CHERUB

I came across about 9 Robert Muchamore books at a garage sale some months ago. Its always great being an organizer at such things, as you tend to have ‘first dibs’ at the material that comes in. I paid my contribution and took the books away, thinking they might be the sort of thing my son would enjoy.

As any good father would, I feel its important to read the first novel in any teenage novel series. Some content may or may not be appropriate, especially as my son is pre-teen at the moment. So I read The Recruit first. Then I went on and read the second and the third. I can’t seem to stop. For me they are a quick and engaging read. The initial novel, I felt was suitable for my 10 year old, he is a better reader than most. But the mission in the second novel focused around a drug dealer and their trafficking buddies. The content of drug taking and smuggling was described in some detail, which might be fine for 13 and 14 year olds. But my son is nearly 11. I felt maybe another year or two of life experience first. 
So I firt thought I'd read the first novel... but now I can't seem to put them down, what great adventures. Well-drawn characters you can really care about. Below I’m just going to give you the run down on the first three novels in the series. 

THE RECRUIT tells James’ story from the day his mother dies; his transformation from a couch potato into a skilled CHERUB agent. Meet Lauren, Kyle, Kerry and the rest of the cherubs for the first time. Learn how James foiled the biggest terrorist massacre in British history.

CLASS A tells the story of Keith Moore, Europe’s biggest cocaine dealer. The police have been trying to get enough evidence to nail him for more than twenty years. Now, four CHERUB agents are joining the hunt. Can a group of kids successfully infiltrate Keith Moore’s organization? James Adams has to start at the bottom, making deliveries for small-time drug dealers. But he needs to make a big splash if he’s going to win the confidence of the man at the top.

MAXIUM SECURITY. Under American law, kids convicted of of serious crimes can be tried and sentenced as adults. Two hundred and eighty of these child criminals live in the sunbaked desert prison of Arizona Max. James Adams has to go undercover inside Arizona Max, befriend an inmate and then bust him out.

AUTHOR

After training in Africa as a lion tamer and later becoming its fourteenth Prime Minister  Robert Muchamore moved back to England and started writing the CHERUB novels because his nephew in Australia could not find any novels that he liked reading. He tried to write novels that he would have enjoyed reading when he was an adolescent, a time when he remembers being too old for children's novels but not old enough to read adult novels.

Novel in the CHERUB series

·      The Recruit (April 2004)

·      CHERUB: Class A (October 2004)

·      Maximum Security (April 2005)

·      The Killing (October 2005)

·      Divine Madness (April 2006)

·      Man vs Beast (October 2006)

·      The Fall (March 2007)

·      Mad Dogs (October 2007)

·      The Sleepwalker (February 2008)

·      Dark Sun (World Book Day novella) (March 2008)

·      The General (September 2008)

·      Brigands MC (September 2009)

·      Shadow Wave (August 2010)