Welcome to Book Readers Heaven! Find Books, Reviews, Short Stories, Authors, Publicity, a little poetry, music to complement...and other stuff including politics, about life... "Books, Cats: Life is Sweet..."
I am going to begin a new very open series of my perspective on life as it is right now as instigated in 2015 by the republican party...
This is the video that God sent to begin my reviewing...
I will be reading this author... Starting with an earlier Book
God's Undertaker: Has Science Buried God?
Indeed, Science Fiction has Already Introduced the Concept (Star Trek)
Gabby gives Star Trek Original top ratings with 1-10 - 25; Second Generation as 20, other captains 10 - Latest version recently shared here - 5... But, now meet the Science Fiction beginning of the issue presented with 2nd video...
Meet BORG!
As some of you already know, GABixlerReviews became Gabby when I stopped accepting reviews... But, really, about 5 years ago when Avi, my new great-great-nephew came into my life... And his mother became my caretaker and helper as my body's health declined. Avi is now preparing for his first school year... and I've aged along with him... He calls me Gabby and he is already a creator of fiction... Hopefully, my first books to him began that thirst for imagination and creation...
But an even older connection GABixlerReviews has is with Google - Whoever they are...
Google, for me at least, is right up there with my first introduction to the Internet. Most of us have been automatically substituting Google when we say we need to do a search. We "google" it... For the most part, Google has been a significant partner in my online life. But like every other site, they refuse to talk... That, alone, heightens my frustration and lowers my ranking of this fantastic group of technical experts...
When I was looking for a new site from the book review site out of which I began to review books professionally--Independent Professional Book Reviews--created by Bettie Tucker, Rainbow's End Publishing Company Director until she decided to retire as a publisher, I found Blogger and have been here ever since. When I first joined Blogger, I moved all my IP site reviews at one time and found my new long-term home. That been about 25 years ago and I've been blogging every since, with breaks for surgeries, vacations when I took them, and other life activities...
The government was the reason we disbanded IP Reviews. As we all know, especially now, the federal government is constantly searching out how the new Internet was being used to "Make Money." Heaven forbid that somebody would be making money and they didn't get their share! Of course, we all know that the present administration has tried recently to steal money from the IRS to use as pay-back money for his worshippers... Money - reminds me that I've just finished a 4-post article regarding a recent health break caused by forces outside my control... If you didn't get info, I hope you'll take time to catch up on my Open Memoir... on my sister blog, Just My Personal Opinion...
Mainly because it led to this new activity at Book Readers Heaven. Reviewing Today's World from Gabby's perspective... Once I found the video this morning, I knew it was a God Incident--a message from My Father Who Art In Heaven...
Andre Bocelli is my favorite tenor singer. A blind artist who has given joy to millions of people with His God-given voice... is ranked 1-10 as 25!
~~~~~~
Health Care in U.S.
Comparative Review between 1960s and 2026
Communication - 1960s - 10
2026 - 2
Technology - 0
After hurrying to finish the last page of my post on Job Burnout, I ate a little to take my evening meds and went to bed to read... my normal routine...
But I almost immediately noticed that my heart was beating faster! My left arm was painful, a dull pain, but more than when I decided to go to ER. Was it what I ate? Did I actually take my evening med? Or had I taken my morning med? PTSD results in my mind moving quickly--too quickly so that I lose words, become unsure about what I had or had not just done, because my mind was still within the trigger putting me in PTSD... And my mind moves from one thing to another to another...
Kinda like Trump always talks... kinda makes you wonder about his state of mind. Mine? The jumping of issues normally lasts just during the moment of frustration. say no more than 10 minutes if I reach a countdown stage, which I rarely do... Does that mean he's in crisis mode continuously? Or at least since January and he began to be controlled by the Project 2025/Republican Party Financial Owners (my word combination, of course).
