Die Entführung

CHERUB 2 #5

by Robert Muchamore, Tanja Olsen (Translator)

Durch Zufall kommt Cherub einer kriminellen Organisation auf die Spur, die das große Geld mit illegalen Ölgeschäften im Nahen Osten macht und dabei buchstäblich über Leichen geht. Ein richtig großer Deal für Ryan Sharma – und Cherub-Star James Adams, der von höchster politischer Stelle beauftragt wird, diese brandheiße Mission zu koordinieren. Klar, dass er dafür die Besten der Besten braucht – und Cherub-Legenden wie Kerry, Kyle, Bruce, Lauren & Co. rekrutiert. Denn diesmal haben es die Agenten nicht nur mit einem skrupellosen Kriminellen zu tun, sondern mit einer der gefährlichsten Terroreinheiten der Welt …

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Espionage, Mystery, Thriller, Crime, Adventure

288 pages, Paperback

First published May 31, 2016

About the author

Robert Muchamore was born in Islington, London in 1972. He still lives there, and worked as a private investigator up until 2005 and the critically-accepted release of Maximum Security.

The Hunger Games phenomenon is part of the huge YA / Children's book explosion that has grown, thanks to the British Rat pack of YA authors, Anthony Horowitz, Robert Muchamore, Mark A. Cooper and Charlie Higson. We owe much of the hunger games sucess to authors such as Robert.

Robert was inspired to create the CHERUB series by his nephew after he complained about the lack of anything for them to read. CHERUB: The Recruit was Robert's first book and won the Red House Children's Book Award 2005 in the Older Readers Category.

Following the last book in the CHERUB series, it was revealed that a trilogy would be released starting from August 2011 that will focus on a new set of CHERUB agents centred upon Ryan Sharma and also involve an sixteen year old Lauren Adams. The first book will be called People's Republic.

Check out the Hendersons Boys series. Henderson's Boys is a series of young adult spy novels written by English author Robert Muchamore. The series follows Charles Henderson, the creator of the fictitious CHERUB organisation.
CHERUB is currently being made into a TV series.

Reviews

[Tez · Rating 4 out of 5]

New Guard is the final novel in Robert Muchamore's thrilling CHERUB series. It was time. I'd lost some interest, until I perked up again with the introduction of now-regulars Ryan Sharma and Fu Ning. But the Aramov case took three books to solve, so it seemed overly long. As for Lone Wolf, the penultimate, all I remember is the unveiling of the Campus Village at the end. (How can CHERUB afford all that, by the way? And the annual summer sojourn to a private Mediterranean island resort? While some may point out the improbability of underage people being spies, I instead get hung up on money issues. I am strange.)

New Guard is a wonderfully fitting farewell, doing the classic move of pop culture series everywhere: it gets the old gang back together for one last hurrah. Though this time the "Crustys" have some "Currents" with them on a mission to rescue two kidnapped oil well equipment maintenance workers in Syria.

What's great about CHERUB is that it's not all about James Adams. It may have started with his POV, but quickly expanded to include his sister Lauren, his girlfriend Kerry Chang, and more recently characters like Ryan and Ning. Indeed, the strongest characters in the series are the girls. This instalment also includes the awesome Tovah, and the future's looking bright with a new youngster we meet at the end.

As for the boys... Well, in the past James cheated on Kerry. Ryan's still hung up on someone he met on a mission, though he could do better. And while Bruce Norris's choice of girlfriend is otherwise awesome...she's seventeen, and he's about twenty-three.

Though Lauren stars on the front cover, the character with the biggest arc in the book is Kerry. She goes through a lot of tripe and upheaval, but it looks like she'll be OK.

[Adam Webling · Rating 4 out of 5]

New Guard is the final book in the CHERUB series, which I’m very upset about. It’s one last mission for veteran main character James Adams that revolves around ISIS. It was interesting to see the angle that the book came at the extremist group and as always, Muchamore did a great job of tackling real life issues and integrating them into his world.

This was an exciting way to finish the series and I loved having the old characters from the first series in it. I would have liked Ryan and Ning as the new main characters for this second series to be in it more (especially Ning, as Ryan was in the second half of the book), but the second half of the mission was outside of CHERUB, so it made sense.

You also get to find out what happened with everyone after like at the end of Shadow Wave - I know I wanted to know if James and Kerry actually stay together once and for all!

If you want action, humour and excitement, pick but New Guard - and the whole series because it’s amazing!!

