List of characters (Alex Rider)
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The following is a list of recurring characters from the Alex Rider series of novels by British author Anthony Horowitz. The list of characters on this page are not included in the Alex Rider main article. For information on the character Alex Rider, see Alex Rider (character).
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[edit] Jack Starbright
Jack Starbright is Alex Rider's housekeeper, an American girl who traveled to London to study law when she was twenty-one, but never returned to the United States (presumably after having become attached to Alex in their time living together). She was originally employed by Ian Rider to look after a young Alex and maintain their house during Ian's long absences, in return for the lease of a room in the residence. She is twenty-eight years old. After the death of Ian Rider, Jack becomes Alex's legal guardian. She is now Alex's closest and best friend. She has appeared in every installment of the Alex Rider series.
Jack is described as slim, with tangled red hair, and a boyish, round face that "can't help being cheerful, even when in a bad mood". She is from Washington D.C., where her parents still live, and she still occasionally visits them.
Jack has known Alex since he was seven years old. However, in the Stormbreaker film, she has known him since he was five (due to the fact that in the book, Jack has been housekeeper for seven years but in the film, she has been for nine years). Jack's relationship with Alex has become somewhat like that of a mother and son.
Jack is one of few people who knows that Alex is an MI6 agent, and highly objects to it, fearing for his safety - always encouraging him to refuse missions (until he is forced to participate in one). She is extremely protective of Alex.
In the Stormbreaker film, Jack is blonde, and fascinated with Japanese culture - regularly preparing Japanese meals and is first introduced wearing a kimono. She fights Nadia Vole when she interrogates her about Alex, Vole having hacked into Alex's mobile phone and found out his home address. Jack also assists Alex in traveling to prevent Sayle activating the Stormbreaker computers, in a minor departure from the novel.
Early in Ark Angel, while Alex is in hospital, he receives a "Get Well" card from Jack. It is described as the biggest card in the room, and is followed up with magazines and energy drinks.
It has been stated that "Jack" may be short for "Jackie" or "Jacqueline", and that Alex once asked her, but she never revealed.
In the Stormbreaker film, Jack Starbright is played by Alicia Silverstone.
[edit] Alan Blunt
Alan Blunt is the head of MI6 Special Operations. He is an aloof, impassive, and ruthless man. He is known for wearing a grey suit and grey glasses, and driving a Rolls-Royce. He is married, but his wife is not mentioned in the series. Blunt is dedicated to his job and has a very analytical mind. Like many spy-masters in popular culture, Blunt is portrayed as being emotionally unattached to anything he does and whatever means he uses.
After Alan Blunt dismissed Alex Rider's suspicions of Damian Cray and his attempt to destroy half the world, he was severely humiliated and was only narrowly able to keep his position. He insists on Alex's continued use despite of his youthfulness, the death of his uncle in an intelligence case, and the fact that he has encountered near death more times than most intelligence agents would be expected to in their careers.
In the film he is played by Bill Nighy.
[edit] John Crawley
John Crawley is a man who works for MI6 as a messenger between Alex Rider and Special Operations. He is in his thirties and is known to have worked with Rider's father on a number of occasions. It is hinted in Ark Angel that he was mortally injured by Scorpia on one mission.
In the film, he is played by Jimmy Carr, and is renamed "Crawford", after an unusual request from MI6 itself not to use the name Crawley.
[edit] Mrs. Jones
Tulip Jones is second in command at MI6 and is Alan Blunt's closest associate. Blunt insists their personal and professional lives remain separate; consequently, Mrs. Jones has never even been inside of his house, despite knowing him better than anyone else in Special Operations. Mrs. Jones has two children, both of them whom have been taken by someone at a young age. As a result of that, she has a soft spot for Alex Rider, even though he tried to kill her in Scorpia.
When Alex was a few months old, Mrs. Jones executed a successful operation on Albert Bridge. Both MI6 and Scorpia had hostages and agreed to release them on a neutral bridge; Scorpia had captured an English civil servant's son, while MI6 has John Rider, Alex Rider's father. As both hostages were walking back to their own side, Mrs. Jones gave the order to "kill" John Rider, a highly successful MI6 agent himself. Scorpia was fooled into believing that John Rider was an operative of theirs (all the while spying for MI6), who is now dead. The mission was successful and led to her promotion to deputy head.
Scorpia, the fifth book of the series, reveals her full name, Tulip Jones.
In the film, she is played by Sophie Okonedo.
[edit] Tom Harris
Tom Harris is Alex Rider's school friend, who attends Brookland with him. Tom first appears in Scorpia.
He is the third of Alex's friends (after Jack Starbright and Sabina Pleasure) to know about Alex's spying activities. He becomes a more major character in Scorpia, when he accompanies Alex to Venice. Tom is short but very athletic. Later, when Alex intends to enter a pharmaceutical firm, he enlists Tom's brother, Jerry, to help. Jerry lends Alex BASE jumping equipment to enter the compound by jumping from an adjacent cliff.
Alex receives a "Get Well" card from Tom at the beginning of Ark Angel. In it, Tom expresses his opinion that Alex does not have appendicitis like what people at school said, but an injury from a spying activity.
[edit] Sabina Pleasure
Sabina Pleasure is Alex Rider's love interest. She is first introduced in the third book of the series, Skeleton Key, as a ballgirl at Wimbledon when Alex is posing as a ballboy. Sabina is described as dark-haired with freckles, who loves indecent, rude jokes and has an extremely loud laugh. Her name is a pun on the phrase "It's been a pleasure".
In Skeleton Key, Alex meets Sabina and quickly becomes good friends with her. After the Wimbledon tennis championships, Sabina, her parents and Alex go to Cornwall on a surfing holiday. It is here that Sabina blatantly expresses romantic feelings for Alex when she goes into his room one night while he is going to sleep and kisses him, telling him how cute he is. Sabina and Alex go down to Fistral Beach to catch the surf early next morning, when Alex rides the Cribber, making its journey on the beach.
When a member of a Chinese triad gang riding a jet-ski attacks Alex while he is surfing, Alex gets trapped in the tide and drowns, but Sabina finds him, carries him out of the water and revives him with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and chest compressions before calling an ambulance. Sabina briefly loses touch with Alex after his drowning incident when he is taken to hospital and is then forced to leave Britain by MI6, but at the end of Skeleton Key, Sabina makes another appearance when she invites Alex to attend the trip to Southern France her parents are planning.
In Eagle Strike, Alex is visiting another holiday home of Sabina's parents in the South of France. When the house is blown up by terrorists, Sabina's father is seriously injured. Sabina is later kidnapped by Damian Cray while visiting her father in the hospital. Sabina later moves away to San Francisco. She kisses Alex again after they hug before she leaves.
In Ark Angel, while he is in hospital, Alex receives a "Get Well Soon" card from Sabina; Sabina says she may visit at Christmas, hinting that she may return in the upcoming Alex Rider book, Snakehead.
Although Sabina Pleasure's first book appearance is in Skeleton Key, she appears in the Stormbreaker film adaptation, played by Sarah Bolger.
