Teen special agents investigate a deadly plane crash in the ninth book of the CHERUB series, which Rick Riordan says has “plenty of action.” CHERUB agents are highly trained, extremely talented–and all under the age of seventeen. For official purposes, these agents do not exist. They are sent out on missions to spy on terrorists, hack into crucial documents, and gather intel on global … threats–all without gadgets or weapons. It is an extremely dangerous job, but these agents have one crucial advantage: Adults never suspect that teens are spying on them.
In The Sleepwalker, a commercial plane explodes over the Atlantic Ocean leaving 345 people dead. Crash investigators suspect terrorism, but they aren’t getting anywhere. But when a distressed twelve-year-old calls a police hotline and blames his father for the explosion, James Adams and his sister Lauren are assigned to befriend the boy to find out the shocking truth…
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This is my favourite so far in the Cherub series, but first, who are the Cherubs?
Imagine Secret Agents as kids, trained from preteen years to work for the Gov until they are 16, great idea and also a great storyline.
It starts with a Buggy Race, someone in the base has the idea to put a motorbike engine in a golf buggy, and so we now have a buggy capable of 100Km per hour, sounds like fun? Two teams, James our hero vs Shak. Let the chaos commence!
Meantime in the outside world, an aircraft crashes, Islamic extremists are suspected, and Cherub gets involved.
There are really two stories here. The first is James and his ex Kerry together on work placement at an McD`s rip off and Lauren and Jake tracking down leads on the downed aircraft. They fit together well and make for a great two-ply story!
The story is good, but it is also showing its age to a degree, and why is that I hear you say?
Well, I am glad you asked. Recently there has been a clampdown on anything to do with Anti Gay / LGBT / Gender question / Islamicaphobia and eating too much cheese. All political bull as usual but never the less “the we will tell you how you must think” is really enjoying the power.
Sooner rather than later, it will blow over, and the next subject will be freedom for cattle. All farmers will be worried about being arrested for crimes against bovines! Meantime remember and say and do the official party line or else!
So my point is this, the next part of the story features a rich Saudi and his wife, who he likes to smack about cause she is to western and a son he enjoys taking the belt to. Basically, he is a scum bag. He would be whether he was Muslim, Catholic, Jewish or a follower of the holy cow. The story starts with one too many hits, and then she disappears, leaving only a tooth and a hint that her husband is involved in the plane crash.
Meantime, the work experience is going well. One of the female staff has a violent thug of a boyfriend. It would be nice if occasionally we got a female throwing the punches? Just for a change. James wades in and decks him, but that just creates more of a problem.
Anyway, as the story progresses, we get a gang of Asian bullies victimising their local school until Jake and Lauren beat them senseless and James and Kerry taking out a brutal gang of bouncers. Well, it makes a change from an Asian grooming gang, I suppose?. Oh yes, and along the way, bad dad is taught a lesson he so richly deserves.
It was a fun read, but in today’s worldview of black and white, I wonder if the concerned guardian readers will feel it is too much?
My fave bit, every story, I complain that James never grows up and Kerry is a stuffed shirt, well I take it all back. Kerry turns into a rebel, and James, for a change, does the honourable thing. Way to go, finally we see an adult under his exterior peek out!
I really enjoyed this book. It felt like Robert was pitching it at an older audience who understood a lot of the concepts on race, attitude and being accepting and open-minded and yet sometimes a strong arm is needed. Bad people are just bad no matter what colour or creed they are!
Read it and enjoy!
Alas, this is the last of this series I have in paperback, so will be on hold for a time before I jump back to it.