Jamaica Breakdown

Like a motion picture in reverse, images flashed across Mae's racked and tortured mind. She gradually stopped struggling to get loose from Barry's clutch as she accepted that her violent ending was her own fault. She had devised the plan months earlier that led to this fatal blow. She was going to die for one reason only, and she squeezed it out of her fear-constricted throat. JAMAICA BREAKDOWN is a novel about the Wrights, a thirty-something couple living in the Chicago area in 1984. Mae Wright is an ambitious, gregarious African American who desperately wants to take a relaxing vacation from her hectic job at the Chicago Zoo. Soon after learning that she has sarcoidosis in her eyes, Mae finally gets her wish when her loving husband Barry Wright, a thrifty, introverted Caucasian, agrees to use a credit card to take a luxury vacation in Jamaica. The Wrights, who are hard-working stiffs and unseasoned travelers, barely arrive in Jamaica before they have a series of scary encounters with tricksters, robbers and apparitions that trigger high anxiety and life-threatening situations. The loving couple's dream vacation turns into a terrifying nightmare for Mae, who loses her mind, and for Barry, who must rise to the occasion by taking charge, overcoming challenges, and spending extravagantly as he tries to get Mae back home alive. The story paints a graphic picture of the dramatic psychological disintegration of a creative mind, as well as comical conflicts due to different priorities, lifestyles and cultures. It is filled with memorable characters, wildlife, wit, and wisdom.