As I got older and yearned to explore the wonders of 12 and 15 rated movies and video games, so did my appetite for teenage fiction become more curious. Whilst still a teenage boy’s fantasy – the characters of the Cherub series certainly weren’t mature – the Cherub books could be considered a step beyond the other major teen spy fiction series, Alex Rider (which I also took great delight in over the years). Along with the more down to earth characters and some sex and swearing thrown in for good measure, this was true escapism. You wanted to be James Adams and take part in the undercover missions he went on, whether it was in a maximum security jail or a gangster millionaire’s home. A much more 3 dimensional character, in my opinion, than Alex Rider, any reader immediately wanted to trade lives with this Cherub agent. Apart from the organisation’s requirement of having to be an orphan perhaps, which wouldn’t be so great.
