num_pages: 272
description: A journalist pieces together the mysteries surrounding her ex-husband's unexpected death from drug abuse.Something was wrong with Peter. Eilene Zimmerman noticed that her ex-husband looked thin seemed distracted and was frequently absent from activities with their children. She thought he looked sick and needed to see a doctor and indeed he told her he had been diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder. Yet in many ways Peter also seemed to have it all: a beautiful house by the beach purchased after their divorce expensive cars and other luxuries that came with an affluent life. Eilene assumed his odd behavior was due to stress and overwork--he was a senior partner at a prominent law firm and had been working more than 60 hours a week for the last 20 years.Although they were divorced Eilene and Peter had been partners and friends for decades so when her calls to Peter were not returned for several days Eilene went to his house to see if he was OK.So begins Smacked a brilliant moving memoir of Eilene's shocking discovery one that sets her on a journey to find out how a man she knew for nearly 30 years became a drug addict and hid it so well that neither she nor anyone else in his life suspected what was happening. Eilene discovers that Peter led a secret life one that started with pills and ended with opioids cocaine and methamphetamine. Peter was also addicted to work; the last call he ever made was to dial into a conference call.Eilene is determined to learn all she can about Peter's hidden life and also about drug addiction among ambitious and high achieving professionals like him. Through extensive research and interviews she presents a picture of drug dependence today in that moneyed upwardly mobile world. She also embarks on a journey to recreate her life in the wake of loss both of the person--and the relationship--that profoundly defined the woman she had become.Smacked takes readers on an intimate journey into a little-known part of the drug epidemic through the story of one man one woman and one family.
language: English
title: Smacked: A Story of White-Collar Ambition, Addiction, and Tragedy
publisher: Random House