Killing Season

A Paramedic's Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Opioid Epidemic

By: Peter Canning

Narrated by: Tom Parks

When Peter Canning started work as a paramedic on the streets of Hartford, Connecticut, 25 years ago, he believed drug users were victims only of their own character flaws. Although he took care of them, he did not care for them. But as the overdoses escalated, Canning began asking his patients how they had gotten started on their perilous journeys. And while no two tales were the same, their heartrending similarities changed Canning's view and moved him to educate himself about the science of addiction. Armed with that understanding, he began his fight against the stigmatization of users.

In Killing Season, Canning tells stories of opioid overdose from a street-level vantage point. A first responder to hundreds of overdoses throughout the rise of America's epidemic, Canning has seen the impact of prescription painkillers, heroin, and the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl firsthand. Bringing us into the room with the victims of this epidemic, Canning explains how he came to favor harm reduction, which advocates for needle exchange, community naloxone, and safe-injection sites.

Stripping away the stigma of addiction through stories that are hard-hitting, poignant, sad, confessional, funny, and overall, human, Killing Season will change minds about the epidemic, help obliterate stigma, and save lives.

©2021 Peter Canning (P)2021 Tantor

Wow what an eye opener

Thanks you for your compassionate story telling and bringing truth to heart wrenching depictions of the epidemic plaguing us.

Humanizing addiction & how to help

I loved this different approach to humanizing addiction & the sufferers of it, from a front lines POV. The brilliant EMS workers who are THE boots on the ground and the critical difference between life & death daily.
The writer & collegues are daily, in the thick of this under-served community of left behind & vilified human beings.
They're definately the best ones to educate us and
this book was a really engaging listen.
The compassion & understanding gained from someone (me), who already thought they were "on their side" in an educated manner, was pretty eye opening.
I feel far more informed & cognizant of how much this community needs love & practical help, WAY more than judgement OR the political stalling & machinations holding up the assistance they so badly need.
Listen with an open mind to this & you WILL learn something. 100%

Touching, informative

Narrator took a little getting used to but after a few chapters his cadence felt normal. The book itself was enlightening and touching. I won’t look at addicts the same as I have in the past. Thank you for this book.

Great Resource While Entertaining

I got this book because I thought it would be interesting. It was absolutely fascinating! Not only did the stories keep me entertained (not always for their positivity), but I learned so much about the drug crisis in America, addicts/addiction, and so much more!

Also, if one wants to write a book with a character who is a user, especially of heroin and/or fentanyl, though other drugs were discussed as well, is an excellent resource as it shares information about many things we might not even think to research. For example, there's a certain position that many ODs are found in when they've passed away. And there's a difference in the skin between homeless users and those who still have a home...beyond the expected difference with non-users who are homeless vs. not.

I definitely recommend this book!

Very Informative

I read this after “American Pain”, I highly suggest reading both. It’s such an eye opener into the not so underground world of the opioid epidemic.