ALA Booklist (Wed Feb 01 00:00:00 CST 2017)

Cyndy Etler was by all accounts a "normal" teenager until her mother, for ill-conceived reasons, pushed her into a drug rehab facility known as Straight, Inc., kicking off 16 months of hell. Straight's methods of treatment were unconventional and abusive; they used "healed" teen graduates of their program as counselors, and their methods ranged from locking the teens inside rooms, sleep deprivation, physical abuse, spit therapy, and brainwashing disguised as positive peer pressure. The only way Etler knew how to survive was to confess to nonexistent sins and earn praise for her "honesty." Etler weaves her story with conviction, self-deprecating humor, and hard facts, showing how Straight left in its wake people who were terrified of the real world. This memoir will leave readers scouring the Internet for more survivor stories and info about Straight (some of which is in the epilogue). Readers will come to respect the fighter that Etler is and the advocate she became for other teens in similar situations.

Kirkus Reviews

In this debut memoir, Etler takes readers on a harrowing journey into Straight Inc., a nightmarish drug rehab that used controversial methods to "treat" its patients. At 14, Cyndy Etler was a white teenager desperately looking for a place to belong. Trying to escape from the abusive hands of her stepfather, she finds solace in Pink Floyd, God, and Bridgeport, the Connecticut city where she can escape with her best friend on weekends. When her mother reports her as a runaway, she sets off a chain of events that lands Cyndy at Straight Inc., a drug-rehabilitation facility in Virginia. Bewildered, Cyndy is sure she will be released as soon as the staff realizes she is not a drug addict. She cannot imagine that she will be stuck in this place—"a warehouse, literally…where, for a fee, parents can disappear their fuckups and rejects"—for the next 16 months. The treatment at Straight is bizarre and abusive, consisting largely of peer-led intimidation, emotional abuse, and mind games where the extensive rules are strictly enforced by the "group." Cyndy's progression into Stockholm syndrome is shocking yet wholly believable. Etler channels her younger self's voice with pitch-perfect verisimilitude as Cyndy goes from wide-eyed disbelief to acquiescence, having finally found a place where she feels like she belongs. An epilogue offers a redemptive conclusion, and an author's note provides chilling context for Straight's history and Cyndy's story. Raw and absorbing, Etler's voice captivates. (author's note) (Memoir. 15 & up)

School Library Journal (Wed Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 2017)

Gr 9 Up-n 1985, when 14-year-old runaway Etler was given the choice by police to either go home or be placed into foster care, she chose the latter. At home, she was routinely molested by her stepfather; her mother knew but denied it. Although being in foster care worked well for Etler, she was later transferred by her parents to Straight Inc., a drug treatment facility that turned out to be a cultlike organization bent on "rehabilitating" teen patients through abuse and isolation tactics. Etler's harrowing story details Straight Inc.'s bizarre rules, routines, and practices and her eventual chilling transformation into a true believer. The writing is fast-paced, and references to 1980s slang, music, and culture abound. Fans of dystopian novels, books about cults, and survival stories will find this account impossible to put down. Previously self-published in 2012 as Straightling: A Memoir, this is the first installment in Etler's story, with a sequel already in the works. Back matter offers further information on Straight Inc. Readers will be relieved to learn that the enterprise closed in 1993 but should be unsettled to discover that similar facilities still exist. VERDICT A can't-miss memoir for fans of Ellen Hopkins and Laura Wiess.Miriam DesHarnais, Towson University, MD