This book is a literary fiction whose setting began on the Caribbean island of Tobago, but was expanded to Europe and other parts of the world, to mimic the movements of the Caribbean peoples during the Colonial era and after the islands had gained their independence. The book contains elements of some real events, which might have been exaggerated, and were stitched together like the various pieces of fabrics in a quilted sheet in order to link together the discourse of the book. Where a portion of the book is similar to a real episode, the names of the characters have been changed, and the spellings of some of the characters and places in some conversations were intentionally misspelled in order to imitate the broken English that is commonly spoken in Trinidad and Tobago. The reader is advised not to try to associate any of the names of those characters and places to any real person or location they know, seeing that some of the real stories might not have been connected to each other, or might have been fictitious altogether and were used just to suit the narratives of this book. The work attempted to capture what life was like during the period which the book covers, and to promote national unity and racial harmony.

There is a practice sometimes used by under-funded law enforcement departments and medical facilities where troublemakers or unwanted people with mental illnesses are put on a bus out of town to become someone else’s problem. This practice can go on for extended periods of time, the same people repeatedly getting kicked out of one county and into another.

Author JR Conway has written a book called Greyhound Therapy, which is what this practice of dumping undesirables into neighboring countries is called. The novel follows a county sheriff with a jurisdiction along an interstate, which like an artery is pumping criminals and mentally ill strangers into his community. Undermanned and overwhelmed, the sheriff is faced with an exploding population, inadequate facilities and law enforcement from other counties all the while sending more difficulties his way. Having to solve a murder that occurred in his jail, a wife who has been diagnosed with cancer and a continuous flow of transients, the sheriff must use all his ingenuity and problem solving ability as he deals with crime, personal struggles in his own life and carrying out his responsibilities to care for the transients.

This thrilling and touching novel shows that tragedy and adversity can bring people together in a common purpose of caring for what is truly important in our lives.

Greyhound Therapy is available from publisher Book Venture here.