New thrillers and mysteries: CNY books and authorsUpdated Dec 1, 9:26 AM; Posted Dec 1, 9:14 AM
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39sharesBy Casey Rose Frank
[email protected],
Contributing writer
Dangerous addicition
Cheryl L. Reed recently moved to the Syracuse area in order to join the faculty at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. Reed's background in reporting not only led to a job in teaching Newspaper and Online Journalism, but to publishing a book with origins in a story she uncovered as crime reporter in Ohio.
Reed spent a summer hanging out with young, white teenage girls- a demographic that local police were adamant would never use crack, as the adolescents experimented with street drugs. Shortly after starting to follow the stories of these young girls one of them was killed while trying to obtain drugs. "Michelle, a 15-year-old girl with freckles and long red hair--was shot in the face while trying to score more crack. The next morning, my story about Michelle's downward spiral, fed by adrenaline and addiction, and her youthful picture appeared on the front-page. The police immediately blamed me for Michelle's death, demanded my records, convened a grand jury and threatened me with a felony that would send me to prison for a mandatory 12 years. I took a lie detector test, told the truth, and eventually got out of town. But the story of the girls and their secret lives always haunted me."
Getting out of town led Reed to Chicago where she became a newspaper editor. During her time there a host of stories about suburban teens overdosing of fentanyl-laced heroin that caught Reed's attention. "These were high school cheerleaders and soccer players, kids with braces and acne, who were secretly playing with poison. I knew their story, at least part of it. And what I didn't know, I decided to find out in the same way I had discovered the Ohio girls' attraction to crack: I took to the streets of Chicago following heroin addicts and hustlers," Reed says.
Reed tied these stories together and using a fictional noir style, tells a story of the young, affluent, and addicted in "Poison Girls." Set in Chicago, 2008, the story follows a reporter who uncovers political motivations behind the drug epidemic. The book is available through most booksellers, including Amazon and Barnes and Noble. You can learn more about Reed's work by visiting her website.
Comment
39sharesBy Casey Rose Frank
[email protected],
Contributing writer
Dangerous addicition
Cheryl L. Reed recently moved to the Syracuse area in order to join the faculty at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. Reed's background in reporting not only led to a job in teaching Newspaper and Online Journalism, but to publishing a book with origins in a story she uncovered as crime reporter in Ohio.
Reed spent a summer hanging out with young, white teenage girls- a demographic that local police were adamant would never use crack, as the adolescents experimented with street drugs. Shortly after starting to follow the stories of these young girls one of them was killed while trying to obtain drugs. "Michelle, a 15-year-old girl with freckles and long red hair--was shot in the face while trying to score more crack. The next morning, my story about Michelle's downward spiral, fed by adrenaline and addiction, and her youthful picture appeared on the front-page. The police immediately blamed me for Michelle's death, demanded my records, convened a grand jury and threatened me with a felony that would send me to prison for a mandatory 12 years. I took a lie detector test, told the truth, and eventually got out of town. But the story of the girls and their secret lives always haunted me."
Getting out of town led Reed to Chicago where she became a newspaper editor. During her time there a host of stories about suburban teens overdosing of fentanyl-laced heroin that caught Reed's attention. "These were high school cheerleaders and soccer players, kids with braces and acne, who were secretly playing with poison. I knew their story, at least part of it. And what I didn't know, I decided to find out in the same way I had discovered the Ohio girls' attraction to crack: I took to the streets of Chicago following heroin addicts and hustlers," Reed says.
Reed tied these stories together and using a fictional noir style, tells a story of the young, affluent, and addicted in "Poison Girls." Set in Chicago, 2008, the story follows a reporter who uncovers political motivations behind the drug epidemic. The book is available through most booksellers, including Amazon and Barnes and Noble. You can learn more about Reed's work by visiting her website.
