目录

Overview

Crocodile Tears is the eighth novel in the Alex Rider series by British author Anthony Horowitz. It was released in the UK on 12 November 2009, published by Walker Books, and in the U.S. on 17 November 2009. On 17 December 2008, the title was revealed (in code) to be Crocodile Tears. The book was succeeded by Scorpia Rising, released in March 2011.

Author

Anthony Horowitz is the author of the number one bestselling Alex Rider books and The Power of Five series. He has enjoyed huge success as a writer for both children and adults, most recently with the latest adventure in the Alex Rider series, Russian Roulette and the highly acclaimed Sherlock Holmes novel, The House of Silk. His latest novel, Moriarty, is also set in the world of Sherlock Holmes and was published in October 2014. Anthony was also chosen by the Ian Fleming estate to write the new James Bond novel which will be published next year. Anthony has won numerous awards, including the Bookseller Association/Nielsen Author of the Year Award, the Children's Book of the Year Award at the British Book Awards, and the Red House Children's Book Award. In 2014 Anthony was awarded an OBE for Services to Literature. He has also created and written many major television series, including Injustice, Collision and the award-winning Foyle's War.

Plot

Engineering technician Ravi Chandra plants a bomb in the nuclear reactor of his employer, the Jowada Nuclear Power Station just north of Chennai in India, after being persuaded to do so by a European man who promises him a lot of money, and the promises of seeing the cricket team play at Lord's, Ravi being able to take his sons to Disneyland and a proper diamond ring for his wife. However, the bomb explodes when activated, killing Ravi, the European having lied that there was a ten-minute countdown. Among the charities to respond to the disaster is First Aid, a British charity known for its unfailing generosity and being there as soon as possible.

A couple of months later, Alex Rider is on vacation with Sabina Pleasure and her family in Scotland, and they (except for Sabina's mother Liz, who has influenza) go to the New Year's Party in Kilmore Castle. During the journey, Edward Pleasure tells Alex about their host Desmond McCain and his history, including his boxing career, his time as a Conservative MP, his criminal record and his apparent conversion to Christianity. During the party, Alex meets McCain himself and is drawn into a game of Texas Hold'Em Poker with him and another man, Leonard Straik. Alex ends up winning the game but decides to donate all the money to First Aid (McCain's charity). When they are driving back home, one of their car's tires blows and it plunges into the loch below. Alex frees Sabina and Edward from the sunken car wreck which almost kills them. They wash up ashore and luckily all three are rescued by a man named Rahim, whose origins are currently unknown. Despite his doubts that it was a sniper, Alex ignores it and returns to London.

While on his way back from school one day soon after, Alex walks to Brompton Cemetery and visits his uncle's grave. However, while there, he is ambushed by three Chinese men, who claim that they have come for revenge for Major Yu, the main antagonist in the previous story, and they try to kill him. Alex uses his karate skills to defend himself from the men and leaves, unaware that his movements are being tracked. He and his guardian (Jack Starbright) are then visited by a freelance journalist called Harry Bulman, who is aware of Alex's past missions with MI6 and offers to break the story. Alex, fearing his life is spinning out of control, contacts MI6. He meets Alan Blunt and Tulip Jones, who tell him to gather information on Straik while on his upcoming school trip to Greenfields Bio Centre (where Straik works as Director), and in exchange, they will discourage Bulman. Alex reluctantly agrees, and is supplied with gadgets by Smithers, including two explosive Gelignite pens, a diamond-edged knife disguised as a pencil sharpener, a library card that works with a modified pencil case in opening swipe doors, a pocket calculator that doubles as both a CCTV jamming device and communicator, and a memory stick loaded with a worm, as the mission involves getting access to Straik's computer. Thereafter, MI6 Chief of Staff John Crawley devises a plan entitled ‘Operation Invisible Man’, which involves measures such as draining the money from Bulman's Oyster card and bank accounts, stealing his car and locking him out of his own flat, as well as broadcasting the news that he has been found dead, murdered by escaped Broadmoor inmate Jeremy Harwood. Afterwards, he meets Bulman and makes it clear that his life will be over if he ever tries to approach Alex again or break the story.

Meanwhile, Alex has his friend Tom cover for him as he breaks away from the main group to break into Straik's office. He recognises Straik as the other man from Desmond McCain's poker game and is shocked to find McCain himself. He steals a sample of a sort of mushroom soup from Straik's desk, and narrowly escapes the compound guards, rejoining his friends. Alex takes the mushroom soup sample to MI6. Redwing, the Chief Science Officer, and Smithers analyse the sample but cannot make out anything dangerous about it. Meanwhile, whilst looking on CCTV surveillance with Dr Myra Bennett (the Greenfields supervisor, and McCain's fiancee) and Straik, McCain recognises Alex and puts out the word for information. McCain meets Harry Bulman and the journalist tells the priest about Rider. McCain, distrusting Bulman, shoots him to silence him and has him buried under the construction site for a homeless shelter run by First Aid. At this point, Blunt and Jones are still trying to figure out the relevance of the stolen sample.

After McCain finds out about Alex's secret life with MI6, Alex is kidnapped by Bennett whilst on his way to school and flown to the Simba Camp in Kenya, which McCain owns. McCain meets him and tells him over dinner about his plan: to bring about a biblical plague that will destroy half the continent of Africa to earn billions of dollars, pounds, euros and other currencies through a fake charity appeal by First Aid. The mushroom soup is actually an activating agent that transforms wheat fields into lethal weapons harbouring Ricin, a natural toxin. He also tells Alex that he has murdered Straik and Bulman, as well as revealing his engagement to Bennett. The next day, McCain interrogates Alex, torturing him by making him hang over a river which is infested with crocodiles. McCain will only get rid of the crocodiles if Alex tells him the right information. Alex tells him the truth, but McCain changes his mind and leaves him with the crocodiles, with Bennett staying watching from the observation platform, as well as to video it. Suddenly, Bennett is stabbed by Rahim (the man who rescued Alex and his companions in the loch) and she is torn apart by the Simba crocodiles after she falls into the river. Rahim explains briefly that he is an Indian RAW operative attempting to exact revenge on McCain for what he did in the power plant. Alex and Rahim quickly escape to where Rahim parachuted in and Alex sends a message to MI6 through RAW. When Rahim passes out due to sickness, he takes it upon himself to destroy the crops. While McCain's guards try and stop him, Alex blows up the Simba Dam, killing them and flooding the valley with the water from the Zambezi River, destroying the crops. He is rescued by Rahim again on a stolen crop duster. However, when they land for refuelling at Laikipia, McCain appears and shoots Rahim, killing the Indian agent. Alex tries to get away but dislocates his ankle in the process. Just as McCain is about to shoot him, Alex uses a leaking petrol drum and the last Gelignite pen to initiate an explosion that sets the fake priest aflame, burning him to death. However, Alex is also badly burned by the flames.

A few weeks later, as Alex recuperates in St. Dominic's Hospital in London for the second time, Mrs. Jones and Jack meet and confirm that this was his last mission. Jack congratulates Alex that his fifteenth birthday is finally here and promises him that MI6 won't ever use him again.