The Sleepwalker

The Sleepwalker continues the CHERUB tradition of an A and B-plot, but this time ties both together much better than previous entries with the throughline of family abuse. Opening with an exciting campus training exercise, Lauren is able to prove herself as an experienced agent which creates an entertaining dynamic with her mission partner, the young and over-eager Jake. I appreciate how this was differentiated with an ‘open-approach', and Muchamore explains how the agents' spying technology actually works. James finally gets a bit of poor luck, with even the characters acknowledging how ‘jammy' he is, which allows for refreshing character development with Kerry away from action (mostly). I also can't ignore the interweaved plane crash chapters at the beginning, which were truly heartbreaking. The unexpected conclusions involving Jake, the plane crash and the Fahim character all add to the increasingly grey morality in the CHERUB series, which I am appreciating as a reader.