Was my heart in trouble? I started doing what I had done before when the dull pain moved into my arm. I started rubbing, squeezing hard on my left arm, I thought to try to get the blood flowing... I also threw in a couple of Tums because I wasn't sure that what I'd eaten that day had not produced a reaction of faster heart beating... Apparently, my self-care actions worked, as I woke up with wanting to review the WVU Hospital computer system! As it Now is...
My recent Job Burnout article related to listing what outside activities had occurred which placed my mind swirling... Last night, apparently, my heart was what felt the aftershock physical reaction... Will Life under this administration and the world as it now is, lead to my death?
I woke up thinking that I was going to fight all the way 'til that happens!
And Google has a small part of that... You see, I had to use 4 articles because I've never been able to figure out how to control the linear formatting. Everything I write there is set to take up, it seems, 3 times the length of what is on this blog. So a review is due on this site...
I have found help is tedious, if totally not available or, worse, understandable...
It is clear to me that there is NO Internet company that has Users as part of the development process... And since Google is one of the original creators, At this time, I give Google communication skills - 0 of a 1-10
I will quickly admit that I figure since I, who has worked on computers from age 18 with mainframe computers and with every level since then, I make a perfect reviewer to claim that online Internet expertise of interpersonal communication SUCKS!
And it's gotten WORSE SINCE AI IS NOW IN COMPETITION AMONG AND BETWEEN THEM! Or it's from the deals made with Trump... We all saw techie's at the Inauguration of the worst administration ever known! And know that deals were made thereafter... We just don't know how or why... That's the scary part since we quickly saw the devastation of what Trump has done to the nation. Now we begin to see the move to less people involved than ever before! One company has already announced huge layoffs of people due to "AI" implementation! Not OK
Google Tries - 10 for Effort within the constraints of the communication process. But still fails the user--this user almost daily... I figure if I can have failure that at least thousands of or even millions of others have felt the same type of frustration and confusion... but can't interact to even get attention from a site... They give up...
As far as I am aware, Google provides no chat process AT All. If there is one, It's been hidden from my computer for 25 years. So a reviewer like myself must automatically ask why.
Have they already adopted the belief that people are stupid, dumb and computers are the future. It is people who must be assimilated, become a part of BORG?
Since I'm a reader am I being judged because I refused to read their pages and pages of instructions and various "stuff" that they THINK is sufficient, but have never really people checked? No, that can't be it, because millions of people cannot understand computerese even as much as I can... Communication level for Google continues at an overall 0 for lack of even trying...
Here's one area that sent me into withdrawal--if I can't deal, I retreat to calm my anger and frustration...
Because NO ONLINE SITE REALLY COMMUNICATES AS NEEDED TO BE EFFECTIVELY USED UNLESS YOU ARE A NERD, A GEEK, A COMPUTER WHIZ... And I guarantee that millions of users of these sites are not... We are the ones that are kicked off, shut out with some excuse, ignored, forced to change our name to get back on... or, even, change a bank where new equipment has been added, but not your own bank?! Your insurance man dies? Too bad...We The People must initiate action to find out where we are not to be "serviced...." Oh year and my favorite, sites who use a telephone number as your ID... and never bother to verify that that is still an active ID... (One exception to that is WVU My Chart activity, but even there the telephone system overall also SUCKS! Yes, all things Gabby has been forced to deal with because no company ever wants to talk... All they want is OUR MONEY! And that's changed since the 1960s.
Advancements have occurred; Communication has been almost deleted!
Of course I have my opinions related to why communication is so different... I may even do another separate post on that...
I could continue with specifics for Google but they know it already since I send feedback every time my frustration is raised--changes are made without notification, creates messes that are unwanted, etc... Has that happened to you who use Google? Well, you now know you're not alone...
Take for instance, Google Analytics... You would think that this could be an easy creation. After all Our Trillionnaire is trying to get to the moon, having failed often, but keeps trying... So, why, after 20 years, the analytics remain the same? Is it because they see that nobody uses them? But would they admit to themselves that it is because they present illogical, actually incorrect, unusable information?
