The thirteenth novel in the Alex Rider series, published in 2020.
- Girl Scouts Are Evil: Two teenage assassins pose as Girl Scouts selling muffins in order to poison a target.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Dominic Royce is anything but pleasant, but has a point with Mrs Jones knowingly endangering Alex by sending him on a mission, even though Royce himself later endangers Alex's life by cutting off their communications with him. Turns out that he is not as benevolent as he seems.
- Oddball in the Series: Apart from being consciously styled as Darker and Edgier (although less gory) than usual, also the first book in the series to not have a conventional Big Bad, the first not to have any gadgets, and the first that is not a self-contained story in its own right, ending on a Sequel Hook with Mrs Jones' son and the other Numbers still missing, and Nightshade planning to come after Alex.
- Villain Ball: When Nightshade discover who Alex is, they arrange for him to be dumped in Brighton and framed as Julius Grief so the whole country will be looking for him, with the idea being that he will provide a distraction whilst their attack on London is executed. Transporting Alex to just an hour's journey by train from the site of their Evil Plan when he was previously in the wrong country altogether, and leaving him there on his own, is by some margin the stupidest thing any Alex Rider villain has ever done.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Doctor, the mastermind behind Nightshade, was severely disillusioned with the British parliament and intended to assassinate all of them so that they would be replaced by younger, fresher minds who will take action on issues such as poverty and the environment.
