Rider series proved himself as adept at writing short horror stories as he is at writing novel-length thrillers. This second go-round, which includes nine new tales, cements his reputation in the horror genre by once again yanking young readers out of their safe, familiar world. As in the previous collection, the prose remains plain, and the stories are fashioned around the ordinary: a cell phone, an elevator, a trip on an airplane. Yet however trite seeming the literary mechanism Horowitz uses, he always manages to give it a fresh twist. The last story is more puzzle than literary construct, but it's tantalizing enough to convince even jaded readers to work out the devilish message spelled out in the text. With first lines such as "This is how Linda James dies" and "Howard Black didn't see the bus that ran him over," this collection won't stay on the shelf for long. Stephanie ZvirinCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

In the cold, dead eyes of the Banshee, and the hissing, spitting fangs of the Gorgon; in the fiery breath of the dragon and the razor sharp claws of the Sphinx – there is a thirst for blood and a murderous hunger. But it is a time of heroes, and the teeth and claws of these hideous beasts are no match for the lethal blades of such men . . .