THE THIRTEENTH STEP

Twenty-somethings struggle with sobriety in Southern California in Oliver’s novel.

In Salt Lake City, Nate runs to a mall bathroom for a heroin fix, desperate to feel “at peace as the blanket took hold of him.” The narrative then jumps to Southern California: Nate and Abby have been having a secret relationship while in rehab and are now being released to separate halfway houses. Nate confesses that he’s left rehab situations “probably 19” times. The story then shifts to focus on Olivia, who dances in an East Hollywood “classy strip club” and is also a graduate student studying chemistry. She is three years into her sobriety. At a boxing match, Nate and Abby meet up with Olivia, who is there with Will, a man she met in Alcoholics Anonymous. Will is now the boyfriend of Emma, a medical resident and Olivia’s sister. The group is there to cheer on Evan, a fighter from the local gym where Nate serves as training coach. Evan is Will’s recovery sponsor, and Olivia, coincidentally, is Abby’s. The event, during which Evan explodes in anger after a brutal loss, has rippling consequences. Olivia tells Abby—who, at 21, is the youngest in the group—to drop Nate and focus on attending an AA program. Will amps up his own rage following Evan’s outburst. Olivia and Nate skittishly enter into a romantic relationship, but Will’s actions lead to a crisis that a shaky Olivia must handle without Nate, who must go support a trainee at an out-of-town fight. By the end of the novel, which includes flashback episodes from the characters’ lives, Nate, Olivia, Abby, and Will move on to uncertain futures.

Starting with a powerful opening scene showcasing Nate’s anxiety and single-minded focus on scoring his “medicine,” Oliver draws readers into the intensity and challenges of drug addiction faced by the main characters, all of whom are contending with living among nonaddicts (dubbed “normies”) while resisting the allure of forbidden fruit. The author effectively leverages the novel’s Southern California setting as an evocative inspiration for Nate’s musings; in a now particularly poignant reference, given the regions recent devastating wildfires, he notes, “The people of California were blessed year-round with the beautiful beaches and ocean, and because of that it was only natural to throw in destruction from time to time. Besides, chaos is always so seductive.” The boxing world also lends interesting depths to the story, as it provides a lifeline of discipline for Nate while remaining problematic due to the sport’s violence and questionable business practices. It’s rather surprising—and a bit off-putting—to learn that Houston native Nate not only trains fighters but also runs a hedge fund with “strictly family friends who all had a net worth of at least nine figures” as clients. However, such characters effectively dramatize the point that being privileged doesn’t preclude pain. “I am privileged; I am. But nobody knows the first thing about my life…about the abuse, the rape, the addiction,” Olivia proclaims to Nate near the end of the novel. While this couple tends to dominate the narrative, Oliver also provides similarly empathetic yet clear-eyed portraits of Abby and Will…and even of Emma, whose caregiving tendencies are, at times, enabling.  

An insightful, crosscutting depiction of lives in recovery.