You’ve Been Watching “Painkiller” on Netflix

Loved "The Eyre Affair" or want a comfort read

Hi friends,

Hope you had a great weekend. It started to cool off here in D.C. — and I’m loving it.

Thanks to everyone who commented on what colors they see when they look at The Dress. White and gold outnumbered blue and black, but one person (the fab

Valorie Clark

) said it depends on what device she’s using when she looks at it.

And, now, what to read if…

You’ve Been Watching “Painkiller” on Netflix

Raising Lazarus by Beth Macy

Netflix’s new drama “Painkiller” is a fictionalized take on Barry Meier’s prescient book of the same name (published in 2003, it exposed the roots of the opioid epidemic before the opioid epidemic was front page news) and Patrick Radden Keefe’s investigations into Purdue Pharmaceuticals and the family who owns it. It shows — again — that the company knew its drugs were dangerously addictive but continued to push them out. Raising Lazarus by Beth Macy is a critical companion piece to “Painkiller” that depicts the human cost of opioid addiction and the heroes who are fighting the crisis.

Macy, the author of Dopesick (which also became an original series on Hulu), has emerged as the leading chronicler of the opioid epidemic. In Raising Lazarus, she emphatically endorses harm reduction, a public health approach that focuses on providing those struggling with addiction with prescriptions that reduce cravings, clean needles, safe injection sites and social services. She introduces readers to medical professionals, social workers and religious leaders who visit homeless encampments and “trap” houses to deliver food, clean needles and hepatitis C test kits. By providing syringes, these workers are often breaking local laws, but Macy calls them “good criminals.”

It's hard to say I enjoyed Raising Lazarus. Even as Macy depicts moments of hope, it’s a devastating read. Still, I’m glad I read it and remain impressed by her reporting chops.

Reminder rec: Liz Moore’s Long Bright River is a searing novel about the effect of opioids on our communities that has stayed with me for years.

You Want a Hug of a Book

Limelight by Amy Poeppel

Amy Poeppel ranks right up there with Kate Clayborn and Lucy Parker on my list of Queens of the Comfort Read. Her books are warm and sweet but never saccharine. Limelight, her second novel, is the perfect example. It’s a cozy read about fame and family in all its forms.

As Limelight opens, Allison Brinkley is starting to regret her decision to move her family from Dallas to New York City. The job she was counting on fell through and her kids — especially her teenage daughter — are having trouble adjusting. After Allison gets into a fender bender, she recognizes teen heartthrob Carter Reid as the car’s owner. She also recognizes that Carter, recently cast in a new Broadway musical, as in desperate need of some parenting. Before he realizes what happened, Allison has become his personal assistant and is committed to getting both their lives back on track.

Limelight is a total joy, filled with characters who have stuck with me since I first read it. Carter is essentially 2013-Justin-Bieber, a total hot mess. But as readers and Allison discover he’s more than the spoiled rich kid he appears to be. As long-time subscribers know, I love a found family that brings quirky people together. If you — like me and

Nancy Reddy

— adore this trope, put Limelight at the top of your list.

You’re a Thursday Next Fan Girl

The Shamshine Blind by Paz Pardo

 Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series — which starts with The Eyre Affair — are some of my favorite books. As I wrote in my recommendation of it a few years ago, “these books are weird in the best sort of way. They're chock-full of literary Easter eggs … and exist in a world where cloning and time travel are commonplace.” If you want something with similar vibes — including alternative history and bizarre tech — check out Paz Pardo’s The Shamshine Blind.

It's 2009, and the United States has been a middling power on the world stage since Argentina won the Falklands War after using “psychopigments,” weapons that produce emotion upon contact. Since then, the psychopigments have become popular as pharmaceuticals — and illicit drugs, with Americans relying on everything Sunshine Yellow for moments of happiness. When an old friend visits Psychopigment Enforcement Agent Kay Curtida with a tip about an illegal pigment ring, her investigation exposes a conspiracy touching a cult, the government and even her own partner.

The Shamshine Blind is a classic noir detective story set in a sci-fi, alternative history world. As Jane Pek, author of my beloved The Verifiers, said, “Combining an alternate-history police procedural of the highest stakes with an examination of the authenticity of feelings in a world where emotions can literally be manufactured, The Shamshine Blind is inventive, suspenseful, and heartfelt.”

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Thanks for reading! I’ll be back on Thursday with a Q&A I did with romance writer Sarah MacLean at the Yale Romance Conference.

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