Descent (Paperback)

Chris Childs is an unusually talented young man. A post-doctoral fellow at a prestigious medical center near San Francisco, he is also a gifted musician. It is his music that attracts Erin Leahy to him. The attraction is mutual and powerful. But the man who introduces them was a former rival of Chris and when he learns that he has been replaced in Erin's affection, he is furious. In retaliation he entices her to try a new experience, which she learns, too late, is heroin. Horrified at first, she succumbs and becomes addicted, unaware of the reason for her unusual susceptibility. She is able to hide her addiction from Chris until she accidentally overdoses and has to be hospitalized. After her release, a struggle is waged between the power of opiate addiction and the medical knowledge that guides its treatment. When Erin relapses and flees, Chris must seek the guidance of a wise man, a pioneer in the use of methadone in the treatment of heroin addiction. The stakes in this struggle could not be higher. Even a momentary lapse may be fatal. The story is a retelling of the ancient legend of Orpheus and Eurydice in the context of a very current, complex, social and medical problem.