Finding Tess: A Mother's Search for Answers in a Dopesick America

Finding Tess: A Mother's Search for Answers in a Dopesick America follows the quest of Patricia Mehrmann to understand her daughter's fatal overdose in 2017. Author Beth Macy documents Patricia's journey through the American opioid crisis as she seeks to piece together her daughter's final days. The narrative traces Tess Henry's path from a motivated college student to someone struggling with addiction, incorporating interviews with those who knew her. Macy accompanies Patricia as she visits locations connected to Tess's life in Las Vegas, speaking with fellow users, treatment providers, and law enforcement. This companion piece to Macy's bestseller Dopesick combines investigative journalism with intimate storytelling to examine the human cost of the opioid epidemic. Through one family's experience, the book reveals systemic failures in addiction treatment and the complicated reality of America's drug crisis. The story functions as both a mother's personal mission and a wider examination of how families navigate loss within a broken system. It raises questions about accountability, treatment access, and society's response to substance use disorder.

Readers found this audiobook-only memoir to be a raw companion piece to Macy's Dopesick, focusing on one family's struggle with opioid addiction. Most noted the emotional impact of hearing the story in the author's own voice. Appreciated: - Personal, intimate look at a single case rather than broad statistics - Real recordings of phone calls and interviews - Clear explanation of how prescription opioids led to heroin use - Honest portrayal of the challenges families face with addiction Criticized: - Some felt it repeated too much content from Dopesick - A few listeners wanted more detail about Tess's early life - Audio quality varies in recorded conversations Ratings: Goodreads: 4.2/5 (216 ratings) Audible: 4.6/5 (828 ratings) "Hearing Beth's voice crack as she tells this story makes it even more impactful," wrote one Audible reviewer. Another noted: "This puts a real face on the statistics we hear about the opioid crisis."

Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic by Sam Quinones. A deep investigation into how the convergence of prescription opioids and black tar heroin created the modern opioid crisis across America.

Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America by Beth Macy. The chronicle of how corporate greed and regulatory failure transformed opioid addiction from an urban crisis to a nationwide epidemic.

Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction by David Sheff. A father documents his son's methamphetamine addiction and the impact of substance abuse on families.

In My Skin: A Memoir by Kate Holden. The account of a middle-class woman's descent into heroin addiction and her path through Melbourne's sex industry.

American Pain: How a Young Felon and His Ring of Doctors Unleashed America's Deadliest Drug Epidemic by John Temple. The story of how a Florida pain clinic empire became ground zero for the modern opioid crisis.

📚 Author Beth Macy spent over 30 years as a newspaper reporter in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, which later became known as ground zero for the opioid epidemic. 💊 "Finding Tess" was originally released as an Audible Original audiobook before being published in print format, featuring recordings of actual phone calls and interviews from Macy's research. 👥 The book follows Tess Henry, a young mother who struggled with heroin addiction after being prescribed opioids for a running injury, highlighting how many opioid addictions begin with legal prescriptions. 🏥 Beth Macy's research reveals that in the early 2000s, Purdue Pharma sales representatives were instructed to tell doctors that the addiction risk from OxyContin was less than 1%, despite evidence suggesting much higher rates. 📊 The author documented how Tess's hometown of Roanoke, Virginia, saw overdose deaths increase by 46% between 2015 and 2016 alone, reflecting a devastating trend across rural America.