Cherub: Mission Two - The Dealer

James has been in the CHERUB program for almost a year. They are a set of young orphans who are recruited to do undercover work. James is chosen for a mission infiltrating kids of a drug dealer. His friend Kyle is chosen for the team too. James' friend Kerry begs to be included on the mission as she is green.

James finds it easy to befriend Junior, the son of the main drug dealer. They skip school and do all kinds of hooligans. Junior asks James to come by the boxing gym. James is a shoe in, as CHERUB members are taught martial arts and are fit from training.

Kerry wants to prove herself and gets info from a boy whose father is aligned with this drug trade. Kerry has James and his little sister Lauren come and help break into a warehouse where she thinks there are drugs. It is a grand success. But the cops just monitor the place now for info.

James accepts an invite from Junior and his dad to fly to Miami. Apparently some cartel broke ties with Junior's father, and they come in strong to try to beat info on his hidden money. James and Junior come upon the scene. James runs. A gunman follows. James uses a broken piece of plaster to stab the perpetrator, steal his gun, and fire one bullet to kill him. James later drives a Range Rover out of the compound.

The DEA in the USA arrest Junior's father. He gets sent back to Britain after cutting a plea bargain. The British court system was not as lenient. He got 18 years in prison. No parole until at least 10 years served. James is benched because he was on two big missions this year. Plus his school work has fallen behind.

Unsettlers

This book chronicles the author meeting three families who wanted to escape. They were against many things including government, taxes, and the grid.

One family set up some sort of community. They worked to grow food they could eat. They had a hard time attracting anybody to join the community long term. There was a rule that the community voted on things together. However the wife seemed to think she could overrule the votes. They had a neighbor who ran a cow farm that helped them out when they needed things like an emergency ride in a car to the hospital.

Another family focused on the young daughter. She was in a bad part of Detroit. She was not allowed to walk outside alone due to crime. She loved agriculture. She went to school for it. But she could only find a minimum wage job at a government place that was doomed to go out of business.

The third was about a family that strove to make money from their farming. It was rough. They lucked out when they could get businesses to buy from them. They also sold they produce at a market. Even though they had some sales, it was hard to make ends meet. They needed to adapt to sell the items that made the most profit.

Violin

This was an Anne Rice book I picked up for $3 from a second hand store. It starts with the death of Triann's husband. She hides in her house with the dead body. She spots a tall lanky man outside who plays the violin like a master. Trianna used to live with her little sister Faye in the house. But Faye left and had gone missing.

We find out the man with the violin is named Stefan, and is a ghost. Trianna steals his violin. The ghost is too weak to take it back. The ghost pulls Trianna into scenes from his memories. They include his death. Trianna finds that she can play this ghostly violin, and she is a master at it.

Trianna goes on your. Her deceased husband was rich. Her concerts makes her even richer than her husband was. The ghost keeps trying to reclaim the violin. The ghost eventually talks Trianna into going to Rio. It is there that an old friend said Trianna's deceased daughter was reborn.

Trianna and Stefan see a light from heaven. Trianna talks Stefan into going towards the light. The violin disappears with him. Back home, they get word from Trianna's lawyer that Faye called. The whole family rushes home to find Faye. Trianna finds that she has the ability to play grand music with other violins too.

Epic

This is a tiny book I got as a gift. The author talks about our lives being a story. He compares it to the great stories in books and TV like Lord of the Rings, The Titanic, and the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe series. Likewise, the author compares the life of Jesus as a story. He identifies Satan as the villain. He warns us to make sure we end up on the right side of the spiritual story.

The Last Interview

This was a small book. I thought it was literally the last interview with her before she died. The book does contain a chapter on that. But it also has a lot of other interviews with her. Toni wrote The Bluest Eye. It is the only book I have read from her. She wrote it when she was 39 years old.

Toni was a college professor for a number of colleges including her alma mater Howard. She spent almost 20 years being a book editor herself. She published 8 books. The interviews in the middle of her career felt very academic.

Toni grew up in Ohio. Her family fled there from the south, where there was trouble. Toni divorced after having a few kids. Originally she would wake up before dawn and write before her kids woke up. She said her first book was a printing run of 1500 books. She thought it initially only sold 100 copies. It got picked up by a college as required reading, causing it to be a success.

New Kid

Jordan lives with his mom and dad in New York. His mom i wowed by a school they enroll Jordan into. She says it looks like Harvard. Jordan's old school is a single building. The new school is a whole complicated campus. Some other kid is assigned to show Jordan around. This other kid's dad drives them to the first day of class.

Jordan is an aspiring artist. He wants to go to an art academy. His mom wants him to go to this other new school. Dad says they can revisit the art academy in a year or two. Jordan does not know anybody at this new school. He meets another black kid who has became quarterback for the football team. Jordan and everyone else is required to do a sport. He tries soccer. Although he gets put on the lowest team, he scores a goal in the first game. That was the first time anybody in the low team ever scored a goal.

Some weird girl seems to like talking to Jordan. She wears a puppet on the hand. Jordan eventually finds out she saved her little brother from a boiling pot of water, injuring her hand in the process. A nasty kid at school wants to fight the quarterback. Right before a fight breaks out between the two, the nasty guy slips on a banana peel. The teachers try to punish the quarterback for punching the nasty kid. Jordan starts a rally where they tell the truth and defend the quarterback.

Initially, art class was about some strange impressionist drawings. Later Jordan finds out the teacher can draw all kinds of realistic paintings too. So he gives the impressionism a try. His result becomes the cover of the yearbook. Jordan does get back with a friend he used to go to school with. He also finds out the kid who originally showed Jordan around is filthy rich.

Crisis on the Border

This is the story of Matt Pinsker. He was an attorney who answered the call to help prosecute illegal aliens in Laredo, TX. He spent six months working there. There were tons of cases being held on a daily basis. The legal system could barely keep up.

Most illegals would plead guilty. They were normally sentenced to time served (the jail time already spent awaiting trial), plus deportation. Pinsker said the people who were deported would most likely just try again. They might even get caught again later that week.

Pinsker said a lot of immigrants wanted to get jobs and meet up with family already in the USA. They mostly paid drug cartels in Mexico a lot of money to smuggle them in. Normally around $6k to $8k. People in the cartel that assisted with the smuggling made a lot of money. The cartel would also force immigrants to smuggle drugs in or weapons out of the country.

Pinsker said that up to a third of the immigrants had a criminal record, not including minor offenses like parking tickets. He said some of them were not from Mexico, Central America, or South America. He thought we needed more border patrol. He complained that congress was of no help in understanding the problem and providing more resources.