Alex Rider - Russian Roulette

Plot

Alex Rider - Russian Roulette

This is about the intrigue of international mercenaries, who are also assassins. The protagonist, as a young kid, is thrown into a situation that is as bad as it gets. Then, part by luck, part by genius, and part by circumstance, he figures out how to survive. Just as his day is one of routine, he becomes part of a plan to step up the stakes from petty thievery to high class robbery. The first attempt is a failure and he ends up in a situation unbelievably bad for six years. Finally, he solves that problem, but as a result, he ends up in the assassin business. He endures endless training and his mentor becomes his trusted friend. However, his friend is a double-agent and has maneuvered our hero to be met by his ruthless employer in Berlin, where he would most likely be disposed of. Once again, our hero escapes certain death, by quietly going to Paris. Since the employer couldn't find him in Berlin, the double-agent falls under suspicion. However, there is a final twist in this fast-moving novel, our hero, Yassen, receives an assignment to assassinate Alex Rider, who is the son of the double-agent.

The story of an assassin.

Book by, Anthony Horowitz.

Presentation by, Matthew O'Connor

Setting

Characters

This story begins in Estrov, which is a small village in Russia, where a plant has been set up to develop chemical weapons, especially forms of anthrax. After the town is erased from the map, the setting moves to Moscow. It is here where our protagonist goes through episodes of personal survival. He finally settles into his profession as a hired assassin and is trained in Venice, Italy. There is one assignment in New York city but, other than that, the rest of his targets are in Europe. The psychological setting of this book is one of survival and victims.

Theme

• Yasha aka Yassen - He is the protagonist of the book and is the adventurous hero who is met with one dilemma after another. He is torn between his parents' teachings and being an assassin. This conflict creates emotional situations from the beginning to the end-of-the book.
• Leo - He is Yasha's best childhood friend, who unfortunately contracts a form of anthrax from the chemical weapon incident and died right in Yasha's arms.
• Vladimir Sharkovsky - He is the wealthy antagonist, who is ultimatly responsible for Yasha's parents' deaths. He captures Yasha trying to rob his girlfriend's apartment and imprisons him as a personal "taster". This lasts for six years until an assassin makes it into the compound and shoots Vladimir in the chest twice. But, he lives just to be killed later by Yassen.
• Dima - He is the small time thug who teaches Yasha how to live on the streets.
• John Rider - He is the British double-agent who befriends but later double crosses Yassen. John was killed by Scorpia after they found out he was a double-agent. His son becomes Yassen's target but, Yassen let him go because of the respect he once had for his father.
• Julia Rothman - She is one of the leaders of Scorpia, the most dreaded assassin group in the world. Yassen becomes a member assassin of the group and she takes an imediate liking to him. She explains to Yassen that the reason he is a natural for being an assassin is that he has no traceable history or record since he is thought to have perished in the erased Russian town.

There are two main themes in this book. The themes are survival and friendship. These are the two main themes in the book because Yassen is forced to live in very hard situations and has to try to survive. Also, Yassen after he was robbed in Moscow made friends with people living on the streets and they taught him how to survive on the streets. Another example of friendship is when Yassen meets the double-agent in Scorpia and befriends him, and the double-agent teaches him how to survive in the assassin buissness.

CONNECTIONS

I found numerous connections with this book. Some were based on other events that have occurred and some with me personally. The first was with the explosion of the weapons factory in Estrov and the nuclear explosion in Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986. Both were horrific disasters where many lives were lost and the details were hidden from the public. Another, was linking Dima to the street gangs similar to what I have seen in New York city and Paris. They are always on the look for easy targets.

Another is a crazy one where I imagine Vlademir's compound as I ride through the streets of Saddle River and Alpine and see big mansions with huge walls. I often wonder what's going on behind those walls.

Thank You!