The book opens with the death of American billionaire Michael J. Roscoe in New York, arranged by a reputable contract killer known only as The Gentleman. In London, Alex Rider ends up in trouble with the police for causing a large amount of damage to a new police headquarters by exposing a school drug dealer. In exchange for any potential charges being dropped, Alex is assigned by MI6 to investigate the mysterious deaths of Roscoe and another billionaire General Viktor Ivanov on the Black Sea. The only apparent connection between the two men is that they both had a son attending Point Blanc, an academy in the French Alps run by a South African scientist, Dr. Hugo Grief. Alan Blunt, who was contacted by a distressed Roscoe before his death, is suspicious, and so sends Alex to investigate. A