This is the highly anticipated prequel to the bestselling Alex Rider series, charting the journey of a young assassin. An international contract killer has been given his orders. His next target is a fourteen-year-old spy... Alex Rider. The man's name is Yassen Gregorovich. He knows Alex well. The two of them share a secret from the past. As he considers his next mission, Yassen remembers the forces that turned him from an ordinary schoolboy into a hired assassin. What is it that makes someone choose to do evil? What would it take to make them kill? This thrilling adventure will be the deadliest yet... Addictive, pacey novels. (Financial Times). The series that has re-invented the spy genre. (Independent). This is a fast-paced, deadly adventure set in Russia, Italy, America, Paris and London.