When his guardian dies in suspicious circumstances, Alex Rider goes from schoolboy to superspy within days as his world is turned upside down. Forcibly recruited into MI6, Alex has to take part in gruelling SAS training. Then, armed with his own special set of secret gadgets, he's off on his first mission. His destination is the depths of Cornwall, where middle-eastern multi-millionaire Herod Sayle is producing his state-of-the-art Stormbreaker computers. Sayle's offered to give one free to every school in the country - but MI6 thinks there's more to the gift than meets the eye. Only Alex can find out the truth. But time is running out and Alex soons finds himself in mortal danger. It looks as if his first assignment may well be his last...