When Alex Rider is woken up in the middle of the night and told that his uncle, who is also his sole guardian, has been killed in a car crash, his life rearranges itself around him. Enter MI6, a supercomputer, a couple of cool gadgets and (of course) for good measure, more life-threatening situations than you can count with two hands.

In our post-Cherub moment, the teenage spy narrative seems almost canonical. But before Robert Muchamore there was Anthony Horowitz! I read Stormbreaker when I was twelve, and was completely enthralled by (and jealous of) Alex Rider’s adventures. What struck me on re-reading is how resonant it is still in 2020 – super computers? A potentially unstoppable virus? Sure, the gadgets are a little dated (I don’t really know what a Game Boy Colour is), but in Stormbreaker Horowitz showcases a prescience for our times nearly twenty years before the fact – this is what makes it a classic. And what about the huge vat of fatal jellyfish? That’s just quality storytelling. For ages 11+.

Jeremy George works as a bookseller at Readings Malvern