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the Cherub series. It’s so original and creative. I’m really sad the series has come to an end as the world and characters are so real and unique.

The finale of the series sees James as a mission controller getting the gang back together for an off-the-radar mission. I have to admit that when I read the blurb, which stated that Ryan was ‘investigating a double kidnapping’, I was kind of mislead. I naturally assumed that the kidnapping would be predominant and perhaps some of the agents/former agents had been kidnapped and maybe that was why the gang were getting back together, to rescue their friends. Instead we get a dodgy mission to rescue some engineers who had been kidnapped a while ago. It’s still a good story but I found the final mission a bit short and the ending a bit of a let down.

The beginning mission with the twins was excellent and felt like good old Cherub. Muchamore’s writing is solid and instantly transported me back into the world of Cherub. However, I found there was a bit of a lag as they prepared for the final mission and it made the book feel a little in two parts. I found that the preparation for the second mission and the actual mission itself a little short though very well written and thought out. I liked reading about Leon and Daniel, they were great characters, but if you’re selling a book with the promise of legendary characters coming back they need to come back sooner and be in it more!! Leon and Daniel’s part with Ryan joining was well over half the book. This could have stayed the same but then we need more time with our old favourites so perhaps the second half could have been longer or maybe the oldies could have done more in the first half of the mission.

For example, we hardly saw Kerry. I liked how Kerry was strong enough to leave her job and follow her heart by joining the mission and later becoming a mission controller. However, I was extremely disappointed that she got injured and couldn’t finish the mission. She didn’t even fight in the dojo, which I can appreciate as she was out of practise, but it was one of her major skills as an agent. It would have been much more triumphant for her if she had followed the mission through to the end. I could have seen her rescuing Zahra and making sure she was okay and telling James off for saying something stupid. She could have spoken Arabic to her etc. It would have been more appropriate perhaps for something to have happened to a different character e.g. Kyle or the twins as they are all likeable but not as major a character as Kerry. Overall I was disappointed with Kerry not being around for as much as the other characters. Again, it’s real that the plane crashed etc but Kerry is a major character and as there was a theme of reunion it was a shame she wasn’t there for most of the mission. We basically didn’t get to see a hint of the old Kerry, just her realise what she loved and wanted to do and then get too injured to do it.

James. I do like how real he is and how he’s not perfect. I thought he had matured until I got to the final pages where Ning looks at him and James describes it as ‘the look on Kerry when she found him in bed shagging the pizza delivery chick. I mean, come on. I don’t know how recent that was in the timeline but it’s ridiculous. It’s trying to resemble read life where not everyone is loyal in relationships which I get but I’ve never met nor heard of anyone as bad as James for cheating on Kerry. After I read that comment I thought that he really doesn’t deserve her. I groaned internally when I read that they were expecting their first child. There’s no way James is mature enough to handle that and it’s a shame as that’s pretty much the end of their freedom as young adults and it will most likely be Kerry who ends up looking after the baby. But who knows, the story’s not even written and maybe James will wake up and become a good dad. I just didn’t like that for the ending of characters I’d grown fond of. I like seeing them go through the challenges of life but wanted a more satisfactory ending that they were prepared for!

Likewise I would say the same for Ryan. I was so glad when Ryan was shot of Natalka and then the book suddenly ends with him chasing after her! I understand that Muchamore wants to make the series real- sometimes you don’t always get a happy ending and good people end up with people who don’t deserve them but come on!! Ryan was a main character of the second series and had eventually begun to grow on me so I thought he deserved something good. He just ended up buying Natalka out and as far as I remember she never treated him that great and just wanted him because he bought her fags. Plus he was so young when he met her and didn’t know her for that long so I’m surprised he still had feelings for her. A good main character deserved better. Perhaps he could have found her, bought her out and then ditched her- so there is still that element of realism but he could have learnt from it. I have a hard time seeing Natalka reform. Ryan could have worked at Cherub or just lead a normal life. He doesn’t have to have a relationship to be complete. (I don’t think we ever found out what became of Grace either, his initial love interest.)

The ‘Crustys’, as they became known as, were great. I think Lauren has remained consistent and I have always loved how she has a strong conscience. She gets shaky when they end up having to kill people and it makes her seem more real. I’m not sure what to make of Bruce and Ning’s relationship but if they were happy then I guess it’s okay. The banter between all of the Crustys was great to see and they feel like a real group of friends.