Okay, I'm going to close with Google by describing what I have found on analytics. The numbers never tally...
First, I have two blogs. At one point, the second was used more often. But a new system was put in. I had to choose to use my primary blog, for reviews, because I had to relearn the new blog formatting, with which I continue to see changes and have to figure out how to adjust on my own... In the meantime, as I already said, I have not been able to figure out even the line spacing--yes the line spacing--on my other blog... Now, I have to point out that most systems follow the older word processing typing that millions learned... apparently programmers never took typing and progressed from there to word processing... An assumption on my part since programs which don't match some basic patterns of historical document use are extremely hard to learn...for me, at least...
Still, Analytics appears. There is no reference to my other blog, which also is getting visits, but I cannot see. Does that mean I am not using the right format for the other blog, the one I haven't been able to reformat? Or does it mean that my analytics is one blog at a time? And that's all you get? Or any other variation of possibilities that can be considered in a normal analysis of data which I've managed routinely in my own work?
Then, if it is NOT my fault? I must ask. How can analytics not tally? You see, my blog, if correct, apparently is viewed all over the world. I know that could be correct, because I've reviewed books for people from Canada, Australia and German, as a few I remember... So... I get all these technical machine info...but nothing accurate for my actual readers???
Well, let's take a closer look. I open my analytics on Book Readers Heaven
Take a look at the first book in particular... This is graphically shown as the last 7 days, with a major hike on one day, July 15th... All other analytics are based on this 7 day period... I can guarantee that 1.28K people did not visit my blog recently. and on one day...
My response is that this impossible analysis, cannot happen... unless it was hacked and changed...
Or the graphic representation is incorrect.
Key to these assumption are what I, the user, the creator of the blog, want to use/see to analyze. In fact, I'd like to be able to do various sorting routines, if I thought they would actually mean anything and worth sharing.. Thus far Analytics is rated 0 out of 1-10. It is worthless...
Without going into details, I will submit to you that the 1.28K is a TOTAL NUMBER OF VISITORS READING THIS REVIEW AND NOT THE LAST 7 DAYS. If I am correct, then the entire analysis is worthless.
Indeed on another graphic, there is ALWAYS a number that has not been assigned geographically or otherwise. My guess is because of technical limitations on the part of what type of computer access is being used (hackers, dark web?) Who knows? No matter what the problem, if NOT explained by the graphic in detail, makes the entire analysis worthless...
Data is communication. Google does not effectively communicate in many ways.
Bottom line ranking of Google's response to Gabby's needs must register no more than 3 because of lack of trust for communication practices
Given my brief health scare last night, this video of the U.S. life is kinda reflected by this video (note the extra line placed without any action on my part) Except my two emotions are either tears or anger...This guy seems to want to cry but stops and laughs instead...just like a man... LOL)
I finished reading the book by Nick Russell this morning... It was the last in a combined author book, apparently used as a promotion to give potential readers a taste of the writing. If the last book, a free-standing story, had not been added, I probably would have continued with my plan to discuss each of the books... But I was so disgusted when I finished that I had no plans to do anything other than to avoid my computer for the weekend...
So I got dressed and sat down to turn on the television to see what I could find... Absolutely nothing... seriously. I have nothing but problems since Direct TV "changed" their entire programming... At first, I was losing favorite shows I wanted to view at my time choice... but then, they placed one of my favorites--Tracker--on Sundays. Only to also schedule games on that day, which ran over into the time for the supposed most watched new show... and those who recorded it, always missed part or all of the program depending upon the game! How RUDE... First they advertised the show so much that you didn't want to miss it and recorded it, but then made no provisions for ensuring that the program would be available as recorded... Let's just say that it has gotten worse as time goes by... Something is definitely wrong. They know it; I knows it. I've already said that before... But everyday a different coded message is to be used, now, or whatever... it requires I call in to fix it... Well, I had many recorded already so I was watching those during the past week as I did things that I personally needed to do other than fix my own television for which I pay... Any way, I got nothing this morning, so came to pull up YouTube. Thankfully, my Hughes Net computer system rarely fails me... I decided to pull up Jesus Christ Superstar, original version... to be my background music as I did other things...
