The Heroin Diaries is a fast, dark dance across a beautifully toxic backdrop, detailing nearly a year of hand written, nearly three decade old diary entries from the hand of chemically poisoned, emotionally haunted famed musician, writer, artist and "Rock Star", Nikki Sixx.


The blood spattered, razor blade strewn graphics on which the diary entries were transposed are pure marketing genius. Filled with partially censored nude and violent photographs depicting Sixx himself, women in promiscuous poses and drug paraphernalia, the visual appeal within each page and within the book as a whole were a masochists magnum opus.


With images that perfectly compliment each delicate yet wounded journal entry, the reader will find themselves teased from page to page, quickly learning that holding back the urge to flip ahead, just to preserve that next visual rush that awaits, is essential.


The deeper you go, the quicker you may realize... what's inside definitely rivals all that you might have anticipated prior to glancing beyond the cover. Sixx and his publishing team went above and beyond the call of curb appeal duty by suturing the guts and the glam into one powerfully sketched package that truly delivers.


In terms of transporting the reader from this day back to the time and mindset of Sixx, during his long trek around and across death's door, one couldn't ask for a better stage on which to feast upon these clearly tormented, mind and life mauling experiences. Any reader who suffers from lack of visual imagination would surely find a dynasty of delight within it's abrasively graphic walls. For those who are more psychologically creative, it will simply propel you deeper into the twisted wreckage of this drug addled year in Sixx's life.


While digesting The Heroin Diaries alongside the music soundtrack, which was recorded by Sixx A.M. exclusively for the book - one might find that clinging tightly to their own safe reality is not optional, yet not emotionally drowning within the experience Sixx has laid before them is virtually impossible. He makes it a place you'd hate to go, that you'd regret living through yet one that you'd want to fall into head first at mach speed, simultaneously.


With songs like "Accidents can happen", "Life is beautiful" and "Van Nuys" birthing a riotous charged feast of sounds for the book itself, this two-part experience is more than capable of awakening one's mind to the darkness of fame and drug abuse. It's true potential may lie in it's seemingly natural ability to slam forcefully into the heart and soul, withdrawing pain, pleasure, pity, remorse, anger, solace, admiration and horror with an exacting pressure that most cinematic movies can't produce in an audience.


The Heroin Diaries isn't a mere story outlining the traumatic waking nightmares of a drug addict, it's an in depth experience that takes place inside the fragile and imperfect human psyche of an overwhelmingly talented and highly praised music icon.

I felt the reader might take on a false sense of immortality especially if they identify with or fantasize of identifying with the reckless yet glamorous lifestyle of public icons. While it repeatedly points out that even the most coveted and enviable can succumb to tragedy with willing eagerness, it does not emphasize "enough" that this type of reckless rock star abandon is not often met with the same great fortune that Nikki Sixx himself was.



The book was exceptional in its ability to bring a series of tragic experiences to life for the reader. In that regard it seemed as if it may pose a danger to those who are prone to become engrossed in subject matter or those with admiration for addiction. The idea of this seems far less likely when the reader has taken the time, prior to reading The Heroin Diaries, to understand what Nikki Sixx says about his story, how it came to be, his intentions for it as well as the story behind the band, Sixx A.M. which he formed specifically to create the soundtrack to the book.


Upon listening to this soundtrack, which forces the glam right out of the gore, instilling a real sense of encouragement for those in similar places while musically painting Sixx during his tenure with tragedy - I realized immediately that the songs for the book were not just an elective side dish to bring in extra revenue alongside the published diary, it was tactfully designed to complete the book.


Without it, any reader is deprived of the impact that the two works were designed to do for one another. One of these without the other is comparable to plucking a flower that will never bloom... an incomplete experience.

If you are interested in reading The Heroin Diaries or are planning to purchase it for someone that you know, it's truly essential that you're prepared with both parts of the story, book and soundtrack.


I have purchased both for several friends as well as for myself and always share how imperative both pieces of this puzzle are to one another. There are numerous videos available on Youtube.com, as well as on Sixx A.M., DJ Ashba & Nikki Sixx's websites which give a more thorough understanding of the project and it's history.


Even if you do not buy The Heroin Diaries, the video's along with the story, the making of the band and personal messages from Nikki and his creative team are more than worth the time it takes to view them.

Interested in buying this? Support Writing.Com by making your purchase of The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star   from Amazon.Com!

Created Sep 16, 2008 at 1:37am • Submit your own review...