Did'nt read the last one. But they are so great, and he always makes me wonder "how is Alex going to get out of this trap" yet Alex escapes. It seems he has a grasp on weapons also.
I used to be pretty into that series except the thing is all of the books are almost exactly the same. It's also unrealistic in many ways and he always uses every single gadget he gets! They started to get old and boring quickly for me.