Adventure in Istanbul

Lisa Arsenault is a high-school English teacher who is involved in
several ministry campaigns to increase literacy.

Thirteen-year-old identical twins Jennifer and Maggie go on a fabulous
Mediterranean cruise with their grandmother and their best friend. The
exotic ports of call include Santorini, Crete, and Istanbul, and the
vacation appears to be a dream come true.

But all is not what it seems. The family is actually in that part of
the world to trace the whereabouts of the twins’ father, a pilot who
was held captive in Syria but managed to escape. They are tailed by
Syrian agents, Canadian government agents, and double agents. Imposters
masquerade as ship’s personnel. There is an attempted kidnapping and a
murder.

A further complication is that Jennifer has the ability to become
invisible. The girls use her invisibility and their identical looks to
stand in for each other and confound their enemies at every turn.

Twins are always intriguing and the ones in this novel are
well-developed and interesting. Good-natured spats, flashes of deeper
annoyance, and outright arguments with each other reflect normal sibling
interaction and highlight their dissimilar personalities. Rivalries and
jealousies with their classmates add to the authentic teenage flavour.
Other characters’ dialogue, feelings, and actions are also
realistically portrayed. The twins’ parents are divorced, and their
mother’s reaction to the disappearance of her former husband feels
right to the reader.

Compelling characters, diverse settings, an exciting plot, and a
satisfying conclusion make Book 1 in this new spy series a good read.
Recommended.