The Secrecy

 The Secrecy, James Butler, Independently Published, 2020

First of a series, this book is about Emma and Adam, two British teenagers who are kidnapped by a super-secret agency called The Secrecy. The pair are the agency's newest recruits. For Emma and Adam, the choice is simple: Join or Die. Their families are told that they are dead. They watch their own funerals through CCTV cameras.

Their first assignment involves a trip to northern Mexico. Kidnapping of average citizens has gotten out of hand: up to 65 people are being snatched per day. Emma and Adam's job is to put a stop to it. Even though they don't really know what they are doing, by following a clue here and a clue there, they find one of the "campsites." A couple of hundred people are locked in trucks, and they are about to be sold. All of the prisoners are untied, then there is a mass attack against the guards. Many prisoners die, but so do all of the guards. The rest of the prisoners are freed.

Emma and Adam are sent to another "campsite," where a couple of hundred more prisoners are held. This one has actual buildings, and not just several large trucks parked in the jungle. Does their luck hold out? Can they do it again?

This story is really good. It is all about "basic" spy work (for lack of a better term). It means being observant and using your brain, without the use of all sorts of high tech gadgets. I look forward to future books in this series.