Exclusive Interview with Robert Muchamore on The Prisoner
Robert Muchamore is multi-award winning English author who is popular among young adult reading genre for his two novels series – CHERUB and Henderson’s Boys. Since the publication and success of his very first book, The Recruit (CHERUB series) in 2004, Mr. Muchamore has been continuing to enthrall the teenagers by putting back-to-back espionage novels in both the series. Both of Robert’s series continue to bring a 60-40 teenage boy-girl fan base, which is unusual in the teen book market. All the books are based in reality, with aspiring male and female characters, teenage language and titivation.
His fifth and the most recent installment in the Henderson’s Boys series, The Prisoner, went straight into the top five in the children’s charts. It was really exciting for us and so must be for you to catch Robert Muchamore up on “The Prisoner”.
Your readers will love to read about “The Prisoner” in your words. Give us a brief of the storyline.
The Henderson’s Boys is the prequel series to the hugely popular CHERUB books, and follows the terrifying and dark adventures of the original young CHERUB spies during the Second World War in occupied France. “The Prisoner” is the recent installment of the HB series that tells the story of fourteen-year-old French Marc Kilgour, one of the best CHERUB agents, who is holed up in a brutal German labour camp and needs to plot a daring escape so that he can set off on another vital mission behind enemy lines.
Please discuss the specialty of the characters of Charles Henderson and his young agents, especially, Marc Kilgour, the one who takes the front in The Prisoner.
Charles Henderson is in charge of a group of espionage agents, all aged 17 or under. He’s a very rough and ready character who can be completely ruthless when he has to.
At the start of the series Marc sees Henderson as a kind of heroic father figure. But as Marc grows up he is increasingly disturbed by the horror of war and there’s friction as Marc becomes aware of Henderson’s flaws and begins questioning some of his decisions.
All the books of the Henderson’s Boys series are compiled in the backdrop of Second World War. What is the basic idea behind this?
My first series of spy books CHERUB was set in the present day and because I try to make my stories realistic I’m quite restricted in what I can do. Having a story set in WW2 really let me off the leash. I could have stories about explosions, air battles and stuff like that without losing the believability of the situations.
Which book from the Henderson’s Boys series is the favorite of the 
reader within you? Tell us something about that.
When you write a book you get so close to the storyline and all the details that it’s very difficult to have a good perspective on it. Also, I have a degree of affection for all of my books, so asking me to pick a favorite is like asking a mother to pick their favorite child!
Your readers must be eagerly waiting to know about your next release. So may we know what is coming from you next?
My next books are the latest CHERUB book Guardian Angel in August. It’s the second book featuring my new characters Ryan and Ning and there’s a big plot involving smugglers and computer hacking. Also in August will be the Graphic Novel of my first CHERUB book The Recruit. This will be followed by Henderson’s Boys – One Shot Kill in November.
Explore the entire CHERUB and Henderson’s Boys books at printsasia.com
Tags: 0340999179, 9780340999172, CHERUB NOVELS, Henderson's Boys, Robert Muchamore, The Prisoner, Young adult novel
