Striker combines top flight football with international espionage for fans of Alex Rider and Young Bond.

Meet Jake Bastin - talented teenage footballer, son of England's top coach and last line of defence against international terrorism - he is Striker!

Jake's dad has been posted to Russia to train Igor Popov's multi-million-pound all-star team.

No expense has been spared to lure the best talent in the world to St Petersburg, including American goalscoring sensation Devon Taylor.

But people are being killed: a football scout, a journalist and an eco-scientist are all murdered within days of one another. And Jake's dad is always at the scene of the crime ...Is the Russian team a front for some terrible conspiracy? Can Jake help stop the killing spree? And could his own father be at the heart of the corruption?

Nick Hale's spy stories rival Anthony Horowitz for pace, tension and adrenalin-fuelled action.

For parents of sports-mad reluctant readers, Striker promises football stories for boys with the cool-factor of a 007 movie.