But as soon as I pulled up the site, three songs were there... The titles pulled me in...
Yeah, I have a tendency to consider whether I'm getting a message when that happens... Truthfully, I kinda got excited... Because almost immediately I realized that my reaction to this book was meant to be thought about... I admit that I had already begun to wonder so those of you who don't believe that God talks to us can assume that it's my my mind connecting once again... Hey, whatever works for your justification... But since it's my mind I choose to believe in the Holy Spirit's presence in my life...
Especially since I had not been sitting writing, but that I was up and about, starting my day... But by that time, Superstar had reached one of the fun songs and I started singing... What's the Buzz, Tell Me All About It!... Jesus, I want to know...
Yeah, I was supposed to deal with Black Friday immediately after I finished reading...and share my personal thoughts and feelings while I was reading. Please recognize that these thoughts and reactions are purely mine and has to do with what I've been doing for about a decade... Bottom line... Something's Gonna Change...
As soon as I got online this morning, I went out to see how the ranking was for Black Friday on Amazon... Just what I thought--most were high ratings, but two individuals who's nixed the book used a specific word. Depressing...
When you see the book title, you should realize that the Black Friday that all of us know about these days, means exactly that... The book begins on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Upfront I quickly say that I'm not a Black Friday type of person. Regular shopping is something I rarely do as a day-to-day event. So you might say that I find black Friday something that I ignore...
The main character Raymond, felt the same way as I do... With a major difference, however. He had a Shrew, Battle Axe, and any other derogatory term that is considered when a woman treats a husband like dirt... How mean was she? So mean, I resented how the author had created her! Surely no woman could be this bad?
Then I got to wondering... In real life, are there such women? Remember I grew up in a fatherless home--my father had been killed in a mine accident while my mother was pregnant... But then, I began to consider the main character, the husband. I considered him, frankly, a wimp... And I also began to question just how this character was created, and the purpose in creating an obviously crazy situation...
The book opens as Black Friday has begun. Raymond and Sheila had been married for years and had two teen children, both of whom totally ignored their parents routinely, but seemed to have been turned off their father by their mother, even though they were "living the life" most would be happy with... Sheila began her morning with a migraine and told Raymond he would have to do the Black Friday shopping, specifying what she wanted for the kids... It should be noted that migraines come routinely--whenever the wife doesn't want to do what Raymond needs or wants... Here is a man who has made it to be manager of a local grocery store, but also comes home and does all of the cleaning, and apparently most of the cooking or obviously the cleanup of dishes...
Raymond hated Black Friday but nevertheless chose not to argue and left home to join the crowds, mostly women, excited, to be out and about before the store's doors opened... Raymond had kept back from the door, thinking he would wait until the crazies were already inside... By the time he got to where laptops were cheaper, he discovered that they were all gone... Further, after complaining and asking a clerk to go get more, he discovered the store's gimmick for black friday sales... Have a small number of, for instance, laptops available, but after selling out those few, more would come, to be sold at the regular price! He was disgusted enough to turn around and leave the store rather than deal with the madness of customers he was watching....
But he was a little surprised because a woman started talking to him--and agreeing what a mess it was. They talked awhile, she suggested that she had two extras computers in her car and would sell them to him... Long story short, lunch first, hotel room next, woman was murdered. Police went after Raymond...
Think about that, please...Because Raymond is an innocent man. Readers will easily accept that, even if we think his personal life is, yes, depressing... Made even more depressing since Raymond's mother was worse than Sheila and, after his father left home, she expressed to Raymond daily that he was just like his father and would never succeed in anything...
So readers are first meeting many different characters with a storyline which is in no way, somebody you enjoy meeting in a book... "Family dysfunction at its best..."
