“Does what 'Fast Food Nation' did for fast food to Black Tar Heroin and oxycodone . . . A stunning journalistic journey that follows the history and narrative trajectories that lead to this entirely new style of cultivating drug addiction . . . I just love this book.”
Marc Maron, WTF podcast

“Quinones' research ensures that there is something legitimately interesting … on every page.” ―Entertainment Weekly

"You won’t find this story told better anywhere else, from the economic hollowing-out of the middle class to the greedy and reckless marketing of pharmaceutical opiates to the remarkable entrepreneurial industry of the residents of the obscure Mexican state of Nayarit . . . Dreamland--true crime, sociology, and exposé--illuminates a catastrophe unfolding all around us, right now." ― 10 Favorite Books of 2015, Slate

"Compulsively readable." A Doctor's Guide to Books, New York Times Book Review”

“The must-read book about America's heroin crisis. . . . Quinones combines thorough research with superlative narrative skills to produce a horrifying but compulsively readable book about opiate addiction . . . a book that every American should read. And I state that without reservation. . . . This book is as much of a page-turner as a good mystery, as well as being thoroughly and disturbingly illuminating about a national crisis.” Christian Science Monitor

"Quinones recounts individual tales--from junkies in Portland, Ore., to pill mills in Appalachia to entrepreneurial heroin traffickers from small-town Mexico--to describe a “catastrophic synergy” in which over-prescription of opioid painkillers begets addicts, many of whom then turn to heroin, which is cheaper and just as ubiquitous." Best Books of 2015, Boston Globe

“Journalist Quinones weaves an extraordinary story, including the personal journeys of the addicted, the drug traffickers, law enforcement, and scores of families affected by the scourge, as he details the social, economic, and political forces that eventually destroyed communities in the American heartland and continues to have a resounding impact.”
Booklist

"The path of heroin from America’s urban slums to its trim suburban subdivisions is traced by a Los Angeles Times reporter. Quinones’ deeply researched and readable book says well-heeled addicts got hooked first on pain-killing medications like OxyContin--but then switched to much cheaper Mexican heroin, feeding a problem across the nation." Best Books of 2015, St. Louis Dispatch

“[A] compelling examination . . . a driven and important narrative.” ―Wall Street Journal

“Mr. Quinones lays out tragic overlapping networks of supply and demand. He introduces readers ages 12-17 to unscrupulous doctors, pharmaceutical-company salespeople, Mexican drug couriers, American narcotics officers, and innumerable addicts and their grief-stricken families...This fast-moving and relatively austere account will acquaint teen readers with important elements of the opioid epidemic, though this discussion is only a gateway, if you will, to a deeper story of distress. Yet it ends on a note of quiet hope. Having hit bottom, Portsmouth, Ohio, is turning itself around. “Once a junkie’s haven,” Mr. Quinones writes, it is now a place with a culture of recovery, “a refuge for those seeking a new life.”
 Wall Street Journal

“A haunting tale of opiate abuse in the heartland . . . Using expert storytelling and exhaustive detail, Quinones chronicles the perfect storm of circumstances that cleared the way for the Mexican narcotic to infiltrate our small and midsize communities over the last two decades.” Kansas City Star

“Personal profiles crafted from interviews keep things interesting, and the technical descriptions of the various drug forms and the history of opiates are informative...A scrupulously researched, well-crafted tale that sheds light on a timely topic.”
Kirkus Reviews