Jaime Reyes

Mr. Jaime Reyes has enjoyed many career changes. He was born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, several decades ago. His family moved to the US mainland when he was nearly eight years old. He spoke no English but in a matter of months was fluent enough to become a straight A student. It helped that he learned to read Spanish at age three and continued to feed his voracious appetite for words in the new language. After graduating from Thomas A. Edison High School, he was drafted into the US Army and...See more

Mr. Jaime Reyes has enjoyed many career changes. He was born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, several decades ago. His family moved to the US mainland when he was nearly eight years old. He spoke no English but in a matter of months was fluent enough to become a straight A student. It helped that he learned to read Spanish at age three and continued to feed his voracious appetite for words in the new language. After graduating from Thomas A. Edison High School, he was drafted into the US Army and served honorably in Vietnam as a military intelligence agent and analyst. After completing military service, he started his own business, which he managed successfully for seven years. He sold the business and pursued the career of his dreams in law enforcement. He worked with the Philadelphia Police Department for five years and then the Philadelphia Office of the Sheriff as a deputy sheriff. He served for twenty-five years, the last ten years as a supervisor. During off hours, he wrote articles as a hobby in English and Spanish, including opinion pieces, guest columns, and public service articles in various newspapers and online publications. After retiring from law enforcement, he wanted to establish credentials to continue a writing career, and so he earned a bachelor's in communication and journalism at an age when most people are enjoying a leisurely retirement. As a result of having read hundreds of books, he used CLEP (College Level Examination Program) and other similar programs to test out of elective courses and earn his degree in just two years. He continued writing articles and short stories. The short story version of In the Beginning received good reviews, and he decided to convert it to a novel. An incentive for the short story and the book came from a genealogical study that determined that his varied ancestral lineage includes three percent Neanderthal DNA. In the Beginning is his first published book. See less