In this powerful, unforgettable memoir, Mark L. O’Brien examines the profound consequences of the moment that forever changed his life and cut short the life of the woman he loved while delivering a searing indictment of the criminal justice and addiction treatment systems.

The morning after a birthday party she threw for him, O'Brien woke up in the hospital to learn that his girlfriend was dead, and he might be going to prison for causing the car crash that killed her. With piercing insight and stark prose, Mark L. O’Brien leads us on a deeply personal, intimate, and emotional journey—grappling with loss, regret, and his fragmented memories of the night of the crash, questioning a new relationship fraught with immense shame and colored by his continued attachment to his lost love, and wondering whether the forgiveness of his girlfriend’s family and questions about his guilt would keep him out of prison. Along the way, he delivers an unflinching exploration of grief, mercy, and the fractured path from loss to meaning. The result is a staggering and inspiring tour de force.

While the heart of Crashing is O’Brien’s examination of his pain and shame in the aftermath of the crash and his path to redemption, listeners will be shocked by the dysfunction and incompetence of the criminal justice and addiction treatment systems O’Brien confronts, systems he has since dedicated himself to reforming.

“I knew I’d made a horrible mistake, but I was stunned to see the disgrace we’ve allowed these systems to become,” O’Brien says. “From racism and dehumanizing cruelty to nearly comical ineptitude, none of us are better off living in a society with a criminal justice system that makes it impossible for people to choose a better path and an addiction treatment system that too often leaves people more traumatized than when they entered it.”

As seen in The Washington Post and on Jada Pinkett Smith’s Emmy Award-winning Red Table Talk, Mark L. O’Brien’s story will inspire listeners with its powerful message of hope and its heart-wrenching illustration of the human capacity to discover seeds of meaning in even the most painful experiences.