Liam Vian Reviews “Gripped Part 1: The Truth We Never Told” by Stacy Padula

By Liam Vian—Duxbury, Massachusetts

As a senior in high school, I recommend Gripped Part 1: The Truth We Never Told by Stacy Padula to anyone in high school or even older, as I believe it is insightful into how drugs can affect young adults and what they can do to their lives. This story was a really interesting read as it delves into three separate stories setting them up for the future of the series. It talks about a star college football student and his battle against addiction after a season-ending injury and his involvement with trafficking. It also talks about the relationship between two sisters that slowly gets worse due to one major event. And the last one is the toxic relationship between one of the sisters and a boy who she met at a party. 

The messages behind this book are powerful, and I believe they are something that many young adults should come to understand. Drug use in young adults is a major topic that I feel is not talked about enough in school and even in the home. This book does a phenomenal job of bringing awareness to the dark side of drug use, especially in kids in both high school and college. I thought it did a really good job of deterring one from the idea of doing drugs altogether. In summary, I enjoyed this book, and I think it is worth a read. 

About Liam Vian

Liam is a senior at Duxbury High School in Duxbury, MA where he has lived since 2017. Before this, he attended Forest Hill Elementary School in San Jose, CA and Birch Copse primary school in Reading, England. Liam has lived half of his life in England and the other half in the United States. His favorite subjects in school are health and science, and he plans to major in sports kinesiology/nutrition or sports management. Liam also works year round at a local restaurant called the Winsor House. He loves to travel and can’t wait to study abroad in different countries during college.