American Boy is the poignant story of a brother's fall through the eyes of a little sister. Matthew went from clashing lightsabers with Shea and scaring away bullies, to driving off into night and stumbling up to federal court podiums. Megale chronicles Matt's journey through opioid addiction with brutal truth and unimaginable love, revealing raw and shocking insight into this national and deadly epidemic. This firsthand biography seeks to help others by sharing what worked for Matthew and what didn't, and looking back on mistakes made in the heat of survival. Megale challenges families to talk without shame about their loved one's addiction, and what communities can do to change the course of this historic crisis in front of them.

Written with haunting intimacy and surprising hope, Megale's account is a must-read for anyone touched by substance abuse or grief. It is the portrait of Matt-his spirit and his warmth-but the story of her, too, and her fight to return to him with both urgency and ideas of forever