The Recruit (novel)

Plot

The Recruit begins with twelve-year-old James Choke in combined science class in his first term of secondary school, where he accidentally slashes classmate Samantha Jenning's face with a nail on the wall after she teases him about his mother's obesity. He shoves his female teacher over and runs home, an offense he is later expelled for, to find his stepfather Ronald Onions visiting his mother, Gwen Choke. He goes back to school to pick up his nine-year-old half- sister, Lauren Onions and they eat dinner at a local burger store. They return home to find Ronald gone and Gwen asleep, with multiple missed calls from the school on her phone and a note from the Deputy Head pushed under the door. Later that night, James discovers that Gwen has died, which he later finds out is from her consuming alcohol while taking painkillers. James is sent to a children's care home called Nebraska house, where he shares a room with 13-year-old CHERUB agent Kyle Blueman. Lauren, however, is taken to live with her father Ronald Onions, who views James unfavourably and doesn't allow him to visit. Contrary to Kyle's advice, James befriends Rob Vaughn and his friends. A few weeks later, James is called in to the police station, where he receives a caution for assaulting Samantha and his teacher. Later that night, Rob and his cronies convince him to steal a pack of beer from an off-licence. The shop clerk catches him after Rob blocks the exit for James to run. He is escorted to the police station, where he is placed in a cell and his statement recorded.

The next morning, James awakes naked in a room at CHERUB campus. After dressing, he finds his way to reception, where the receptionist directs him to the office of CHERUB chairman Dr Terrence 'Mac' McAfferty. He introduces him to CHERUB and puts him through a series of entrance tests where he meets Bruce Norris. He passes all the entrance tests, and is then sent back to Nebraska to decide if he wants to join. Kyle reveals that he was sent to recruit him. Upon returning to CHERUB, Kyle shows him his new room. He is then given a physical assessment, and told to run 30 km per week and learn to swim. He is taught by Amy Collins, a sixteen-year-old black-shirt CHERUB. Three weeks after his arrival at CHERUB, he and seven other recruits begin Basic Training, a 100-day course designed to prepare CHERUB agents for missions, and is paired up with Kerry Chang, a recruit with two attempts at Basic Training under her belt. Despite on Christmas nearly quitting before the completion of Basic Training, they both pass.

Two months later, Amy tells James that their swimming lessons are over, and they have a mission together. Overseen by mission controller Ewart Asker, they are to stay with Cathy Dunn at Fort Harmony, a hippy commune in Wales. There, they discover that brothers Fire and World Dunn are planning an anthrax attack against 200 oil executives and politicians, including the United States Secretary of Energy and the Deputy Prime Minister of Great Britain, at Petrocon, an oil conference held in the nearby Green Brooke conference center. They successfully prevent the attack, although accomplice Brian "Bungle" Evans manages to escape. For his exemplary job in the mission, James was awarded a navy shirt.

Development and publication

Development for both The Recruit and the CHERUB series as a whole began in 1999 when Muchamore was visiting his sister in Australia and found his twelve-year-old nephew complaining about the lack of any good reading material. In 2001, Muchamore began working on an unnamed novel, KN1 (Kids novel 1). This draft was more violent than the published version, with James slashing Samantha's face open with broken glass. Robert Muchamore did not approach a literary agent until Autumn 2002. By this time the novel was called CHERUB 1.0. He was rejected by the first agent but taken on by the second. Many different publishing companies disliked the novel and rejected Muchamore once again. In March 2003, Hodder Children's Books purchased CHERUB 1.0 and an unnamed sequel, both for release in 2004.

Translation

The Recruit has been translated into 20 languages, including:

Graphic novel

A graphic novel adaption of the book, adapted by Ian Edginton and illustrated by John Aggs, was released on 4 August 2012 by Hodder Children's Books.

Audio book

A 3-CD audiobook was released in the UK on 21 September 2006, read by Julian Rhind-Tutt.

Critical reception

The Recruit received generally good reviews, and was nominated for eight awards, seven of which it won. The Sunday Express described the book as "Punchy, exciting, glamorous and, what's more, you'll completely wish it was true."