Can a fourteen-year-old with just enough wit and courage save the day? English novelist and screenwriter Anthony Horowitz proved this to be possible in his action-packed thriller Stormbreaker. This novel is the first in the Alex Rider series, and crafts a world of espionage and intrigue as it unravels the undercover missions of teenager super-spy Alex Rider.

How did Sayle’s unfortunate childhood shape the stage for his antagonism? Can a dark past ever be the sole reason for crime? Did Horowitz portray the characters as complex human beings with rich emotional activities or did he line them up on a spectrum of good versus evil as one-dimensional figures? What made you feel so?

Both Alex and Yassen are spies in the story. How would you describe these two people as well as their strange relationship? Why do you think Yassen spared Alex’s life even though he was presented as a cold-blooded spy?

Any teenager would be thrilled at the idea of becoming a heroic spy - but Alex expressed almost vehement objection to it. Why do you think he despised the position so much? How does this relate to the conflict between individual and common good? If you were the decision-maker of MI6, would you have left him alone thereon, and why?