James is recruited into CHERUB, a secret division of MI5 which consists of teenage spies. He successfully completes his training and goes on his first mission

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...

"When CHERUB uncovers a link between eco-terrorist group Help Earth and a wealthy religious cult known as The Survivors, James is sent to their isolatated outback headquarters on an infiltration mission. It's a thousand kilometers to the closest town, and James is under massive pressure from the cult's brainwashing techniques. This time he's not just fighting terrorists...he's got to battle for his own mind." -- from P.4 of cover

When an MI5 operation goes disastrously wrong, James Adams needs all of his skills to get out of Russia alive. Meanwhile, his sister Lauren is on her first solo mission, trying to uncover a brutal human trafficking operation. And when James does get home, he finds that his nightmare is just beginning ... CHERUB agents have one crucial advantage: adults never suspect that children are spying on them.