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  • American Pain

  • How a Young Felon and His Ring of Doctors Unleashed America's Deadliest Drug Epidemic
  • Written by: John Temple
  • Narrated by: Charlie Thurston
  • Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (4 ratings)

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American Pain

Written by: John Temple
Narrated by: Charlie Thurston
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Publisher's Summary

The king of the Florida pill mills was American Pain, a megaclinic expressly created to serve addicts posing as patients. From a fortresslike former bank building, American Pain's doctors distributed massive quantities of oxycodone to hundreds of customers a day, mostly traffickers and addicts who came by the vanload. Inked muscleheads ran the clinic's security. Former strippers operated the pharmacy, counting out pills and stashing cash in garbage bags. Under their lab coats, the doctors carried guns, and it was all legal...sort of.

American Pain chronicles the rise and fall of this game-changing pill mill and how it helped tip the nation into its current opioid crisis. The narrative, which swings back and forth between Florida and Kentucky, is populated by a diverse cast of characters. This includes the incongruous band of wealthy bad boys, thugs, and esteemed physicians who built American Pain as well as the penniless Kentucky clans who transformed themselves into painkiller trafficking rings. It includes addicts whose lives were devastated by American Pain's drugs and the federal agents and grieving mothers who labored for years to bring the clinic's crew to justice.

©2015 John Temple (P)2015 Tantor

What the critics say

"Journalism professor Temple dissects the Georges' criminal operation and documents the rise and fall of American Pain with precision and authority in this highly readable true crime account." ( Publishers Weekly)

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    4 out of 5 stars

much longer than it needs to be

it's an interesting story but the same stuff goes on for a long time so it's a little repetitive. my partner started listening with only 3 hours left in the book and he followed just fine.

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