A memorable opening line sets the tone for every great book. In Brenda Coffee’s MAYA BLUE, the reader is warned upfront: “It was a fairy tale until it wasn’t.”

When 21-year-old Brenda marries the older, brilliant Jon Philip Ray, she thinks she is leaving behind the loneliness and trauma that marked her childhood. Little does she know that she is embarking on a remarkable journey filled with the highest highs and the lowest lows. At the beginning of their marriage, they purchase Brenda’s dream house, set atop a hill overlooking San Antonio, Texas. They dub it the “Spy House on the Hill,” as it had been inhabited by Nazi spies during World War II and even had several secret rooms.

Philip, who Brenda always considers a “tower of strength and logic,” is an inquisitive scientist and inventor. He was credited with helping to create the first personal computer, as well as the first smoke-free cigarette. It became the first “safe” vape (Brenda herself coined the terms vape and vaping), delivering nicotine to one’s system without the harmful carcinogens. She is enamored by his intelligence and charisma.

But soon after moving into the Spy House, Philip starts experimenting in his basement lab, trying to find a way to make medical-grade cocaine from scratch. His young wife is convinced that he will blow their whole place sky-high in this obsessive pursuit. His fervent nature also leads him to sample his materials, resulting in a profound cocaine addiction, which renders him paranoid and abusive: “Addiction grabs you by the jugular vein and won’t let go. It erases all memories of love and shame and a normal life.”

"In this searing, unflinchingly honest memoir, which fans of 'Breaking Bad' will appreciate, Brenda Coffee divulges the tortuous highs and lows she withstood, and not just as a record of her personal endurance..."

Apart from sometimes collaborating with Philip as his researcher, Brenda doesn’t work outside the home. She feels that her vigilance over her husband and his erratic ways will keep the other shoe from dropping: “I’ve enabled him by staying silent because I’ve always trusted him to do what’s in our best interest…. It's what he said to me in the early days of our relationship. ‘This is my train, and you’re welcome to ride it. If at any time you don’t like the destination, you’re free to get off, but you won’t find a better ride anywhere.’” She is resigned to be a passenger on his crazy train, even to her own detriment.

As Philip descends into drug-fueled madness, Brenda daydreams about ways to escape. It is only when he is diagnosed with stage 4 cancer that the madness lets up. He morphs from an obsessive genius to a frail person losing the battle against his disease. Brenda puts away her fantasies of flight and becomes his de facto nurse, accompanying him to all his experimental drug and treatment trials. But even though her devotion to him never flags, they can’t avoid his inevitable fate.

At just 38, Brenda finds herself a widow who is staring down the barrel of mortgage payments and tons of medical debt racked up in the last year of Philip’s cancer treatment. While cleaning up the financial messiness of her marriage, she decides to take a much-needed retreat from her problems. An exotic vacation, similar to the ones she used to take with Philip, is what she desperately needs: “I’m not the same woman I was at twenty-one. I’m not as trusting, and just as I have a PhD in trauma, I’ve earned one in addiction and drug-induced crazy.”

However, what should have been a restorative trip to Belize quickly becomes a horror show. While on a trek into the jungle with a guide to visit Tikal, they are overtaken by Guatemalan commandos and taken even deeper into the jungle, where a much more harrowing episode ensues. But drawing on strength and bravery she never knew she had, Brenda manages to escape and save herself and her guide. In passages that read like a page-turning thriller, she becomes her own superhero and finds her way back to civilization --- and, ultimately, to herself.

In this searing, unflinchingly honest memoir, which fans of “Breaking Bad” will appreciate, Brenda Coffee divulges the tortuous highs and lows she withstood, and not just as a record of her personal endurance: “I’ve written this book for every person who’s afraid to tell their story for fear they won’t be believed…. Speaking your truth is the most valuable power you have and with it, you can survive almost anything. But before you get to the point where your strength is tested --- and it will be --- know with every fiber of your being that you are stronger than you could ever imagine. I hope my story gives voice to yours, but more than that, I hope it offers you strength.”

As a sort of epigram to the book, “Maya Blue” is defined as “an azure blue pigment used by the cultures of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica such as the Maya and the Aztecs to paint ceramics, the carved relief figures on stone pyramids, and the bodies of human sacrifices. Because this vibrant blue color has proven immune to the passage of time, temperature, and modern solvents, it is still visible centuries later and is thought to be the strongest, most resilient pigment ever created.” Although it took a while for her to acknowledge it, Brenda possesses this strongest of pigments that won’t be hampered by life’s adversities.