Overall, when I re-read Cherub I’ll probably just read the first series. Muchamore has done a spectacular job in creating a unique and exciting series so I have a lot of respect for him. There’s so much detail and it seems so real yet imaginative which makes it truly captivating. His characters are great and the thought that has gone into creating the plots throughout the series is genius. I’ll definitely keep an eye out for more of his writing and if anything Cherub related was published I would certainly be interested.

[Kasia (kasikowykurz) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kompletnie nie potrafię być obiektywna w stosunku do tej serii, ale kocham ich całym sercem <3

[SecretsOfaBookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Perceval Wolff-Taffus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Une excellente conclusion à cette saga. Bien que je pense que ça aurait été possible de rajouter un peu plus de profondeur à la 2e moitié du livre et qu'elle fait plus précipitée, on est juste tellement heureux de voir ce crossover entre les personnages des différentes époques !

[17carlinb243 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book in which the gang of old cherub recruits have a mission under the command of new cherub mission controller James Adams. After Leon and Daniel uncover secret information about the Islamic state from Ollie, a twelve year old, they uncover the sinister plot in which two British citizens were kidnapped by a shady man called Uncle’s associates. James, Lauren, Bruce, Kerry and Kyle are trained by the current cherubs in an exhausting session each day, Ryan decides to go with James despite the fact he will be kicked out of cherub. When at the oil rig owned by the Islamic state, they rescue the two British workers and escape.

[Hafizh Rudiana · Rating 5 out of 5]

The last ever Cherub book with James Adams (a former Cherub Agent) and Ryan Sharma has assembled a team of legendary Cherub agents teaming up to rescue captured civilians from terrorists.

I read Cherub from when James Adams was still a kid and joined Cherub, and now he’s working as a mission controller married with Karrie Chang who he met and was paired up with when he was still a new trainer in basic training and still 12 years old. Cherub books are soo.... thrilling that makes me want to keep reading. Reading Cherub from James’ first mission to Ryan’s last mission makes them soo extraordinary comparing to other ordinary children, they can send criminals and terrorists to jail being undercover as children!! I know it is only fiction which is why I like reading Cherub.

[Justin Larimore · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was sorry to learn that New Guard wraps up the long-running CHERUB series, but this book certainly brings the tales of the young agents to a stylish and hair-raising conclusion, wrapping up the stories of former agents James and Lauren Adams, as well as leaving CHERUB in good hands for the future.

The premise of this teen thriller series is simple, and don’t worry if you’ve not read one of the books before, as New Guard works perfectly as a standalone adventure. No one expects kids to be spying on them, so the youngest operatives in British Intelligence can be right under the noses of criminals and terrorists and usually no one is any the wiser. Sounds far-fetched? Actually, no, it works, it really works. The kids undergo gruelling training at the top-secret CHERUB academy, which masquerades as an army base, and the series charts their highs and lows.

In New Guard, twins Leon and Daniel Sharma are sent to a privately-run residential care centre in a rough area of Birmingham. They are there to get close to Oliver Lakshmi. The twins have a dual brief: firstly, to assess if Oliver might be a suitable recruit for CHERUB and secondly to see if he has any information on possible links with radical Islamic groups like Al Qaeda and Islamic State. Oliver is, to put it bluntly, an unpleasant little shit, and leads the twins into problems with local criminals.

The first part of the book concentrates on the younger agents, and the second half follows the CHERUB old guard of James Adams, now a mission controller; his long-standing girlfriend Kerry Chang who works in investment banking; Lauren Adams, who now drives racing cars; and their friends and former CHERUB agents Kyle Blueman and Bruce Norris. The ‘old guard’ are all reunited for a dangerous mission to rescue two kidnapped oil industry workers from war-torn Syria.

The series has never lacked explosive action, but the Syrian mission is one of the toughest tests the former agents have faced. It’s all on a wholly deniable basis, meaning that if it goes wrong, they’re on their own. There’s a real sense of danger hanging over New Guard, and absolutely no certainty that everyone will make it out. When a training accident leaves the team one person short, Ryan Sharma, very close to being too old to continue working for CHERUB, steps in, and joins the former agents on their mission.

Muchamore doesn’t pull any punches in the language used or in the descriptions of the explosive and violent action the team are engaged in. People die. Children die. Nothing is sugar-coated. It’s raw, brutal and always believable. New Guard is a fitting end to a series that has maintained a consistently high standard from start to nail-biting finish.

[Alicia Lim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a series I really enjoyed during my teenage years with all the spies stuff and exciting missions. Never got about reading the entire series and decided to read the entire series from the first to the last book now.

