The Adventures of Josiah Jones

The Adventures of Josiah Jones is a series of young adult literature science fiction novels by American writer Dawson Vosburg. The series is centered on Josiah Jones and his friends, who use pairs of sunglasses to take them to an imaginary world called the BLUE Agency, of which they are members and fight their nemesis—the evil RED Agency.
The first novel in the series, Double Life, was self-published December 13, 2008, and will be followed by the second book, Terminal Velocity, set for release on December 14, 2009. The third book's title and date of release have yet to be revealed.
Plot
Double Life
Double Life begins with 13-year-old Josiah Jones finding a pair of sunglasses in a clothing store marked as free. When he and his mother check out, they are indeed free. Josiah finds this peculiar and puts the glasses on. He is instantly transported into a car that is not his own with his imaginary friends. He quickly finds out he's been transported into the imaginary world of the BLUE Agency in which he is Agent 12, the highest-ranked agent in the whole agency.
He is sent to a briefing room where he and his two imaginary friends, David Stone and Bob Gabrelli, are told by the mysterious and unnamed Agent D that the evil RED Agency is putting their members into political office all around the world, and that they are to find the RED's secret headquarters and destroy it.
Josiah takes off the glasses and he's back in his own world. When he tries to hide them, however, he is drawn back to them because of his curiosity. When he puts them back on, he tells David and Bob that he has no knowledge of what to do and that he isn't properly trained to complete this mission. David tests Josiah by fighting him, and Josiah loses badly. Josiah is then taken to an intensive physical and mental training course for the month that has to prepare for the mission.
Once Josiah is trained, he leaves with David and Bob to see a BLUE agent named Bryan McQueen in New York. He suggests that they go to Washington, D.C. in the Library of Congress to find the information in a book. When Josiah sees the cover of the book, he recognizes the author as a girl at his school who dislikes him, but he brushes it off quickly. They read the book and find out that the RED base is in Portland, Oregon.
They now decide to gather agents from across the country to help them fight. They start in Pennsylvania where they pick up Tom Hedburg, who is Agent 15 of the Pennsylvania Regiment Local Office (PRLO). He agrees to come with them.
Next, they go to Josiah's hometown of Washington, Indiana where Regiment Washington headquarters are located. They pick up Gary Thomson, Agent 9 of Regiment Washington (Agents 10, 11, and 12 in this regiment are Bob, David, and Josiah respectively).
Finally the group goes to Joy, Illinois to recruit some agents from the regiment there. However, the RED Agency has already invaded this regiment, so the group helps them regain their base. However, after the first attack fails and Josiah is the only to escape after everyone else is captured, he calls Agent D (who has led a shadowing group behind Josiah, David, and Bob the entire time) for backup.
It is revealed that Agent D is the girl Josiah recognized on the cover of the book from the Library of Congress, the one who had previously been mean to him at school. Her real name is revealed to be Denise Black. They, together, help save the Joy base. The Illinois regiment thanks them and they promise to help destroy the RED base as soon as their own is repaired.
The group travels to Portland, ambushed once on the way. They survive the ambush, however, and finally make it to Portland, where they infiltrate using RED uniforms and plan their attack.
After scanning the base thoroughly and calling in enough agents to attack the base, they bring in their troops in a full attack. After planting bombs across the entire building, Denise and Josiah confront Frederick Heschmann, the RED Agency's evil leader. They defeat him narrowly and send a message throughout the whole building that they are going to destroy it. Denise and Josiah evacuate everyone and then detonate the building.
Denise and Josiah decide to go back to the real world and get one of their friends to join. They recruit KC McCaite. She gets her own glasses and also goes to the imaginary world.
When the BLUE agents are back in their main base in Tallahassee, Florida, however, they are attacked by an angry mob of RED agents. Josiah becomes locked in a battle with Frederick, who disables his shield and delivers a pistol-whip to his forehead at which he becomes unconscious.
Upon waking up days later, he finds that his shield generator had exploded and his arm was bandaged and scarred. He is notified by Denise that Gary was killed in battle.
Once Josiah recovers, he talks to Tom about Gary's death. Tom believes it's a conspiracy and that Gary isn't really dead. Josiah berates Tom for saying this.z
After Gary's funeral, Josiah talks withe David who reveals that Denise is his sister and she had previously worked for the RED Agency. Josiah urges David to tell Denise, at which he does. David, who had previously been stoic and unexpressive, seems happier now.
KC, Denise, and Josiah decide to go back to the real world, so together they remove their sunglasses and go back to reality.
The book ends when the three decide to go back to the BLUE Agency for a year and they put their sunglasses back on, leaving a cliffhanger for the next book.
The Author
Double Life was published on December 13, 2008, at which point Dawson Vosburg was fourteen years old (he is currently fifteen). He says about being a teen author, "I have never really thought of my age as being a drawback...people have been more receptive of my book because or in spite of my age."
Characters
Members of the BLUE Agency
*Josiah Jones—Thirteen-year-old, brown hair, blue eyes, Caucasian, previously homeschooled but now goes to a private school with Denise Black and KC McCaite. Agent 12, Regiment Washington, All-Force Division.
*David Stone (born David Black)—Thirteen-year-old, black buzz-cut hair, dark brown eyes, African-American. Twin brother of Denise Black, but they were separated at birth. Strong, emotionally inexpressive, and quiet. Agent 11, Regiment Washington, All-Force Division.
*Robert "Bob" Gabrelli—Thirteen-year-old, black hair, blue eyes, Caucasian. Easygoing friend who can fight when he needs to. Agent 10, Regiment Washington, All-Force Division.
*Denise Black—Thirteen-year-old, long black hair, dark brown eyes, African-American. A strong and snappy leader. Does not like to be questioned. Remains very mysterious until around halfway through Double Life. Agent D, Head Regiment, Government Office.
*Kendra Carla "KC" McCaite—Thirteen year-old, auburn hair, green eyes, Caucasian. Was kidnapped by the RED, but escaped. Attends school with Josiah and Denise. Unknown ranking.
*Gary Thomson—Unknown age and appearance, though he is a teenager. Is murdered in battle by a RED agent. Agent 9, Regiment Washington, Division All-Force
*Tom Hedburg—Fourteen-year-old, black hair, brown eyes, Caucasian. Always looking for a conspiracy theory to latch onto. Agent 15, Regiment Pennsylvania Local Office, Division All-Force.
Members of the RED Agency
*Frederick Heschmann—Little is known about him except that he is tall and has slicked back black hair. Leader of the RED Agency.
Reception
Little critical reception has been given to Double Life, although there are several positive reviews. Reader Views Kids gave the book four stars, as did Amazon Top 10 Reviewer, Grady Harp, calling it "The Secret Garden updated".

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