Over the years, CHERUB has put plenty of criminals behind bars. Now, for the first time ever, they've got to break one out.... Under American law, kids convicted of serious crimes can be sentenced as adults. Two hundred and eighty of these child criminals live in the sunbaked desert prison of Arizona Max. In one of the most dangerous CHERUB missions ever, James Adams has to go undercover inside Arizona Max, befriend an inmate and then bust him out.

CHERUB exists for the simplest of reasons: even a master criminal doesn't suspect that the kid next door is a spy. When CHERUB uncovers a link between eco-terrorist group Help Earth and a wealthy religious cult known as The Survivors, James Adams is sent to Australia on an infiltration mission. It's his toughest job so far. The Survivors' outback headquarters are completely isolated, and the cult's brainwashing techniques mean James is under massive pressure to conform. This time he's not just fighting terrorists.

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....

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 one of these kids has bugged every room in her house, made copies of all her computer files and stolen her address book. The kid works for Cherub. Cherub agents are aged between 10 and 17. They live in the real world, slipping under adult radar and getting information that sends criminals and terrorists to jail.

The British underworld is controlled by gangs. When two of them start a turf war, violence explodes on to the streets. The police need information fast, and James Adams has the contacts to infiltrate the most dangerous gang of all. He works for CHERUB. Cherubs are trained professionals, aged between 10 and 17. They exist because criminals never suspect that kids are spying on them. For official purposes, these children do not exist.