That bastard deserved what I had done to him. I told myself that when I would step off of that train, it would be a new beginning and I would lock my past away. What was done was just that: done. I saw myself as finally free. Free to show the world that I was worth something.

A young loner rages against his inner demons in Jessica Spinelli's shocking debut novel, Diluted Reality.

Xavier has always known he was a mistake. Born to a promiscuous, drug-addicted mother, his hellish childhood in a radically religious and abusive household drives him in and out of institutions until he finally escapes at age sixteen.

A natural loner, with music and art as his only companions, Xavier nevertheless joins with his old friend Avry, traveling the country together.

But everything changes in New Orleans when Xavier meets Delia, whose past included things of the macabre, laced with heroin. Together Delia and Xavier begin a vicious drug and sex induced downward spiral. Their destructive cycle eventually drives Avry away until Xavier manages to extricate himself from Delia's seductive embrace.

While searching for Avry in New York, Xavier meets Angelika, a former drug addict who has managed to turn her life around.

Believing he may have finally found happiness, Xavier's world is once again plunged into darkness when he learns a horrifying truth that forces him to face his inner demon head on.