Unmask Alice : LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World's Most Notorious Diaries

"Unmask Alice by Rick Emerson goes a long way to showing what investigative journalism could be in the right hands . . . this book is undeniably buzzworthy." —Portland Book Review

"An absorbing and unnerving read . . . this book demands to be finished in one sitting." —Booklist

"One of the must-read books of this century."
—Gillian Flynn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Gone Girl

Two teens. Two diaries. Two social panics. One incredible fraud.

In 1971, Go Ask Alice reinvented the young adult genre with a blistering portrayal of sex, psychosis, and teenage self-destruction. The supposed diary of a middle-class addict, Go Ask Alice terrified adults and cemented LSD''s fearsome reputation, fueling support for the War on Drugs. Five million copies later, Go Ask Alice remains a divisive bestseller, outraging censors and earning new fans, all of them drawn by the book''s mythic premise: A Real Diary, by Anonymous. 

But Alice was only the beginning. 

In 1979, another diary rattled the culture, setting the stage for a national meltdown. The posthumous memoir of an alleged teenage Satanist, Jay''s Journal merged with a frightening new crisis—adolescent suicide—to create a literal witch hunt, shattering countless lives and poisoning whole communities. 

In reality, Go Ask Alice and Jay''s Journal came from the same dark place: Beatrice Sparks, a serial con artist who betrayed a grieving family, stole a dead boy''s memory, and lied her way to the National Book Awards. 

Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World''s Most Notorious Diaries is a true story of contagious deception. It stretches from Hollywood to Quantico, and passes through a tiny patch of Utah nicknamed "the fraud capital of America." It''s the story of a doomed romance and a vengeful celebrity. Of a lazy press and a public mob. Of two suicidal teenagers, and their exploitation by a literary vampire. 

Unmask Alice . . . where truth is stranger than nonfiction.