You are here:Home 
Book Review Service Book Reviews by John Running Away From Me
Book Review Service Book Reviews by John Running Away From Me
Book Review Service Book Reviews by John Running Away From Me
| John Manhold's Award Winning Books | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Running Away From Me |
|
|
|
| Written by John Manhold | |
| Friday, 19 February 2010 | |
|
Running Away From Me, ISBN 9781608442409, Dog Ear Publishing, 181 pages, Oversize (9 ¼” X 7 ½ “) Paperback, $18.95, by David Allan Reeves is a brutally frank accounting of the trials and tribulations of a (now recovering) drug addict who still is serving time in prison.
The author tells his story with some switch-backs between present and earlier times but gradually builds the story of his addiction arising from early years when he was introduced to, and shared with his brother, various drugs. He then describes his progression from simple pot smoking to use of such well-known Schedule I drugs as Crack, LSD, Heroin, and Ecstasy. These compounds, as most readers are aware, have no medicinal value per se, but become highly addictive, and coincidentally very dangerous, He follows with his gradual progression to use of Schedule II, medically valuable drugs, such as Demerol, Dexedrine, Oxycortin and others.
Reeves describes how, as all drug addicts, he believed he could handle the use of the drugs, and subsequently attended clinics and attempted to live a normal life. He found a girlfriend, got married and bought all of the things necessary to settle in to a normal pattern of living. However, assailed by a constant state of boredom, anxiety, depression, anger, or even simply ‘not feeling good about himself’ made him look for relief from the psychological pain. People in similar situations resort to food, sex, excessive time spent in work, working out, gambling, alcohol or drugs. His release was the most dangerous selection – alcohol and drugs. This addiction led to stealing, cheating, telling lies, and even use of a handgun in robbing pharmacies and banks. And, in all of his activities, the author encountered the paradox of addiction - finding that the things that have to be done to obtain the drugs to reduce the pain being suffered, only create more pain.
After the last of his bank robberies, he was apprehended in a police shoot-out. His tolerance for drugs had reached a level where it was most difficult to sedate him from the pain of wounds he had received. Upwards of 10-12 milligrams of morphine will sicken the average person. At the time he was taken into custody, he states that he had the in creditable amount of a 120 mg shot plus Demerol and assorted other drugs already in his system.
Reeves claims that reading Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl, the Nazi Concentration Camp survivor who found meaning in his suffering, turned his life around and that he now has been drug free for three years.
Running Away From Me, although not a pleasant book, is an interesting read as it graphically presents the roller coaster ride of a drug addict as he pursues a gradual progression in his habit, and describes the dire results to the individual and his family. The descriptions of prison life at the various levels, from local jails to county, and then government run, also produce chilling pictures not easily forgotten.
|
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
| Home |
| Novels by John |
| About John |
| Book Review Service |
| Contact |
