Secrets of PEACE by T.A. Hernandez

Publication Date & Publisher: July 27, 2016, Sanita Street Publishing

Genre(s): Thriller (Dystopian), General Fiction

My Rating: 3.5/50

Description (from Goodreads):

Nearly 30 years ago, the PEACE Project rose from the ruins of a global war to take power over a new America. Providing stability in exchange for absolute authority, the Project controls every aspect of citizens’ lives through each of its five units:

Protect
Enforce
Advance
Control
Eliminate

Raised in the Project since infancy, eighteen-year-old Zira has been trained as an assassin under the stern guidance of unit E-2’s Chairman Ryku. After she makes a careless mistake on an assignment, the chairman partners her with Jared, the best operative in her unit. Their partnership transforms into friendship as they work together and learn to rely on each other. But when misinformation causes a solo mission to backfire, Zira’s deepest loyalties and strongest relationships are tested in a place where even a hint of doubt can be perceived as treason.

The life she knows is falling apart, and nothing will ever look the same again.

My review:

Okay, I’m going to attempt to give a review here without any spoilers, but it’s gonna be really hard with this one…

Secrets of PEACE tells the story of a promising young assassin named Zira. She’s spent her entire life as a member of the PEACE Project. The Project is supposed to be taking care of what’s left of civilization, but how it goes about doing that is a secret not just to those living outside of the Project’s compound walls, but even to members in the organization itself.

Since most of the members in the Project were raised by the Project, they are completely brainwashed to believe the Project is infallible. Going against the Project isn’t an option and leaving is considered treason.

I loved the way both sides are portrayed in this story. You get to see life from both inside the Project and outside, and you can’t help but feel for both those protecting the Project and what it stands for and also those opposing it.

Ryku, the PEACE Project Chairman in charge of Zira’s unit, partners her with Jared, another E-2 operative. Neither of them are happy about the situation, but as they train together and prepare for their first mission as a team, they grow on each other.

When Zira is sent on a solo mission without Jared, everything falls apart and she is changed forever. By the time she returns to the Project, she has no idea who to trust and is no longer able to follow orders blindly. Jared and her best friend, Aubreigh, can’t help her as she wrestles with the consequences of what happened on her last mission. Her eyes have been opened, but she’s not sure that’s a good thing.

The pacing of this story is super fast and I found myself kind of disappointed when I got to the end because I wasn’t ready to be done with it yet. And speaking of “the end”… I both loved AND hated it!!! I’m not even sure how that’s possible, but it happened. I read the last sentence and was like NOOOOOOO…I need to know what happens from here! (Thankfully, there’s a second book (Renegades of PEACE)!!)

My biggest pet peeve about this book was that it went back and forth between Zira’s point of view and Jared’s, but at times it was hard for me to tell the difference. I often forgot who’s head I was in and then they’d say something and it’d completely throw me. Normally, this kind of thing would put me off of a book completely, but that didn’t happen here. Even with this, I couldn’t stop reading because I NEEDED to know what was going to happen. (So I probably should’ve realized the ending was going to drive me nuts.)

Overall, I’d recommend reading Secrets of PEACE if you like dystopian novels.