I saw this book in my local library thought it looked interesting and took it out. I loved it so much that i immediately had to come back to get the second and third books. I am now looking at buying the rest of the series in order to keep going to find out what happens. Sure to appeal to teens and pre teens as well as adult readers as well. Of which I am one.

This book is a lot like the Alex Rider books in many ways. It's about an 11-year-old (soon to be 12-year-old) who's recruited by a section of MI5 called Cherub, which uses children for undercover work where adults would be too suspicious. It's a page-turner, and you won't get bored (at least I didn't), but if it was a choice between this book or any of the Alex Rider books, I'd choose the Alex Rider ones any day. For one reason, Cherub doesn't seem to take itself seriously enough, given it's a branch of MI5. The Cherub campus (when the kids aren't in basic training) seems like a posh boarding school, where, though the school's supposed to be run like an army camp, the kids are for some reason allowed to throw wild drunken parties long into the night. The kids are much more interested in getting the prestige of a different-coloured shirt for successful missions than they are in the actual missions. And they're supposedly mostly "safe" missions - which doesn't seem likely when they're supposed to be surrounded by terrorists and drug smugglers on missions. Mostly though, this book loses a leaf rating for the main character, James. He probably won't inspire much admiration in readers: he's got no moral qualms about stealing for kicks, bashing up cars for no good reason, getting in fights, getting drunk out of his mind and making out with girls he's just met minutes before (did I mention he's 12?), and so on. His only qualification seems to be that he's got a very unusual talent for doing math in his head. Other than that, you kind of wonder why he's considered capable of working as a spy (they give the reason that he's a trouble-maker, but so are lots of kids, and they don't have the ability to be spies). Normally, if there were loads of spies, as there are in this book, the story would centre around one of the best or most unusual, but he seems completely average. This might make him seem more realistic of a character than Alex Rider, who's extraordinarily talented, who's got an unbreakable sense of right and wrong, and who's insanely brave, but James' ordinariness is much less intriguing. The most important thing to James is whatever's most cool - he's doesn't agree to be an undercover agent because he's particularly interested in stopping terrorists or drug dealers (I wouldn't be surprised if he's a druggie himself before long), but because he's got nothing better to do and spying seems cool enough. Everything he does seems to be offhand, like he's got no idea of the dangers - though the dangers are never really stressed to readers. A warning to some: there's some swearing in this book, which helps move it into the teen section though it's mostly about kids. Even though The Recruit is not as great as the Alex Rider books, it's entertaining, and I'll probably be reading the other books in the series.

When I read this book I couldn't put it down. I wanted to read more of it. I bought the rest of the series and read 4 in one month. I am on the fith and I can't wait for the sixth! It is jaw dropping, cliff hanging and, in my opinion, should be up for an award. I aws up for hour every night just reading it. I was never really was the kind of person who read alot of books, but since I have started reading this series I spend about 70% of my money on books. please write more!

This is a great book for teenagers and preteens. The author Robert Muchamore relates to his fans. Even with its undercover agents setting the book is down to earth realistic. Muchamore describes his characters to relate to modern day teenagers. With love, action , and comedy this book is sure to please anyone.