From my seat as a newspaper reporter covering the courts, it often seems that few violent crimes would be committed absent addictions.

Many times, I have seen a killer come to court looking healthier and sober after weeks in jail, and I can't help but wonder how much better off the defendant, the victim and we all would be if they'd found their way to sobriety sooner.

Although it's a subject that merits exploration, I was skeptical about another book about addiction. But New York Times magazine contributor and author Benoit Denizet-Lewis finds a fresh, provocative approach to the subject in "America Anonymous: Eight Addicts in Search of a Life."

For several years, he tracked men and women with a panoply of problems: heroin, alcohol, crystal meth and steroids, food, sex and pornography, crack, prescription drugs and gambling and shoplifting.

He tells their recovery stories, letting the subjects do much of the talking as he weaves in history and science.

The opening quote from Bobby, a heroin addict and an unemployed resident of bleak South Boston, is an example of the author's commitment to unvarnished reality. Of his neighborhood, Bobby said, "Sometimes I think God could do us a favor and crash a 747 into this [expletive] place."

Denizet-Lewis writes as a clear-eyed observer and sometime participant. In the introduction, he says the book contains no composite characters, no made-up scenes. On occasion he prods a subject, talking about his own sex addiction or raising provocative questions, such as: Is it really so bad for a man to become an alcoholic at 80? Isn't that what retirement communities are for?

One addict is featured in each of the 32 chapters. I often felt like I was right there listening to the conversations. And, boy, was I paying attention.

Ellen, a food addict, meets with her sponsor before a meeting. Denizet-Lewis quotes directly their back-and-forth conversation about freaking out and seeking happiness and spirituality.

Denizet-Lewis goes straight at it with his subjects and himself, unsparingly detailing a day in the life of his addiction to those who can't grasp how a sex fixation could be a problem.

I used Post-its to mark passages I wanted to revisit or share. I flagged more than two dozen.

This is a book about tough roads, but it ends with hope -- that Denizet-Lewis finds for himself in the success of the other addicts. He poses many questions and rolls out possible answers, but he doesn't preach.

The book closes with a call to action -- from Jody, an addict turned treatment director -- for a change in how addiction is viewed and treated.

"People in recovery need to stand up and demand to be counted," Jody said. "We don't have nearly enough people out there screaming until something changes, until we start devoting real money and resources to fighting this disease."

Rochelle Olson, who covers Hennepin County courts for the Star Tribune, is at 612-673-1747.