Then the police and lawyers get involved... There was NO good cops, only bad cops and a loser lawyer... I was ready to stop reading... Was the book supposed to be humorous, a satire, or, was this indeed small town USA? Add to that was an immediate need for paying a significant sum of money for a defense lawyer--which a store manager couldn't afford--and we begin to see how dysfunctional families normally are also involved with money problems...
Right from the beginning, I was seeing connections of what is happening in the United States at this time. This book was written in 2016. So I began to correlate characters with politicians, DOJ, Epstein Case, and more... ICE supposedly gathering up the crazies and sending them out of the country or being killed on the streets because of increased violence in reality...
But it was a murder mystery and was readable as a mystery. The question then, of course, was "whodunit?" But there was literally no character within the book that was not evil enough to be selected... Only question I had was how and why my grandfather's name (Phil Bixler) was chosen to be the lawyer's PI...
Evil choices abound within this story...
Customers get screwed, but apparently didn't mind 'cause Black Friday was so much fun???
An individual meets a stranger and finding them attractive,, decides to cheat on his wife for the first time ever, even though readers are wondering how two people so incompatible and obviously not in love, can still decide to live together...
Stereotypical cop and prosecutors are fully disgusting and unwilling to LISTEN to the potential person of interest...
Defense lawyers first discuss money before even considering whether they will represent you... And then demand absolute truth, even if you forgot something and didn't immediately report it...
Dysfunctional marriages fully involved with every single situation being based upon somebody's childhood...
The concept of retribution, payback, and threats are used in every situation, with violence of each revelation plays a significant role in "moving the story forward..."
Even the main character's one joy, fishing, is destroyed for purposes of horror effect...
And he also discovered that his past was a major reason why somebody was working night and day to convince the world that he was guilty....
It kinda turns your stomach - and often did for Raymond... Maybe that's why when he was set free, he took another road that led nowhere except where they played Jimmy Buffet songs...
Like I said earlier, when I finished the book, I was not in a mood to share it, or even talk about it further. When a main character is left with nothing in his life to be able to depend upon, this reader was at first also depressed, but then as I reviewed every single character and realized that the emotional impact of each was just as devastating as millions of people are feeling all over the world, and especially for the first time in the United States, I knew more than any other time that what the republican party is doing right now will destroy the world if God doesn't intervene-- that's the great I Am Not the Christian Nationalist version...
And, for me, I needed to accept that when I was told "I've Got This..." that He meant it... Raymond in this book never met Jesus or even God the Father. I have. So I won't be, at least not as much, LOL, referring to videos to document just how bad things are... I figure that the entire world is watching. Including the Pope... And Other Christians speaking for Him... And I need some time not in Margaritaville, but in Jesus Christ Superstar... Especially when I admit, even at my age, I still don't know how to Love Him...enough to trust... I'll be working on that... In the meantime, I won't be discussing the other two books in this set...
A couple of notes as I begin... I was trying to contact the author because the book copyright states clearly that excerpts may NOT be used even for reviews... So I'll be talking about the books from my own thoughts without any ability to share the actual writing. Please note also that there are mistakes, not many, but sufficient to be aware that a final editing was never done. Also, the book I got for my reader is NOT what I later found to be provided on my desktop format. I have no idea why, but as I already noted to the author, the pages were unnumbered, and at least once, I lost location of where I had left off reading. Don't ask me why. other than to say that Fire does that frequently if you lay your reader down on an uneven surface... Not LOL
In any event, once I discovered that the desktop version was different, I decided to not talk about the books in the order in which this book presents them. Given that I will be discussing the books as opposed to my regular review format, you should realize that the comments and thoughts are purely my own--sometimes opinions--sometimes flashbacks--sometimes editorial... And, more importantly, as most of you already know, I will be correlating the material presented in a somewhat comparative analysis with what is happening in the world right now, on a daily basis. I'm going to try this first book that I just finished and see how it goes. As you know, I normally use short excerpts to pinpoint issues and explore the content, but since, apparently, the fear of AI related to book content being illegally used is growing, I will be exploring how to adjust to those authors who require that I seek permission before any use. In any event, feedback about how you feel about my adjustments to copyright restrictions are, as with any other issue, always welcome...
