Reluctant teenage-spy Alex Rider, on a routine mission at the Wimbledon tennis championships, gets caught up in Chinese gangs, illegal nuclear weapons, and the suspect plans of his Russian host, General Sarov.

Fourteen-year-old Alex continues his work as a spy for the British M16, investigating an exclusive school for boys in the French Alps.

Alex relocates to San Francisco as he slowly recovers from the tragic death of his best friend and caregiver, Jack Starbright, at the hands of terrorists working for Scorpia. Out of the blue he receives a cryptic email-- just three words long, but enough to make Alex believe that Jack may be alive. He boards a flight bound for Egypt and embarks on a dubious quest to track Jack down. But Scorpia is working on a new terrorist plot-- and Alex must traverse...