Real stories. Real teens. Real crimes. A group of teens traffic drugs between Mexico and California in this start to the brand-new Simon True series. It’s 1971 in Coronado, a small southern California beach town. For seventeen-year-old Eddie Otero, a skilled waterman and avid surfer, life is simple. Then a friend makes him an offer: Swim an illicit package across the border from Mexico. The intense workout is dangerous. Thrilling. Lucrative. And the beginning of a small business. When the young entrepreneurs involve their former high school Spanish teacher, the smuggling adventure grows into a one hundred million dollar global operation. Soon they become fugitives. Living on the edge, they vow to return to their normal lives—right after one last run… Gr 8 Up—Readers are transported to the summer of 1969, when then teenager Eddie Otero was just a dreamer, planning on spending his summer vacation catching waves off Coronado Beach in San Diego. Otero yearned for the good life, so when his buddy made him a get-rich-quick offer, he couldn't resist. Otero was instructed to transport a package of illegal narcotics from Mexico into the United States. Seeing only dollar signs, he agreed. Otero swam under the cover of night, desperately avoiding Border Patrol and any other dangers lurking in the water. After he completed his first run, he decided he was eager to try it again—eventually growing a onetime thrill ride into a $100 million global smuggling operation. However, with rewards also come consequences. The narrative is at first slow-moving, but excitement and intrigue build along the way. Otero's dream of having it all will resonate with teens, and the 1970s setting will attract historical fiction readers. An epilogue acts like a "where are they now?" segment, updating readers on the lives of the book's major players. VERDICT Purchase for large collections with a devoted true crime following.—Amy Caldera, Dripping Springs Middle School, Dripping Springs, TX "Deeply researched and evocative, Nichols’ narrative clearly illustrates where a single bad decision can lead. As events unfold, readers experience the emotional roller coaster inherent to dangerous, illegal activities. Readers who love true crime will find themselves engrossed in this true tale of excess." ― Booklist Katherine Nichols is a former teacher and longtime journalist who has contributed to numerous publications, including the magazines for The New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle . An athlete since childhood, Katherine is a three-time finisher of the Ironman Triathlon World Championship in Hawaii. She grew up in Coronado and currently lives in Boston. Chapter 1: Spring 1969 Chapter 1 SPRING 1969 EDDIE OTERO STEPPED ONTO THE corner of Seventh Street and D Avenue just as Mr. Lou Villar inched his red-and-silver Corvette into a parking space in front of the Coronado High School campus. No matter how many times Eddie saw the car, he always stopped to gaze at the lines, soak in the color, listen to the sound of the engine, feel the speed of the vehicle while it idled. Mr. Villar stepped out and ran a hand through his dark hair. He wore a crisp, white button-down shirt with a pen positioned at the edge of the pocket, and a narrow black tie. As usual, a pair of Ray-Ban Wayfarer shades covered his eyes—even on cloudy days. Even inside the classroom. “Hey, Eddie,” Mr. Villar said as he tapped the driver’s-side door into place and glided toward the sidewalk. Eddie, nearing the end of his freshman year, was not in any of Mr. Villar’s Spanish classes. But they were acquainted through Eddie’s involvement in water polo and swimming, sports Mr. Villar had helped coach—along with basketball—since he’d become a teacher at Coronado High School in 1965. Like other swimmers’, Eddie’s hair, bleached and wispy from chlorine and salt water and sun, flew in all directions, like a dandelion in the breeze. Not that he ever looked in the mirror. He just found himself jerking his head to the side to move tousled strands out of his eyes. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d visited the barber uptown. But it didn’t matter. The school enforced no dress code, just an expected social norm—unless you were a drug addict or a complete dork. A few years earlier kids had come to school as if on their way to a job interview: modest mid-calf-length skirts and sweater sets for the girls, collared dress shirts and short hair for the guys. But that seemed like a generation ago. As Eddie listened to Mr. Villar encourage him to work harder at swimming and water polo (something about wasting his potential as a capable freshman who could become a team leader), the campus came to life. Students parked their Schwinn beach cruisers against palm trees on Seventh Street; some wrapped cable locks around skinnier trunks, and two or three used the pole of a stop sign, fitting their bikes together like puzzle pieces. A lucky few who drove to school pulled into the