#39 in Spy & espionage
Skeleton Key
- 327
- Pages
- about 6 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“Skeleton Key” is the third Alex Rider adventure and the one that gives the teenage spy a villain who feels real. The mission takes Alex from Wimbledon to the Caribbean, with sharks and a nuclear threat on the way, and the book starts to question whether adults should be using a boy as a weapon. Some readers note that it keeps closely to the outline of the two earlier books.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Skeleton Key is the third book in the Alex Rider series written by British author Anthony Horowitz. The book was released in the United Kingdom on July 8, 2002, and in the United States on April 28, 2003.
Reading order · Alex Rider
Full order & progress →- StormbreakerStart here
7.57.5 / 10 - Point Blanc
7.77.7 / 10 - Skeleton KeyThis book
7.67.6 / 10 - Eagle Strike
7.97.9 / 10 - Scorpia
7.97.9 / 10 - Ark Angel
7.77.7 / 10 - Snakehead
7.77.7 / 10 - Crocodile Tears
7.87.8 / 10 - Scorpia Rising
7.97.9 / 10 - Russian Roulette
–Not ranked yet - Never Say Die
–Not ranked yet - Secret Weapon
–Not ranked yet - Nightshade
–Not ranked yet
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.7 across 204 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 58% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Spy & espionage average of 7.6. That is how 7.6 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.2 | 26 | 13% |
| Hardcover | 7.6 | 178 | 87% |
Frequently asked
What age is Skeleton Key for?
Skeleton Key sits on the Young adult shelf in the sources we use, which by convention means roughly ages 13 and up. This is a guide from the book’s category, not a publisher’s age rating. It has 327 pages — shorter than 91% of the ranked books in Spy & espionage.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Spy & espionage — with scores between 7.7 and 7.9, closest to this book.
