STAFF PICK: Saving Beck by Courtney Cole

Title: Saving Beck
Author: Courtney Cole
Narrator: Cassandra Campbell and Ramón De Ocampo

Gutting, harrowing, and hopeful, this audiobook is an emotional landmine that will change the way you think about addiction. I knew before listening that the novel is loosely based on the New York Times bestselling author’s son’s battle with addiction, which made it even more powerful.

Saving Beck follows a son’s addiction and its effects on both him and his mother, a story that hits too close to home for many Americans engulfed in the opioid crisis. What makes this particular audiobook so compelling is that Courtney Cole tells it from the perspective of matriarch Natalie, who does everything she can to loosen the grip addiction has on her son, and how rapidly it stole her golden boy in the first place.

“you think it can’t happen to you, that your kids, your family, will never be in this situation. i thought that too. but you’re wrong… drug addiction comes with a price. trust me, you’re not equipped to pay it.”

Prescribed to relieve acute or chronic pain, opioids are the leading case of drug overdose deaths in the United States. A model student, Beck is bound for success, until he is involved in a tragic accident that changes his family forever. As his life spirals out of control, Natalie does everything she can to save her son before its too late.

Cole writes Natalie’s character so intricately that it is impossible not to be affected by her emotions of desperation and anxiety. You root for her. You become her. You hope to never truly be her. Narrators Cassandra Campbell and Ramón De Ocampo do an excellent job of bringing the story to life and pulling listeners in even deeper.