A Shattered Heart is set in and around the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and centers on the life of a typical red-blooded young African-American teenage boy. Jermaine Alexander Baxter was from Catonsville, Maryland, and he was as normal as any other high school senior. But for him, home life was not very fulfilling. His father was an alcoholic and a drug addict who was physically and psychologically abusive to the family. His mother was diagnosed with clinical depression and the medication she was taking kept her incoherent most of the time. Consequently, Baxter was dismayed and he stayed away from home as much and as often as possible. He found comfort in a vacant apartment building in his neighborhood where he often went for reading, writing, relaxation, and most of all for solitude. Baxter went there to escape all of his problems, but little did he realize that it was there where his problems really began. Thats where he ran into Max and Joey, two men who ran a small criminal enterprise. Baxter witnessed one of their crimes, and his disheveled life got worse with each passing moment as he faced one adventure after another. A Shattered Heart follows Baxter through those adventures and readers easily empathize with his efforts to overcome his seemingly never-ending troubles.
