18 years old is the age of many high school seniors–a time defined by lingering decisions about the future and varying degrees of senioritis. For aspiring journalist Nic Sheff, however, it was a completely different story. At 18 years old, rather than enjoying the numbered days with hometown friends, Nic Sheff shot up on crystal meth for the very first time–a decision that instantly veered his bright future down many dark alleyways.  Written with electrifying insight and chilling detail, Sheff’s memoir Tweak: Growing up on Metamphetamines seems to be almost as addicting as the drugs themselves.

Perhaps the book is so appealing because it chronicles a world so foreign to the average person, or maybe it resonates so deeply knowing it is an autobiography  Either way, the novel is invigorating cover to cover as it steers you through the excruciating world of a drug addict and the never ending cycle of sobriety and relapse.

The memoir commences during Scheff’s sober life steadied with job at his former rehab clinic. After bumping into his high school girlfriend Lauren in San Francisco, he throws it all away and the two former addicts warp back to their old habits. When his job begins to interfere with his addiction, Nic teams up with a burnout name Gack to start their own street cartel for profit which completely fails because they use all the drugs for themselves.  At his lowest point, Nic breaks into his dad’s house, steals money from his baby brother’s piggy bank, and has a complete psychosis on the a San Francisco street corner, the place he now calls home.

By turning to exercise, a 12 step program, and spiritual practices, Sheff is able to reach sobriety and build his life up once again. This time, he has landed his dream job writing movie reviews for an online newspaper.  As a reader, you literally want to kick yourself  as Sheff continues to throw away his life as the story repeats itself time and time again. It never once gets boring because each relapse adds a new city and a new drug like heroin or crack to the resume.

Sheff’s terse prose and brutal honesty in his recollections chill in a reader to the bone.  Tweak is a rare first person narration of the tunnel vision of an addict.  Read it, and you too will be addicted.