The third mission that James is going on may be his most difficult yet. John originally wanted to punish him for getting into trouble around the Cherub base, but then this mission came up and it would be far more dangerous than any recruitment mission. Jane Oxford, a thrill seeker, has been illegally selling US weapons since the 1970s at around 20 years old, and now she has been on the most wanted list of the FBI for at least 20 years. She is almost always completely unreachable, and untraceable as her work is pristine, but as of now she has a kid who is in prison for going on a joyride and shooting 3 people when he escaped his military school. James must go with a slightly older Cherub spy Dave into a maximum security prison with possible child murderers, escape with Jane’s 14 year old son Curtis, and infiltrate Jane’s system in order to use Curtis to capture her.
Within the first day of being in the maximum security prison, one of the inmates has tried to stab James as he returns from using the restroom. James breaks his neck in the middle of the fight but since everyone thinks that Dave did it he gets thrown into the hole. The hole is a cell where you are completely naked, no food, no toilet, no light, and they simply hose you down once a day. Since Dave had broken a few ribs before being shoved down there, he ended up getting hurt pretty badly before being pulled out and put into hospital for the rest of the mission. Now it is James’ job to get both him and Curtis out of jail without any inside help besides the adults that are on the mission.
I really enjoyed this story in the Cherub series because of the prison setting, and delving into the live of Curtis, a child who has killed people, and trying to see what made him the way he was. Lauren goes on the mission with them, although she does not come in until later on in the book, and she grows as a character from being the 10 year old girl who used to get the whole team in trouble into a useful top agent.
The main thing that I still dislike about the book is the shakiness of James’ character. He wants to act as if he is mature to go on missions in some ways, but at the same time wants to take a joyride in the first car that they receive. *spoiler alert* He wants to get a girlfriend but then cheats on her for the second time in the series in this book. *spoiler over* With a little more stability in James’ character, I feel that he will become a far more like-able character for me.
Overall Rating: 4/5
