Schizo

The fascinating, shocking, and ultimately quite hopeful story of one teen’s downward spiral into mental illness by the bestselling author of Tweak.

Miles’s little brother Teddy is missing. The police believe he drowned at the beach?the very same day Miles had his first schizophrenic episode. But Miles knows better?Teddy is alive. Kidnapped. There was even a witness! Fueled by guilt, Miles sets off to rescue Teddy.

There is so much to overcome, though. The endless pills he must take. The girl who steals his heart and plays with it. The black crows that follow him.

As seen through Miles’s distorted perception, his world closes around him as he pushes to keep it open. What you think you know about his world is actually a blur of gray, though, and the sharp focus of reality proves startling.

The New York Times bestselling author of Tweak offers a fascinating and ultimately quite hopeful story of one teen’s downward spiral into mental illness.

Praise for Tweak:

"Difficult to read and impossible to put down." ?Chicago Tribune

Nic Sheff is a columnist for The Fix and the author of two memoirs about his struggles with addiction, the New York Times-bestselling Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines and We All Fall Down. He also wrote for the hit TV series The Killing. Nic lives in Los Angeles, California. Follow @nic_sheff

Meet Nic Sheff, the bestselling author of Tweak, an unforgettable memoir, who now delivers a gripping debut novel

As a teenager and young adult I struggled with drug and alcohol addiction, as well as severe mental illness issues?bipolar disorder, depression, psychosis. My first two books were memoirs about my experience battling addiction. For my first novel, I wanted to continue my exploration of psychological issues within the framework of a thriller. When two of my family’s friends, both high-schoolers, were diagnosed with schizophrenia, I began researching the illness. Apparently this disease, which often lies dormant in teens, has been surfacing earlier and earlier in those with a genetic predisposition to the illness after these kids try smoking pot?because our pot is so much stronger than it ever has been. I wanted to examine what happens to someone who experiences the symptoms of schizophrenia while still a teenager, someone trying to balance the hardships of mental illness at such a fragile time of life?the everyday struggles of high school and relationships. Much of the novel is borrowed from my own experience, but it is also a departure. I hope it shows that mental illness is not a death sentence.