Non Fiction Review: The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star by Nikki Sixx

4 of 5 stars

Yikes this book is a serious downer. You’d think the lifestyle of a big rock and roll star at the height of his stardom was nothing but luxurious decadence and fun times, right? Well, it is and it isn’t. When you haven’t dealt with your childhood pain, struggle with depression and a crushing loneliness and life on the road seems endless and empty and you self-medicate with sex and heroin, well, things quickly turn into a nightmare.

Nikki Sixx, bassist and song writer for Motley Crue, hit it big in the 80’s. He had it all. Fame, money, girls, drugs, booze but he also developed an addiction that nearly ended his life and turned him into a raging, paranoid, dangerous guy. Somehow he miraculously kept a diary in 1987. I don’t know If I buy that or not but I just went with it because his story is so hard to stop reading. In this diary, he details his self-destruction, his depression, his ego and bad attitude and the horrible, reckless things he does when he’s on drugs (when he can remember!). It’s not easy to read and it feels pretty brutally honest. After each diary entry there are comments from his current day self and/or others who were involved with him at the time, song lyrics, etc. These comments expand on the entry and they are oftentimes terribly unflattering. I have to say it was brave of him to put this out there.

If you’re even vaguely interested in the sexploits and exploits of life on the road and one man’s devastatingly slow road to recovery you’ll probably find this fascinating. My only complaint was the black on red, white on red, white on black background print. It hurts me ancient eyes! If your glasses prescription isn’t up to snuff, you might want to make a visit to the eye doc before tackling the print version of this book.

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