[rating:78/100]

Synopsis

The CIA have been hunting Jane Oxford, an international weapons dealer, for thirty years. Her only weak point is her son, Curtis. It’s a job for CHERUB. CHERUB kids are highly trained professionals. Their essential advantage: a criminal never suspects that a kid could be spying on him. This is James Adams’ most dangerous mission so far, working undercover inside a maximum security prison. Over the years, CHERUB has put hundreds of criminals behind bars. Now, for the first time ever, they’ve got to break one out.

In the third of Robert Muchamore’s CHERUB series, James Adams is 13 years old and facing his greatest challenge yet. Our young hero, this time along with his sister, Lauren, and the respected and somewhat infamous older CHERUB agent Dave Moss, travel to America to infiltrate a supposedly escape-proof, maximum security prison in Arizona desert. This being a CHERUB mission, the important words here are ’supposedly escape-proof,’ because that is exactly what James has to do’. Not only that, the team has to also spring, Curtis, the only son of, Jane Oxford, one of the ‘FBI’s Most wanted criminals’

James has all the flaws of a normal 13 year old boy, reckless, impulsive and prone to not thinking things out first, yet when -push-comes-to-shove, he shows above and beyond the level of maturity CHERUB has trained him for, coping with first the dangers of being inside prison, and the, the dangers of being on the run from the law, it is James that has to take control and try and drive the mission to a successful conclusion.

Don’t be fooled by the “all action” attitude of this series, underneath this gloss, lies an unexpected moral compass, people accept their responsibilities, actions do have consequences and this is often expressed through James’ actions and thoughts, especially when for the good of the mission he has to do something he’d prefer not to.

Packed with guns, car chases and an ever present threat of violence, Maximum Security in an adrenaline soaked adventure from the first page to the last, easily the best book of the series so far. A cracking read for anyone who is just looking to be entertained by their reading choices.

Further Reading

CLICK HERE to read the CHERUB CHRISTMAS STORY (This seven chapter story fits between CHERUB: Class A and CHERUB: Maximum Security.)

CLICK HERE to read the first two chapters of Maximum Security! (PDF)

(asin:0340884355)