After a tsunami causes massive devastation to a tropical island, its governor sends in the bulldozers to knock down villages, replacing them with luxury hotels. Guarding the governor's family isn't James Adams' idea of the perfect mission -- and then retired agent Kyle Blueman comes up with an unofficial and highly dangerous plan of his own. James must choose between loyalty to CHERUB, and loyalty to his friend.

James is recruited into CHERUB, a secret division of MI5 which consists of teenage spies. He successfully completes his training and goes on his first mission.

When an MI5 operation goes disastrously wrong, James Adams needs all of his skills to get out of Russia alive. Meanwhile, his sister Lauren is on her first solo mission, trying to uncover a brutal human trafficking operation. And when James does get home, he finds that his nightmare is just beginning ...CHERUB agents have one crucial advantage: adults never suspect that children are spying on them.