"Harmon's witty writing style is engaging"-Zane

"A rising literary talent."-Carl Weber

In the tradition of Jill Nelson's Sexual Healing, Crabs in a Barrel is a frank, no-holds-barred comedy with a sharp satirical edge.

When a yachtful of party-goers headed for the Bahamas are shipwrecked and wash up on a remote island, the diverse group-most but not all African-Americans, from a wide range of different backgrounds-are left with the usual survivor struggles: to find food, shelter themselves, and try to figure out how to get back to civilization. But in their case, they also have to try not to kill each other in the effort. The isolation and extreme circumstances combine to aggravate the social differences that already separate the group, and tensions rise and flare immediately. Before long, the different castaways-including a beautiful waitress/med student, a wealthy lawyer, a Brooklyn thug, a Black Muslim, and two gold-digging cousins-square off and start firing about their differences, their grievances, and their opinions in exchanges that are as funny as they are explosive.

Author Byron Harmon, already acclaimed for his two earlier novels, uses this Gilligan's Island meets Survivor set-up to create a story that airs out the truth about how black people feel about themselves, each other, and most everyone else in this breakout novel sure to bring him even greater commercial and critical success.

Byron Harmon is the author of two earlier novels, All The Women I've Loved (Pocket, 2002) and Mistakes Men Make (Pocket, 2005). He is the executive producer for the WCBS TV Early Morning News in New York City.