Product Description

A terrorist doesn’t let strangers in her flat because they might be undercover police or intelligence agents, but her children bring their mates home and they run all over the place.

The terrorist doesn’t know that a kid has bugged every room in her house, cloned the hard drive on her PC, and copied all the numbers in her phone book. The kid works for CHERUB.

CHERUB is not James Bond. There are no master criminals or high-tech gadgets. CHERUB kids live in the real world. They slip under adult radar and get information that sends criminals and terrorists to jail.

For official purposes, these children do not exist. (20041001)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2865 in Books
• Published on: 2004-04-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

The Sunday Express
'Punchy, exciting, glamorous and, what's more, you'll completely wish it was true.'

Review
'An excellent start to a promising series. It is every boy's wish to be a spy, and this book will enthrall every single one of them.' (The Bookseller )

'Punchy, exciting, glamorous and, what's more, you'll completely wish it was true.' (The Sunday Express )

'An exciting, swiftly moving tale' (School Librarian )

'I loved this book.' (Caroline Lawrence, author of The Roman Mysteries )

'A fast-paced action thriller, which should turn into a fantastic series - if James manages to live that long.' (Young Post )

'It's action all the way as we follow the new recruit's rapid development and no doubt Muchamore's nephews will, like me, be cheering him every step of the way.' (Ireland on Sunday )

School Librarian
'An exciting, swiftly moving tale'

Customer Reviews

Cherub
James Choke isn't a typical 11-year old. His mom is probably the fattest mom he's ever seen, and she's a top-flight black market dealer to boot. Sure, he can get anybody in school anything they want for half off, but he can't escape his mom's looming shadow. In the space of one day, though, his luck turns incredibly sour: he's kicked out of school for fighting a girl, gets his butt kicked by the girl's brother, has to deal with his sister's dad who's around for another handout, and his mother dies from drinking while on medication. While in a depressing children's home, he's recruited for a spy agency that's so secret no one even knows what the initials stand for. After getting a hold on his life, choosing to go the way of the spy, and undergoing a grueling 100-day course, he's sent off to infiltrate a hippie community that's planning a violent demonstration. In the middle of that, he meets the girl of his dreams whose father is a cop that doesn't like him.
James Choke is a great character whose appeal fluctuates between being a colassal screw-up with out-of-control emotions and a kid just trying to survive who cares deeply about his little sister. He's just clever enough to get himself out of life-threatening situations, but then to get himself constantly in hot water with the authority figures at the spy school. Young readers will root for him and empathize with his problems because, spy work aside, they're not so very far from those of most adolescents.

There is a small warning with this book. The language may be more explicit than some parents are comfortable with, pushing the book definitely into the teen arena, but featuring a 12-year old hero (he has a birthday during the course of the novel). Also, his reasoning seems to be on par with a fifteen or sixteen-year old. The cherub series is better than Cody Banks, as good as Alex Rider and almost as good as Young James Bond or Jason Steed.
THE RECRUIT sets up the series nicely. Lots of action, lots of character, and plenty of spy background. A timeline dossier is also included, showing the author has thought about the special MI-5 department he's developed. Fans of Alex Rider will probably enjoy these books. There's more dialogue, but the situations are a little more edgy and adult.

the recruit by robert muchamore
I have just finished this book and have now ran out of thinks to read! torture! i am therefore reading this again. its a great book for anyone. While i am a very advanced reader even someone who is only just started reading will find this book brilliant. the plot is clever and does not give the entire story away instantly. i read it in under a day and even though i read most books this quickly and still enjoy them i perticulary enjoyed this one. absolutely brilliant. really want to read bk 2 :class a

No cheery happy endings here.
A lot like the Alex Rider series but without so many lucky escapes and ooh-how-handy-I've-just-found-a-gadget-that-can-melt-an-eight-inch-door-of-steel-I-wondered-I'd-get-out. Im not going to sum up the plot, don't be lazy, read it for your self. Its a brilliantly realistic book(the fact that they're children working for the goverment to undermine crimminals plans by acting as inocent children-not so much. Buy it, read it, share it.