Amazon Book Description - Life is already complicated enough for John Lee Quarrels, what with his estranged wife dropping in for unannounced sleepovers, her oversexed sister tempting him, his pot smoking ponytailed grandfather growing his own stash, his Elvis obsessed grandmother, and being caught smack dab in the middle of a power struggle between the Sheriff and Chief Deputy. But when a road construction crew unearths the skeletons of three murder victims, John Lee suddenly finds himself on the trail of a killer who may well have died long before the deputy was even born. And then a mysterious sniper begins shooting at deputies... As sultry as a Florida back road in August, as mysterious as the South's live oak trees dripping with Spanish moss, and as deadly as a copperhead strike, New York Times bestselling author Nick Russell's new John Lee Quarrels series is sure to hook you from the first page and keep you reading late into the night. ~~~~
Small town USA is the setting for the books I've read thus far... As I mentioned yesterday, I immediately thought about the fact that in the first term for the republicans as they began movement toward Project 2025's attempt to control us, there was an emphasis that they had already started at the local level to influence for their plans and to begin control... We saw an emphasis on banning books, disruptions of school boards as movement toward a tighter control for our citizens was begun...
In the books thus far, there is one blatant factor. There are always local "rich" men, leaders of the community who "think" they have the right to control our lives... Interestingly, however, Russell also includes the extreme of the other side of the small town people... Discovering the individual people within each story is, therefore, a highlight to be watched...
Because within a small town, apparently, it seems that everybody knows about everything that is going on... And, as with today's world, individual reactions are based upon where you are "seen" in relation to the "class" of people in which you live...
Let me quickly point out that, for me, I was influenced by this obvious use of people and their relationships to each other was quite offensive. That doesn't mean that I've never had similar feelings, it merely shares that "my feelings" are based upon, oftentimes, a very different base of beliefs. I found myself often reading the books more from a sociological standpoint as opposed to content of the storyline.
What do I mean by that? Well, for instance, I have no idea what the title of this book is supposed to represent... LOL... Now talk about coons or deer that scamper around my area, and I'm fully involved. Add some cats or dogs, and I've got friends to enjoy while I read... But talks among men as it relates to sex and competition was too much of a reminder of how deadly that can and has become as we watch television each day...
Take John Lee Quarrels as the main character... and how his character is developed. My first reaction was John Boy from The Little House on the Prairie... I mean, do small towners actually use two names each time you talk among friends? In any event, his personal life is interesting. His interaction with family is stranger... and yet, the man, himself, is somebody that most women will immediately respond to. But not know what to say about him... Interested in knowing more?
Well, often in a small area, we have nepotism as an issue... relatives getting jobs because they are familialy connected. John Lee's boss, is also his father-in-aw. This becomes an issue because John Lee is an excellent officer, but supposedly reports to another man, who is also familialy connected and feels he should be the Sheriff--as opposed to reporting to his brother-in-law... So there is constant friction by the supposed boss being bypassed... Also, in a small area, we learn that sex is an open discussion option, so readers will know all about John Lee's life in that area...
But let's start at the beginning. Often an officer will be involved in providing security to construction site activity. It was there that, as digging was occurring, a human bone was discovered. In fact, ultimately there were three old bodies that had been brought to the surface... And, once site review was made, they learned that each of the men, later confirmed as Black, had been shot in the back of their heads.
This, then, becomes an ongoing investigation led by Quarrels and a need to search old records when the age of the skeletons were confirmed. That occurred when the first few bones didn't match and the digging spread out from that original discovery... And, almost immediately somebody attacked the group, firing from a distance into the cop cars!