Though I might be a little too old for this young adult series, still enjoyed the series and felt as though I was growing up with the characters. Bittersweet moment that the series has come to an end but nevertheless it was a great process :)

[Maggy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Toujours un plaisir de lire cherub, un petit pincement au cœur à l’idée de laisser James, Kerry, Lauren, Ryan, Ning, et tous les autres. Cette série, malgré certains défauts, reste à mes yeux une pépite 🤍💫

[15HookA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick and fast paced another good book slightly different to the other books as it on loves adults more but still a enjoyable read

[Iga Chrzanowska · Rating 4 out of 5]

Giving 4, just because I feel so sentimental about this series and loved having one last look at the old Cherub crew. Such a big part of my childhood.

[Kaja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall good book, of course not like the first CHERUBS, and I still would like more (completely not over the fact that it is the last one from the series). But it felt extremely nostalgic seeing James and the gang on a mission again. 4/5, because nothing will ever beat CHERUBS 1-7 (and don’t try to prove me wrong).

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

James and Kerry are back together and engaged, and James is invited to spearhead a mission to cripple the oil infrastructure in Israel that doesn’t exist. Ryan leaves Cherub as he is already 17 and participates in this mission. Cherubs weren’t allowed to be in the mission as it would be possible for adults to do. They kill some people and save the two mechanics from the oil rig

[Antonis · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was really good, but it missed the stuff I loved about the old books. The mission was over really quickly. Also, I feel that the story was not convincing. The English government wants to do a black op. But instead of trained black ops troops, it sends 5 undertrained young adults in Syria? I know they had training and stuff but I can not buy it.
Also, the description of the book is totally misleading.
So, I guess my rating is more because of my love for the series than for the actual quality of the book.

[Flavia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Sterne

Wenn auch nicht mein Lieblingsbuch in der Serie, definitiv ein guter Abschluss der Serie.
Wer die Top Secret Bücher von Anfang an gelesen hat, den überkommen in diesem Buch nostalgische Gefühle wenn die alten und neuen Cherub Agenten aufeinander treffen. Sicherlich kein literarisches Meisterwerk und auch nicht wirklich auf meine Altersklasse ausgelegt, aber ich hatte definitiv Spaß.

Abzüge gibt es von mir auch für den Umgang mit Pädophilie.

[Leonardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

verdict

Definately not the best book in the whole cherub series, but still really fun to read.

Other stuff

Just to let you understand how enjoyable the book is, I read it in one day without stopping. So sad right now that the series is over. This has been my favourite series, and will always be. The book was also kind of short, but nonetheless captivating, absolutely beautiful like all the other cherub books.

[Winston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't believe the series is over! So nice to see all the old characters meet with the new ones! I'm going to miss all of them :( The book was way too short and I felt like this mission wasn't as exciting as the previous ones, but it was still good.

[Robert Mcgoldrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be honest I have really enjoyed sireies 1 and 2 but this one didn't really give me the detail and excitement that the others have me. I still highly recommend this sires and book.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

This last book was very nice. James Adams and the other clans got into this last series. However, James Adams almost blew his Cherub career away

[Abigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a throwback I loved every page

[Jacobh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought that it was a brilliant book covering some modern day issues and conflicts.

[Nikki Hastings · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been reading Robert Muchamore's CHERUB series for 12 years now, and it has been a heck of a ride! I even have a signed copy of Brigands M.C. I picked up on holiday in the UK in 2009!

New Guard can be split into two separate missions. The first sees the main characters from the Aramov books (with main character Ryan, age 17, about the age out of the program) on a minor mission stumble across some BIG intel. The second mission sees original CHERUB character James Adams not just act as a mission controller, but lead a mission with other former agents deep in to IS territory in Syria . I did like this particular setting, as it meant that the content or the missions remained culturally and politically relevant to the year it was set, while some of the minor plot points acknowledges changing cultural standards (such as the demolition of student dormitories in favour of smaller housing units for the children in a move away from institutionalisation).

A lovely conclusion, and a fitting "getting the band back together" ending. My only gripe? The publishers have changed the formatting style of the cover, so my copy looks completely different to the rest of the set!

[Mella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hmm. I don't know how to feel about this one. One one hand the mission was good and this has summed up most of my childhood. On the other, the ending was unsatisfying. There should've been a longer epilogue.


