Dying to Survive: Updated 10-year anniversary edition

An horrowing and honest account of heroin addiction at it's worst. Serious and doesn't drag on, a page turner. Very inspirational for one struggling with addiction or an addicted loved one. Powerfully insightful. The only thing that struck me sad is out of all the "thank yous" in the end credits, Ms. Keogh neglected to thank the court Judge who expunged her record of all the terrible crimes she had committed. Did I just miss it or something...? It seemed a bit cold.

People have their own ideas of what addiction looks likes and what people will do in order to feed their addiction. This story did exactly what most people think happens. In that way, I did not like it. As an addict myself, I never injected, snorted or even tried most of the hard street drugs, nor did I do anything illegal in order to fund my habit. Her story is shocking however, and that sells books. Do I think she is truly an inspiration and a survivor? Yes, definitely. I hope her story helps someone.

Very simply written. The story is presented as a disjointed list of events and does not really flow. The subject is interesting and Rachel is clearly an inspiring woman. However, I found it hard to feel anything but detatched curiosity, as the writing lacks the description and emotional detail that make it real for me as a reader.