Maximum Security

CHERUB is an organisation of trained spies who are all under seventeen. Officially they do not exist. They gather intelligence on terrorists and other global threats without gadgets or weapons, and they rely on one advantage: adults rarely suspect a teenager of watching them.

James's new assignment sends him to Arizona Max, a prison in the desert that holds 280 child criminals. The work is dangerous, and the setting is hot, harsh and closed off from the outside world.

Among the inmates is a boy whose father deals in weapons. That father has been supplying American missiles to terrorists, and CHERUB wants him stopped.

James's task is to get close to the boy. If he can, CHERUB has a chance of stopping the father and cutting off the missile sales.

Getting into the prison is the easy part. The real danger lies in getting out again, and the book turns on whether James can manage it with the son in tow.