David Dusty Cupples

In Jamaica, 1976, Bob Marley sings revolution. The democratic socialist Manley government defies Washington and builds a coalition with Castro’s Cuba. Many believe the CIA is on the island stirring things up, whipping election-year violence into tribal war between ghetto gangs allied to the opposing political parties. Scott lived through it but four years later he remembers little… his girlfriend Marva, hanging out with Marley at Hope Road. Beyond that it’s “lost time.” As if Obeah—Jamaican black magic—has fixed his business. Was his father CIA chief of station in Kingston? What caused the bad blood between them? Had he come at him with a machete? Why would the CIA worry about tiny Jamaica and Michael Manley—or Bob Marley? What was real and what was fantasy? A violent emotional outburst brings Scott to psychologist Phil Mitchell, who while struggling with his own demons pushes Scott to relive the fateful year leading up to the historic Smile Jamaica concert and uncover the truth that will either set them both free or be their undoing.