Book excerpt: ADDICTION: CUNNING, BAFFLING, & POWERFUL In this gripping debut novel by Andrew Seaward, the lives of three addicts converge following an accidental and horrific death. Monty Miller, a self-destructive, codependent alcoholic, is wracked by an obsession to drink himself to death as punishment for a fatal car accident he didn't cause. Dave Bell, a former all-American track star turned washed-up high school volleyball coach, routinely chauffeurs his bus full of teens on a belly full of liquor and head full of crack. Angie Mallard, a recently divorced housewife with three estranged children, will go to any lengths to restore the family she lost to crystal meth. All three are court-mandated to a secluded drug rehab high in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. There, they learn the universal truth among alcoholics and addicts: Though they may all be sick...SOME ARE SICKER THAN OTHERS. Based on the author's own personal experience with substance abuse and twelve-step programs, Some Are Sicker Than Others, transcends the cliches of the typical recovery story by exploring the insidiousness of addiction and the harrowing effect it has on not just the afflicted, but everyone it touches. With the harsh realism of Brett Easton Ellis and the dark, confrontational humor of Chuck Palahniuk, Mr. Seaward takes the reader deep inside the psyche of the addict and portrays, in very explicit details, the psychological and physiological effects of withdrawal and the various stages of recovery.