He accidentally drops it in a police conference centre rather than a nearby car park, as he originally intended, thanks to the builders shutting down the crane's power.

After arranging for his release, MI6 chief Alan Blunt blackmails Alex into investigating the deaths of Roscoe and General Viktor Ivanov, head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, who died in an unusual motorboat explosion, in exchange for all potential charges being dropped.

He stays with the family (Sir David, his wife Lady Caroline, and their snooty daughter Fiona) for a week in preparation for his infiltration of the academy.

That night, the Coke he drinks at dinner is drugged; after passing out in his room, he is transported to the hotel's basement, where plastic surgeon Dr Walter Baxter has Alex stripped naked, every inch of his body being photographed, measured and examined.

He discovers the basement is a jail, where he finds James, Michael J. Roscoe's son Paul, and all the other students, who explain that Grief has made clones of them.

This will allow Grief to take over the world, as the conned families are leaders in every corner of human activity, including diamond mining, food, the military, financing, politics, and the media.

Meanwhile, an honour guard from the French Army carries a Union flag-laden coffin onto a C-130 Hercules, which apparently flies to London for Alex's military funeral.

Mrs Jones convinces him to return to the academy with an SAS squad, led by his former training partner "Wolf", in order to rescue the students.

However, Wolf is also shot in the process (though not fatally), and Alex rushes out of the building in anger to see Dr Grief about to leave via helicopter.

Reviewer Chris High said, "For first class spills, thrills, and adventure, Anthony Horowitz can be safely said to have cornered the modern market...influenced greatly by Ian Fleming's work.

[3] The School Library Journal says, "Spy gadgets, chase scenes, mysteries, and a cliff-hanger ending will keep even reluctant readers interested in the second novel in this series."