Publisher Annotation: When Alex Rider thwarted the plans of the criminal organization Nightshade, he knew he'd made a new, blatantly evil enemy. But he hadn't expected to get sucked back into the spy game so quickly--that is, until the Nightshade masterminds kidnap his best friend, forcing Alex to do their bidding if he ever wants to see his pal alive again. As Alex dives deep into this latest mission, his friend isn't the only one whose life is on...

The adventures of an orphan boy who lives in the squalid surroundings of a nineteenth-century English workhouse until he becomes involved with a gang of thieves.