Taking this as a threat, General Sarov switches off the runway lights when the plane is about to take off, causing them to fall into crocodile-infested waters. Tekeningen van kinderen met grote ogen krijgen steeds dat stukje extra aandacht van mij. Ik weet niet hoe het komt, maar die trekken me gewoon aan. En je hoeft maar deze hardcover in je handen te nemen en vier kijkers ontnemen je direct je adem. Je hoeft er geen schrik van te hebben, want de twee vrienden die je op de cover vindt, zien er ook niet direct heel stoer uit. Ook binnenin vind je deze prachtige illustraties op bijna iedere bladzijde terug. Deze tekeningen zijn een grote aanvulling bij de tekst. Ze geven een extra kracht aan de geschreven woorden. Men heeft voor een groter lettertype gekozen, dit komt alleen maar ten goede voor die lezertjes die starten aan hun eerste leesboeken. Hier en daar wordt gebruikt gemaakt van verschillende lettergroottes, waardoor sommige woorden extra aandacht krijgen. Die woorden geven ook een extra swung aan het verhaal.

Kelakar dengan CIA dalam naskah ini yang mengutuk British (MI6) mempergunakan kanak-kanak untuk misi mereka tapi akhirnya CIA juga menggunakan khidmat Alex dalam memastikan keberhasilan misi mereka. Plot-wise, Point Blank is better. The mystery of what the villain's scheme is harder to decipher in Point Blank. While in Skeleton Key, even if its not stated, we already can guess what is Sarov's plan. But if you will look at the development of the whole storyarc of the series, this book was better. Point Blank is still my favorite but Skeleton Key is this |--| close to it. The Skeleton Key has a unique plot, keeping aside the central theme of dysfunctional families, the story has an author whose picture book The Golden Bones has clues for a real treasure hunt and the frenzy the release of the book creates for him and his family. Being named after the central character in a fictional book written by your father has not given Eleanor Churcher an easy life. Stalked, stabbed and threatened by the crazy treasure hunters called Bonehunters, Nell stays away from her family as much as possible to escape the madness that has the bone hunters making her life a miserable hell.In the first two books of Alex Rider and in all the Gatekeepers books, his main villain always have some kind of physical deformities, creepy appearance and sometimes, even monstrous. I like these books but the villain pattern is getting tiring. Good thing that in Skeleton Key, he introduced us the General Alexeis Sarov, a sixty something years old Russian general but looked "twenty years younger", tall, well built and "radiates power and control". And in contrary to all the past villains who were shown to be motivated only by greed for power or vengeance, Horowitz gave Sarov an emotional depth. Yes, he has devious plans that will "end the world" but his longing will make it hard for you to completely hate him. At the end, his death(oh common, it's not a spoiler. We know that all Alex Rider's enemies gets killed at the end.) will not entirely give you satisfaction but you will also sympathize with his character. I sit here now crossing my extraordinary kneecaps... I can see them better thanks to Switek’s keys.” —Rose George, The New York Times Book Review

Alex Rider is an orphan turned teen superspy who's saving the world one mission at a time—from #1 New York Times bestselling author! Anyway, all this has started up again as they've decided to make an app and create another treasure hunt, but on the date of the release, a real bone is found in the place that they've hidden the last golden bone from the previous skeleton (a pelvis). This digs up the past for Nell in a very unpleasant way, which also happens to threaten the safety of her foster child. Also complicating things are the many, many characters in Nell's family, all of whom cause a lot of drama, especially her parents and their "best friends" who live next door to them. Her parents' past histories and all of their drama is a significant part of the story. And as I said above, the family is messy. Messy and toxic and precious and pretentious and each and every one of them needed to go.Eleanor doesn’t want to get involved in Golden Bones business, rejecting the money her family can provide her, turning into a recluse, reluctantly joining the family gathering with her 15 years adopted daughter. But she sees Stuart lurking around, a mysterious person starts dropping clues on fan boards about her secrets. And it seems like there are serious problems about application’s lunching. Eleanor/ Nell has every right to get frighten because all hell breaks loose and things get out of control! De ouders van Ben hebben alles uit de kast gehaald om met hem een onvergetelijk verjaardagsfeest te vieren. Eén probleem. Niemand is op de uitnodiging af gekomen. Een grote ontgoocheling voor Ben. Gelukkig is zijn denkbeeldig vriendje Wauw wel aanwezig. Maar daar heeft de papa helemaal genoeg van. Hij vindt nu Ben tien jaar oud geworden is, dat hij maar eens echte vrienden moet zoeken. Helemaal ontredderd en ontgoocheld vlucht Ben het huis uit. Groot is zijn verbazing als er uit het niets zijn vriend Wauw echt tevoorschijn komt. Maar niet iedereen is blij met die vriendschap. Nieuwsgierig welke avonturen ze samen gaan beleven? But as Ben battles to save his new friend from Oblivion, the Gorblimey is soon the least of Skeleton Keys’ worries. For strange things happen when imaginations run wild and it seems that there’s more than one unimaginary in town. And the other unimaginary is definitely dangerous and out for revenge…