diff --git a/spec/chat_server_helper.rb b/spec/chat_server_helper.rb
index 75203f2..d104ad4 100644
--- a/spec/chat_server_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/chat_server_helper.rb
@@ -10,17 +10,22 @@
 MessageBus.config[:backend] = :memory
 
 # Run the Chat Sinatra app.
-require "#{chat_example_path}/chat"
+require File.join(chat_example_path, 'chat')
 
 RSpec.configure do |config|
   config.around(:all) do |example|
+    Thread.abort_on_exception = true
     server = Thread.new { Chat.run! }
 
     retries = 0
     begin
       Socket.tcp('localhost', 9292, connect_timeout: 1)
     rescue Errno::ECONNREFUSED
-      sleep 1 && retry if (retries = retries.succ) < 10
+      if (retries = retries.succ) < 10
+        warn 'waiting for chat server to start on localhost:9292'
+        sleep 1
+        retry
+      end
     end
 
     example.run