Plus like this second series have all been really misleading in their blurbs. It's really not about hostages. You don't even find out about the hostages until half way. And as another reviewer mentioned, they thought the hostages were Cherubs. Me too. Why else would they have to get the old guard back together? For that matter, who was paying them? I mean they're not a standard agency so it's not like there's just money being written down as black ops freelance people who were with Cherub but then retired?

WHAT THE HELL? I was finally sold on Ryan until the epilogue. WTF! He chases her down? Seriously? She thought Kazilov was his father and that he didn't have three brothers? How the hell did he explain that?

And Kerry....just a lost cause. Her and James ugh.

And Oli? Is he a psycho or not? If he wasn't then shouldn't he have been redeemable enough to recruit?

And I would've liked to see Rat in this book. And Kyle to settle down with someone nice. And know what becomes of Bruce and Ning.

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

On his third attempt at a CHERUB series finale (the first being Shadow Wave and the second being Black Friday), Muchamore finally succeeds in delivering an epic mission that sends its much-loved characters out with a bang.

This book was essentially in two parts, the first being quite a dull, bog-standard CHERUB mission, with the exciting Islamic State busting coming in part two. The mission to rescue two engineers from the IS with a team of our favourite classic CHERUB characters was fast-paced and exciting and left me wanting more. Seriously this bit should have been the whole book, it could have been much expanded. The final battle is bloody with a lot of casualties (none on the CHERUB side though which was a downer, I love a bit of death).

This book acted as a nice send off to Ryan and Ning, seeing them grow up and leave CHERUB, but also for James, the character we have been following for so many years. It is only in now that he seems to settle into his role as an adult and mission controller for CHERUB, it is great to see him comfortable and living life doing what he is so good at. I actually can't wait for Muchamore to inevitably revisit James in a few years. CHERUB 3.0 here we come. Pile on the death please.

[N Gleeson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book made me think about what it would be like to be a CHERUB agent, going on dangerous missions and catching criminals. I would love to be part of CHERUB because being a spy sounds and looks very cool to do. The agents must be under very heavy pressure, but they get an incredible education, a cool place to live, and amazing qualifications. On the other side, people might say no for many reasons, they don’t want to do it, thy could be killed, they could go mad pretenting to be a bad guy, or almost anything. In short, the amazing education, the great place to live, and amazing qualification are sugarcoating the stress and other bad stuff that could happen. Knowing that it is sugarcoated,I would stil join, as I believe it is worth the trouble and possible trauma and hardships. I think it would be really cool to spy on people and be a CHERUB agent The new recruit Kirin at the end of New Guard says ‘I like campus very much and not frightened of work hard.’, showing despite the hardships, CHERUB agents love what they do, and really enjoy being a cherub agent and catching criminals. Being a spy is hard, but other things in life are hard as well, showing they have chosen to be at CHERUB over everything else

[Emerson O’Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was the 17th and final book of the outstanding CHERUB series. I have loved reading books from this series and am disappointed that there isn’t going to be anymore books. This book was about one last mission for one of the main characters, James Adams. The main targets in this book were ISIS, and 2 young agents traveled away from camp to try and get more information on there suspected target. This book was definitely not as good or exciting as the previous books in the series but was still a page turner nonetheless. I recommend this book to anyone who likes the CHERUB series but would recommend you to read the previous books before this one, as it wouldn’t make as much sense. I give this book a 4/5.

[17gilshanh191 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is really engaging. It shows different perspectives of the main characters which gives that extra hook onto this book. The book comes under crime and spies, which I really like as a genre. This is the fifth book in the CHERUB series 2, however it does have another series before that which I am currently reading, it's called the Henderson Boys. It is about two spies who work together to destroy a wanted gang. In doing this they find out that two British men are being held captive in an Islamic terrorist group. They end up rescuing the, . It's quite funny and thrilling as well. The ending sort of wraps up the end of the series as it is the last book. Overall, I would recommend this book to teenagers who are interested in this sort of genre.

[Josh Huntley · Rating 4 out of 5]

New Guard is a warm and thoughtful conclusion to a series that meant a great deal to me growing up. It balances action and character development well, while giving space to themes of responsibility, legacy, and change.

The presence of the series’ newer faces feels natural, and the story is careful not to rely solely on nostalgia. Instead, it allows the CHERUB world to evolve, reflecting the passage of time in a way that feels earned rather than forced. The pacing is confident, and the emotional beats land without feeling overstated.

As a final chapter to a childhood favourite, this worked extremely well in audio form. It is both enjoyable and quietly satisfying, making it a fitting four star send off.