Strung Out: One Last Hit and Other Lies That Nearly Killed Me

Freelance writer Khar shares her 15-year struggle with heroin addiction in this well-written debut memoir. Khar first experimented with opioids at age 13, when she found momentary relief after taking her mother’s painkillers. Born into a wealthy family, Khar seemingly had everything, but she endured childhood sexual abuse, was raped by an ex-boyfriend as a teenager, and suffered from depression from an early age. She abruptly stopped using heroin after the birth of her son, Atticus, at age 28, but spent years trying to hide and minimize her addiction while losing herself in unhealthy relationships. Khar hopes to help destigmatize drug addition by telling her story, and she effectively captures how her unprocessed trauma and self-loathing fueled her cycle of drug use. Some passages feel slightly rushed and in need of more detail, but Khar makes up for it by sharing her heartbreaking journey with truth and absolute sincerity.