Crocodile Tears (novel)

Crocodile Tears (novel)
General Information
Release date	June 7, 2010 (UK); November 16, 2010 (North America)
Pages	432 (UK); 400 (North America)

Crocodile Tears (originally to be entitled Endurance Point) is the eighth book in the Alex Rider series by British author Anthony Horowitz.

Release

It was published by Walker Books and released in the United Kingdom on November 12, 2009, and was released in the United States five days later. The title of the novel was revealed (in code) on December 17 2008.

Summary

Walker Books

Alex Rider's eighth adventure and the most action-packed yet...

Targeted by a hitman and under threat of his past being exposed by the media. But their help doesn't come cheap: they need Alex to spy on the activities at a GM crop plant. There he spots Desmond McCain, a high profile charity organizer, who realizes that Alex is on to him and the real plans for the money he's raising. Kidnapped and whisked off to Africa, Alex learns the full horror of McCain's plot: to create an epic disaster that will kill millions. Forced to ask MI6 for protection, Alex finds himself being manipulated in a deadly game that could lead to the destruction of an entire East African country.

Plot

The story opens with a man named Ravi Chandra sabotaging a nuclear power station near Chennai, India. The explosion kills him and several other workers in the plant, exposing a large part of Chennai to radiation in the process. A charity, "First Aid", responds first and raises thousands of pounds for the relief effort.

A few months later, Alex Rider is spending New Year with Sabina Pleasure and her family in Scotland. Alex attends a New Year's party with the founder of First Aid, Desmond McCain, who he beats at cards, winning £25,000.

As Alex, Sabina, and her father drive home, a tire seemingly bursts, propelling them into a Loch. Alex helps them to swim to shore, and they survive with the help of a mysterious Indian man. Later on the trip, Alex parts with Sabina and goes back home.

Later, Alex and his housekeeper Jack Starbright are confronted by a journalist named Harry Bulman. Bulman has discovered Alex's MI6 connections, and plans to publish stories about him, only sharing profits if Alex co-operates. Alex and Jack go to MI6 for help. They will help Alex if, on a school trip, he steals information from Greenfields, a GM crop facility which MI6 suspect illegal activities. Alex infiltrates the facility, and steals the information, but discovers that Leonard Straik, the director, is working for Desmond McCain. Alex steals a sample of a biological substance, and is nearly killed by armed security guards during his escape.

Alex investigates a seemingly derelict studio called Elm's Cross, which he overheard McCain and Straik discussing. He sees Myra Bennett, a doctor at Greenfields, talking with other men about a film on the set and telling them to destroy the place. After they leave, Alex breaks in and sees an artificial dying African village.

When the set is destroyed by a bomb, Alex narrowly escapes. Meanwhile, Harry Bulman has been threatened by John Crawley of MI6 to not publish articles about Alex. He receives a phone call from Desmond McCain, who Bulman tells everything he knows about Alex. McCain then kills Bulman and orders Alex's capture. Meanwhile, MI6 have the sample Alex stole from Greenfields analysed, only to be revealed as a relatively harmless "mushroom soup".

Alex leaves for school the next day, but is kidnapped and disguised, then smuggled to Kenya by Myra Bennett. In Kenya, where he is guarded by tribesmen, Alex is taken to see Desmond McCain. McCain explains to Alex that he believes wealth is the only way to ensure his place in the world. To this end, he created First Aid, who respond first to any crisis. McCain engineers "disasters" and then prepares his charity to deal with them in advance. He caused the accident in Chennai, and Greenfields has now engineered a poison for crops that could kill half of the population of Africa. He also reveals Bennett caused the car "accident" in Scotland, as he overheard Alex talking about GM crops with Sabina's father (when in fact Alex was talking about homework).

The sample that Alex stole was the agent that causes the poisonous seeds to travel around. The spores will spread to other fields and poison most crops, killing thousands in the process. McCain shows Alex a charity advertisement that First Aid have made at the studio Alex found. However, McCain informs Alex that the poison cannot be stopped and, although it will make little difference to the country, he will make hundreds of millions of pounds in the first few months of the plague, all of which he intends to steal before running away and assuming a new identity in South America.

To gain information, McCain holds Alex over pool of crocodiles and forces him to hold on to a pipe to stay away from them. He then leaves Bennett with Alex. Just before Alex falls to the crocodiles, the man who saved Alex in Scotland appears and kills Bennett, saving Alex. The man is a spy of the Indian secret service and is called Rahim. The Indian government had discovered that McCain was behind the Chennai disaster, and Rahim has been sent to kill him with a bomb. Alex realises the only way to stop the spread of the crops is to flood them with water from a dam. Rahim objects, but passes out from a fever.

Alex steals Rahim's explosives and heads to the dam. Alex reaches the dam, and plants the explosives, destroying the dam along with his pursuers. Alex is saved from the dam by grabbing onto a rope dangled by Rahim from a crop duster. Rahim is furious at Alex, and intends to leave him at a fueling station in Laikipia to be picked up by his authorities. McCain, however, has followed them to the refueling station and he kills Rahim. Alex is able to kill McCain by rolling a fuel barrel at him with a gelignite pen attached to it; blowing him up. Alex gets burnt and fractures his ankle doing so.

Alex is taken to hospital, where Jack visits him. She reminds him that his fifteenth birthday is approaching and has already organized presents and a group of friends to celebrate with him.

Production

Horowitz finished Crocodile Tears much earlier than he expected, the book originally being scheduled for publication on December 1, 2009. Initially, Yassen was to follow Snakehead as the eighth book in the series, and was to be the final Alex Rider novel, though Horowitz rethought this idea following negative responses during school visits. While writing the eighth novel, he tweaked the story line as he went; for example, he originally planned for Alex to be targeted by a hitman, rather than threatened by a reporter. Horowitz travelled to both Kenya and Scotland in order to research his novel.

During an interview with Faheem Shaikh before the novel was published, Anthony Horowitz revealed an extract from Crocodile Tears: "Alex, do you really think you're the only one?" he said. "We offer a way out, an escape, they chase us but we live. Help us save others who are bound by the same shackles, Alex. Join us."

Useful Links

• Crocodile Tears - Walker Books (UK)
• Crocodile Tears First Chapter: Fire Star
• Crocodile Tears Mission - Alex Rider official website

Sources

• Photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crocodile_Tears
• General information: various sources, including but not limited to:
  • Crocodile Tears by Anthony Horowitz (primary)
  • http://www.walker.co.uk/Crocodile-Tears-9781406316988.aspx
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crocodile_Tears