After finding a link in a successful mission in Hong Kong, James and Lauren Adams and Dana Smith are sent on a mission to Australia, posing as the children of an ASIS agent. Before leaving Kerry said to James that when he gets back they will try again on their relationship after he is done with his mission to infiltrate a cult. They have been sent to determine whether a cult, The Survivors, is associated with Help Earth and as such are sent to a "recruitment hotbed" area in Brisbane. The "family" starts going to cult meetings, and are eventually accepted into the commune. Lauren and James are accepted into an elite cult school in the Ark, the cult's headquarters. There, James befriends Rathbone "Rat" Regan, son of the cult's founder and the only other person in the ark immune to their brainwashing tactics. After a while, Lauren develops a crush on Rat, and he uses his influence with Susie Regan, one of his father's many wives, to get her and James jobs in the offices, rather than in the stifling warehouse or laundry rooms. Dana, meanwhile, extremely depressed about her unspectacular role in the mission, is summoned to the head of the commune's office. There, she and Eve, another cult member, are told that they are to participate in a Help Earth mission to blow up an oil tanker. Australian oil tankers are alerted about an attack, but in her discovery that the target is across the sea in Indonesia she attempts to warn the mission controllers, which fail, and she ends up having to stop the attack herself. She overpowers the other members of the boat, except Eve who escapes on a dinghy but is later found dead washed up on a beach after the mission. Back at the Ark, the cult leader, Joel Regan, dies sending the cult into a panic. His eldest daughter, nicknamed The Spider, takes over the cult and commands her followers to prepare for the apocalypse. Meanwhile, ASIS now knows of the links between Help Earth and the Survivors. Having been waiting for an excuse to attack the Ark, elite troops are sent in to destroy it, despite the CHERUB agents' warnings that the cult is well-prepared for such an event. Believing the ASIS attackers to be armies of the devil, the cult shoot down a helicopter and kill dozens of troops in the ASIS raid. In the lull that follows, James, Lauren and Rat attempt an escape. However, they are captured by The Spider and locked in a room full of toddlers by a sadistic overseer. When they manage to overpower her, Lauren points out that they need to take the kids with them or risk them dying in the fight between ASIS and the cult. James reluctantly agrees, and they drag the half-asleep toddlers with them. Rat says that the most likely way out is through the sewage system, so they go there. James is making his way through the tank when an engineer appears. A brief moment of panic is proved unfounded as Rat persuades the man that he is on a divine mission. The man then offers to help them escape. The now nine-strong group escape, but the ark explodes after being rigged by the cult to kill ASIS soldiers, killing several dozen children inside the Ark and The Spider in the process. Rat is also reported dead by the media, but in actuality survived. With the mission over, Rat is recruited by CHERUB and starts going out with Lauren, who receives a black shirt, Dana is awarded a navy shirt, while all James gets is a stomach bug caught in the sewage system. The four return to campus with Rat due into basic training in three weeks.
Main characters
James Adams - Is sent to Australia with Lauren and Dana to infiltrate the Survivors' Ark. Only Lauren and James are accepted and they begin to unearth links between The Survivors and Help Earth. Towards the end of the book they become involved in the carnage that ensues when The Australian SAS invade.
Lauren Adams - James's sister, Lauren also goes to Australia and earns a Black Shirt, making her one of the youngest CHERUB agents to ever receive one.
Dana Smith - She is part of the mission, except that she does not get accepted to go into the Survivor's Ark. Instead, Dana is sent to blow up a tanker that is refueling at a LNG, Liquid Natural Gas, facility as a part of Help Earth's plan.
Development
Censored section
Divine Madness is one of two CHERUB stories where part of a scene had been cut out. The scene in question was the segment where Kyle and Bruce were chasing a suspected member of Help Earth. In the original version of the scene, Bruce beats up a passenger who calls him names while boarding the train. In the published book, this is not shown due to excessive violence. The cover is Bruce ignoring the comment.
Extra story
On the CHERUB website, there is a bonus chapter entitled "Disconnected". It is set during Chapter 44 of Divine Madness, and introduces James' father.
