Quombi is stated to have spent a third of his life in prison, before being recruited by the snakehead. He is said to enjoy his work, and taunting the unwilling organ donors until they die. However, he is stated to be greedy, attracted only by money, and is unhappy when he is told to observe Alex until the morning, when he is to lose his eyes to a blind reality TV producer, and will not be getting any overtime pay. Alex's official year of birth is stated as being 1987, with Alex stating in Point Blanc that he was two years old in 1989. [18] However, in Snakehead Alex remembers the Boxing Day Tsunami (2004). [13] Then in the US version of Crocodile Tears, it mentions Obama as being the President of the United States. [24] Considering these events, his birth year would more reliably be February 13, 1996.

Giovanni was born first, with Eduardo following five seconds later. Similarly, when Alex caused their train to crash and explode, Giovanni died first, with Eduardo following five seconds later. The book was released in the United Kingdom on July 8, 2002 [ citation needed] and in the United States on April 28, 2009. [ citation needed] Summary [ ] The following is a list of the protagonists recurring, appearing in, or referred to in the Alex Rider series, listed alphabetically. Sister" Jeanne. She has "the look of a matron at a private clinic," is well-built, with chestnut hair which always looks fake, and wears too much makeup to disguise her age. She has medical responsibility for the Numbers. In the Alex Rider TV series, Joe Byrne is reimagined as a woman and the Deputy CIA Jo Bryne, played by Rakie Ayola.

Goodreads Summary:

Henryk does not contribute much to the novel, his only major appearances occurring towards the end of the story, when Alex and Sabina are forced to have afternoon tea with Cray, Henryk and Yassen, where Cray explains his plans to the two teenagers, to rid the world of drugs by firing twenty-five American nuclear missiles at various drug-running countries around the world, destroying those countries and their populations in the process. After Cray's men secure Air Force One for the takeover and missile launching, Henryk prepares the plane for take-off, with the destination implied to be Russia. The Grimaldi brothers Eduardo and Giovanni (escaped; both deceased when their train exploded in Never Say Die) With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of capitalism, Sarov felt betrayed and disgusted, at the way his country was heading. He promptly quit the army and moved to communist Cuba, which welcomed him outright.

In the epilogue of the novel, it transpires that when Alex explained his predicament to George Prescott, his office heard their conversation through Prescott's radio, which was still turned on. Initially, they didn't believe Alex, but when they discovered Prescott's death, they immediately notified MI6, who in turn warned the Russians. Alex is depressed after everything he has been through, but Sabina approaches Alex and invites him on holiday with her family in France for a couple of weeks, cheering Alex up. Nightshade are a new criminal organization, introduced properly in Nightshade. They were first mentioned at the end of Never Say Die when Mrs Jones pores over a file marked "Nightshade", concerning a missing child who eventually resurfaced as a teenage assassin.Eva Stellenbosch is also portrayed as a smoker. At various points in the book, she is pictured smoking cigars. The tagline, "Alex Rider is in deep water -- again" is a reference to a chapter title in Stormbreaker, "Deep Water", where Alex had to survive in a tank with the Portuguese Man-o'-war. Alex is described as strikingly good looking with an athletic build, dark brown eyes said to be “too serious for his face” and fair hair. When given responsibility for Reef Encounter, Yu has half a dozen of his underlings steal the Royal Blue bomb from a secret Ministry of Defence laboratory, and ship it to Australia. He later enters his handprint into the bomb's control system, allowing him to be the one who will detonate it.