Irish Friends Jeremy, Johnny J, Walker, Sumo, and new-comer Charlie are supposed to be having fun during the school holidays, however, Johnny J’s mum is seriously ill. She has cancer and the doctors have told her that the treatment is no longer working. Johnny’s dad died when he was little so all that he would have left is an uncle who has been partly looking after him already and an aunt who lives in England.

Jeremy is upset for his friend and wants to help him mum get better so that she doesn’t die and so that Johnny doesn’t have to leave him and move to England. He comes up with what he thinks is an amazing idea and gathers the friends. He wants them to rob a store which they can do very soon as Ireland are playing in the World Cup against Romania and the whole country is expected to be watching it and the owner’s Granny is going to be running the shop. With the money, they can send Johnny’s mum to America for treatment.

The robbery is just the start of the children’s adventures as one lie always leads to more lies and the shop didn’t have half the money they needed. Will the kids be caught out or will they manage to get enough money to help Johnny’s mum and get away with the perfect crime?

The Fearless Five is a real mixed bag for me and whilst I think it is a fun, exciting adventure book with some amazing character who are all completely different to one another, I also feel that it was quite a hard read, even for me as an adult, due to the nature behind the children’s antics which was brought to the forefront on numerous occasions and did make me feel teary at times.

Jeremy is the youngest in his family and with an older sister training to be a nurse and a brother who thinks that he is in the best band ever (they sound awful BTW), he feels like he has a lot to live up to. Johnny J is trying hard to keep everything together given his mother’s prognosis and the uncertainty of his future. Walker is the posh one of the group who doesn’t believe in the robberies but won’t let the team down. Sumo is the muscle, although he is a real softy at heart and Charlie, the only female in the group is the tough one, outgoing and always up for a challenge.

The book has plenty of humorous moments and will have you flying through the pages trying to keep up with the kids, who have some good and not-so-good plans to get Johnny J’s mum some money. The only thing I can say I didn’t like is that each page had footnotes about something that had happened with that page and to me, they became a little distracting and after a couple of chapters I stopped reading them and the book flowed better.

It is a middle-grade story, but there are a lot of pages so I would say this is for confident readers only who don’t mind reading about cancer and the prospect of losing a parent. Overall, it is a blast and the kids get up to quite a lot of mischief but all for a good cause. It shows what true friendship is.

Bannie McPartlin lives in an ancient city once inhabited by Vikings and now Dublin people. She’s married to Donal, a drummer, guitar and piano player. He’s a man of many noises. Together they have four dogs: Trudy, Bonzo, Misty and Doris.

Bannie has written fiction for adults for over ten years under the name Anna, but the kids she loves in her life call her Bannie so the name change is for them.