Once it was determined that the skeletons were from Black men, the issue of slaves was considered. But the timing and the ages of the skeletons soon eliminated that they had been slaves... One major find at that time was a small object that could not be defined with a purpose... Finally, a local historian provided sufficient information to pull up an historical fact on earlier camps to collect turpentine... On the other hand, John Lee learned that what was called Turpentine had been a product of a company that was still located in town... At some point in the past a discovery was made that there had been six camps which might have used the small token to be worn by the workers who lived in the various camps. Using these to identify the workers.
This was one of the connections that came to mind... That is, the fact that, supposedly, slavery had been abolished, but many Black people, attempting to find some type of work, were often caught into the same type of corruption of rich cotton growers... The product just changed... And, workers might have been of more than one race, but treated just as badly... Those who controlled men in the camps, I picture, as the type of men now working with ICE... Yes, it was a job, but it was also a method by which racial bias was often displayed, often resulting in death for the workers... The small ID could be used and often was worn around the neck. Indeed this small item had the initials of the company name.
John Lee soon was talking with the company leader but he claimed he knew little about what was going on back that far in the company's history... But John Lee soon was dealing with who was shooting up cop cars as well as who might have murdered the three Black men so long ago...
An interesting connection between many of those John Lee interacted with was a slightly different version of ICE of today, where they go into various locations without benefit of warrants or other legal authority. This theme runs through the small town areas in the various books, with militia-type individuals--or Klan--who used guns and threats against any law officer who tried to come on to their property... As of now, I don't have a handle on why these people felt that they could prevent the law from coming on their land... Perhaps when there is a conflict between what the law is actually trying to do, versus what the individuals believe is right or wrong? Certainly we have learned of the correlation being used by those who now walk our streets masked and with guns aimed and ready...
It was the murder of Ray Ray that brought the entire community up in arms... Ray Ray stuttered, but was so involved, kind, and caring that it didn't matter... He paid with his life... And how he died was something that called for action of various sorts...
As the book ends, readers are confronted with an ending that has little to offer... When those involved lie to the police officers or blame others as seems to be a standard operating procedure for many small town business representatives, we are confronted with one major result.
The problem of communication moves from the very bottom of civilization all the way to the top... The question is what to do when the people with legal authority are prevented from acting... by parents who choose to support their child rather than acknowledge that accountability is required... Two boys had decided it would be funny to scare a cop... The cop thought he was being killed, or could be... The mother attacked John Lee for pointing out that her son could be killed...
All I have to say it that if the small town of these books represent what actually exists in the United States...there is every reason to consider that the lack of proper training and accountability does indeed begin in the families... And, when power and money becomes a factor, it only gains strength, longevity and moves upward and outward... creating chaos...
John Lee had the scars to prove it. That mother used her claws and dug into his face, not caring that her son was actually to blame--or, perhaps, she was actually the one to be jailed...
Are we generating the world we live in through the type of parenting being done? Yet, those who are parents are often stopped from dealing with problems due to lack of money, some type of abuse, or out-of-control problems in the family that are rarely handled or even attempted because the parent is not able to handle the responsibility.
Have we reached today's crisis through ignoring the needs of those who need the most help? Statistics seem to support that to be true... Decades have gone by while one political party not only refuses to deal with gun control, but also garners financial support for retaining policies about gun control as not being needed...
Are our children being stillborn because there are no longer clear guidelines with families, local governments, federal government and across the world?
Like Nero, do we allow supposed leaders at every level to fiddle while Rome burns to the ground... and then blame anybody and everybody other than ourselves or those we voted for, at any level, including our religious leaders, to actually get away with murder???
A final thought re this series... Quarrels, in developing John Lee as his main character achieves something that many writers have not... He has put together a story that is intriguing enough to pull readers in at the same time, that his main character has sufficient moral character to allow readers to know exactly how he feels about various situations... and yet provides a layer of ongoing humor that both surprises and delights...