Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man

Addiction is depicted in stark and honest language in Bill Clegg's first book, a compelling account of the years he spent struggling with a frighteningly destructive crack addiction. While treading well-worn territory in the addiction memoir genre, Clegg's account stands out for his clear, journalistic, and often emotionally detached perspective. A rising young literary agent running his own company with seemingly endless success ahead of him, Clegg becomes hooked on a drug that soon destroys his body, his career, and most of his close relationships. His almost clinical approach to describing his downfall doesn't allow much time to examine why he's lost control of his life, as his boyfriend, business partner, and family do little more than get in the way of his insatiable appetite to get high. Surrounded by the biggest names in the New York publishing world, Clegg instead seeks out Rico and Happy, his two favorite dealers, and anyone—a taxi driver, a male prostitute—who will help him devour as much crack as his ATM will allow. But this isn't an introspective book, rather a vivid, raw, at times shocking description of exactly what happened as he moved through downtown Manhattan from one boutique hotel to another, smoking crack and guzzling vodka in staggering quantities. What this memoir lacks in self-analysis, it makes up for with an amazing true story of a promising life spun out of control.