The twelfth Alex Rider novel, published in 2019. A collection of short stories, featuring revised versions of "Secret Weapon", "High Tension", "The Man with Eleven Fingers", "Christmas at Gunpoint". It also features three new stories: "Alex in Afghanistan", "Tea with Smithers" and "Spy Trap".
Tropes:
- Adaptational Expansion: The short stories 'Secret Weapon' and 'The Man with Eleven Fingers' were both heavily expanded from their original incarnations. 'Secret Weapon' in particular is expanded from its original short newspaper incarnation, with a prologue explaining the backstory of villain Skoda and a Post-Climax Confrontation between Alex and Skoda.
- Adaptational Name Change: The story 'A Taste of Death' is renamed 'The Man with Six Fingers', and Frank Godliss, the crooked six-fingered finacier at the centre of the story, is renamed Frederick Meadowes. In 'Secret Weapon', the undercover MI6 agent Miss Teach is renamed Miss Maxwell.
- Anti-Villain: Frederick Meadowes in 'The Man with Six Fingers' had no involvement with the villains and was actually being kidnapped by them. It is later revealed that he planned to donate the money he made from his 'salami slicing'-style fraud to charity.
- Post-Climax Confrontation: 'Secret Weapon' ends with Alex and his friend Tom fighting Skoda on top of the crane that Alex used to incapacitate Skoda at the start of 'Point Blanc.'
- Updated Re-release: The book collects all the previously published Alex Rider novellas and short stories (many of which were not previously available in print) and rewrites most of them to make them a bit more substantial, and includes a few new stories to boot.
