Snakehead is the seventh novel in the Alex Rider series written by British author Anthony Horowitz. The book was released in Australia on 28 September 2007, in the United Kingdom on 31 October 2007, and in the US on 13 November 2007. The title comes from the name given to Asian gangs involved in people smuggling illegal passports, visas, weapons, and more. Snakehead takes place directly after the events of Ark Angel, with Alex finding himself in Australian waters where he landed at the end of that story.
Plot
Alex Rider lands in the South Pacific after blowing upthe Ark Angel in outer space. After his recovery, he is sent to a military base in Swanbourne, Australia. One day before his departure, he goes to a barbecue with some of the soldiers but finds himself on a minefield by accident, and narrowly avoids being killed by an armed landmine. Meanwhile, the criminal organization SCORPIA, as part of their mission to assassinate eight celebrities due to host a conference to rival the G8 summit on Reef Island, breaks into a Ministry of Defence weapons research centre and steals a prototype bomb "Royal Blue", a more powerful and devastating version of the daisy cutter. In Australia, Ethan Brooke, head of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, coerces Alex into helping him by pairing him with agent Ash, who was his godfather and once his father's best friend, to infiltrate the powerful snakehead ring under Winston Yu, after two failed attempts. Alex then travels to Bangkok, Thailand where he meets Ash, who explains that they will take on the identities of Afghan refugees who have paid the snakehead to smuggle them into Australia. After being disguised, they go to an area in Chinatown to await contact from the snakehead. To collect the papers necessary for them to move on to Indonesia, Alex is told by a Snakehead member, Anan Sukit, to fight in a Muay Thaiboxing ring, which he wins by cheating. However, the unexpected victory incites a riot which Alex manages to escape when someone creates a diversion; Sukit is killed by the man who created the diversion. The next day, while Ash goes to the snakehead to retrieve the papers, Alex tails a suspicious-looking man who has been following him since he landed in Bangkok. The man reveals himself to be Ben "Fox" Daniels, an MI6 agent who had caused the diversion previously, and leads him to MI6, who is tracking down "Royal Blue" and Major Yu. MI6 also warns Alex that Major Yu, whom they suspect is in possession of the bomb, is actually a board member of SCORPIA. Alex agrees to help locate Royal Blue for MI6 and is given several gadgets by Smithers to use, including a seemingly broken watch with a homing beacon for MI6 to find him, three exploding Thai coins and a belt equipped with jungle survival gear. After retrieving the papers, the two continue on to Jakarta; during the journey, Ash shares details about Alex's father, John, and Ash's botched mission in taking John out of SCORPIA, which despite being successful, led to the deaths of some MI6 agents. Ash was then demoted and eventually resigned from MI6, soon emigrating to Australia. In the snakehead's toy factory Unwin Toys, they are briefly apprehended by Kopassus, but Alex and Ash manage to board a container ship, the Liberian Star, but are separated; the Liberian Star is used for people smuggling by the Snakehead. Alex escapes from his container by using one of his coins and explores the ship and finds Royal Blue, hidden in a modified container. However, he goes into hiding when Major Yu discovers Alex's breakout and orders a search for him. The next day, Alex escapes the ship and reaches Darwin while damaging the reefers with another coin. However, to Alex's dismay, Ash is found to have been caught, and Alex thus surrenders to Yu, who knocks him unconscious. Alex wakes up and meets Yu over dinner, who then reveals his plan to cause a tsunami using the bomb to destroy Reef Island and stop the conference, along with destroying the west coast of Australia. Alex is then taken to a hospital in the Australian rainforest where he is to be used as an unwilling donor for illegal organ transplants, to pay for his damage to SCORPIA both in the 'Invisible Sword' project and on the Liberian Star. However, Alex manages to escape and establish contact with MI6. Along with Ben Daniels, Alex is sent as part of an Australian SAS team to the oil rig where Royal Blue will be detonated underneath. On the oil rig, Alex and Ben confront Yu and his assistant Ash, whom Ben shoots at before being shot by Yu. Ash, before dying, confesses about being a double agent for SCORPIA following the botched mission and his involvement in the death of Alex's parents which Alex had already suspected. Yu escapes but Alex detonates the bomb early and it goes off relatively harmlessly; the only casualty is Yu, who is killed in the resulting shock wave due to his inordinately fragile bone structure. At the end of the novel, Jack Starbright, Alex's housekeeper, unexpectedly calls Sabina Pleasure over for dinner. Both discuss plans to visit a castle in Scotland. The epilogue shows Ash's decision to join SCORPIA and his involvement in the death of Alex's parents, in a plane bombing.
