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Stabroek News

'Destination Sunrise' outshines dull cover
published: Sunday | April 9, 2006

BECK BARRINGTON'S Destination Sunrise is the promise of a good thriller hiding behind a God-awful cover.

As covers go, they do not get much worse than this one, the title and the author's name hiding in red (and terrible type) against a milieu of orange sunshine decals, all on a black background where a blue and white frame of undetermined purpose and position hangs around.

Blech!

But never judge a book by its cover, the old adage goes, and while this normally applies to pretty covers and ugly contents, in this case the reverse is true. Destination Sunrise is a genuine page-turner set in Jamaica, which follows the formula of 'underdog (in this case two, one of whom is female, and I will refrain from feminising the 'dog' for fear of the feminists) gets what's due through near miraculous circumstances, and there are happy endings all around.

You know what's coming, but like going on a journey to a familiar place getting there is half the fun.

However, Beck Barrington (and I refuse to believe that this is the writer's real name; Beck Barrington is heading up into A Boy Named Sue leagues) goes overboard with the happy ending, as the good fortune of singer/songwriter Clive Lestrade and his go-go dancer-turned-famous-model daughter Shakara do for Jamaica what in real life bauxite, tourism, the Reggae Boyz, acres of ganja, miles of anuses, intestines and vaginas stuffed with cocaine have not. For one, as a result of Shakara's involvement in the advertising campaign for a 'Blue Reggae' perfume:

FINANCIAL BOOM

"The tourist season in Jamaica peaked earlier than expected and the resultant financial boom lifted the island from recession. The season created employment for an additional 200,000 young people, and for the first time in seven years statistics showed a reduction in all types of crime across the island."

This prosperity comes to the soundtrack of Clive Lestrade.

"New Life could not have been released at a better time in Jamaica. It came out when people were happy and receptive and when more people than average had jobs and could afford to buy the record. It sold a million copies and soared up the charts at an alarming pace, in a few weeks finding its way into the 'Top-100' chart, debuting at number 20."

OK, so Barrington (who, the blurb tells us) gets very carried away in the end, but it does not negate the more than competence of the build-up.

Destination Sunrise begins with a sore in the crotch and broke in the pocket Lestrade, both ailments the result of an encounter of the very close kind with a lady of the night, seeking a cheap way to his remedies. The central cast of characters is quickly introduced, Lestrade passing Shakara on the way to seek help from the lady who loves him who threw him out, Irene, and Shakara in turn being watched by Alex Brookwell, a kid from way over the other side of the fence, as she rides on the bus to the go-go club she dances at.

What follows is a tale of high society intrigue (complete with a lesbianism expose on television), murder, music, forgiveness, romance, rape and derring-do (with a touch of sex, naturally).

Along the way Barrington drops in some insight about Jamaica which, though not earth-shattering, deserves acknowledgement.

UPTOWN LIFE

Shakara thinks as she rides on the bus that "uptown life was not real because it was not tough. In the uptown neighbourhoods material wealth was taken for granted. When Shakara dressed up and walked her ghetto streets, people noticed her clothes, shoes, fake jewellery and they placed pleasant emphasis on things like that. Here, in the world of the 'haves', people did not appear to give two hoots about the cheap stuff she wore."

Yet, when she 'makes it', her perspective changes drastically: "She was doing things now, she had become a person. Before, the world outside her ghetto village had seemed boring and dull, lacking the 'thrill' of the dangers she had become accustomed to. Now it all seemed so senseless to live in a world where you had to evade bullets and flee the scenes of senseless gunfights that would leave people dead. That was the world she saw clearly now for what it was, a place where there was a cataclysmic cycle of death, hell and torment."

Barrington can be forgiven for some corniness, such as 'JVJ Television' and the man who owns the estate where the climactic shoot-out takes place being named 'Bill Rollins'.

So in the end the nuptials are said across the class divide and all reach their Destination Sunrise (except for the dead 'uns, that is). And yeah, there is that damn stupidness about Irene being in love with Clive and taking him back after the success, 20 years after sniffing the evidence of yet another woman on his privates. What is this thing about long-suffering women being virtuous? They are damn fools to me, but hey, it ain't my book.

Desination Sunrise

Author: Beck Barrington

Reviewer: Mel Cooke

Publisher: Daystar Press

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