American Pain

Starred review from September 7, 2015
This exhilarating blow-by-blow account details how brothers Chris and Jeff George and their sidekick, Derik Nolan, steroids-fueled collaborators with no prior medical experience, exploited Florida's lax prescription drug laws to operate the largest pain clinic in the United States, from 2008 until a raid brought it all crashing down in 2010. Money poured in so fast that bills were stuffed in garbage cans behind cashier windows. A corrupt doctor taught the brothers how to sell massive quantities of the legally controlled (and highly addictive) painkiller oxycodone under the guise of a medical clinic. As long as a physician prescribed the drug and told so-called patients to adhere to the recommended dosage, everything was considered on the up and up. Eventually, the George brothers ran rival clinics, and Chris George's American Pain became the premier facility of its kind on the East Coast, luring junkies from as far away as Kentucky and Ohio, where oxycodone control laws are tougher. Journalism professor Temple (The Last Lawyer) 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. Agent: Jacqueline Flynn, Joelle Delbourgo Associates.

September 1, 2015

Temple (journalism, West Virginia Univ.; The Last Lawyer) has written a propulsive prequel of sorts to Sam Quinones's Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic, which takes a macro look at how Mexican heroin has supplanted prescription painkillers as the opiate of choice. This title relates a hugely profitable Florida pain clinic that started in 2008 and collapsed in 2010 after a lengthy undercover federal investigation. It benefits greatly from the author's interviews with the principals, Derik Nolan and Chris George, who had no medical background but saw a better opportunity than construction work or selling steroids. Using trial testimony, media reports, and interviews with many of the players, Temple reconstructed in a chronological fashion the day-to-day operations of the clinic. As a former news reporter, the author does an exquisite job of weaving a simple narrative of greed and addiction into a cautionary tale. Readers should start with this book, then read Dreamland to get the rest of the story. VERDICT Highly recommended for general and true crime audiences. [Film rights have been optioned by Warner Bros.--Ed.]--Harry Charles, St. Louis

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