In 2018, Antonio Iozzo, the CEO and visionary leader of IUM, Africa’s leading independently owned insurance underwriting manager, has a near-death accident when he comes off his Ducati Panigale superbike at breakneck speed racing around Cape Town’s notoriously dangerous Killarney Motor Raceway. Despite sustaining significant injuries, including a shattered T7 vertebra, 14 broken ribs, and punctured lungs, medical professionals are amazed that Antonio has not been left paralysed.

Antonio undergoes a series of operations in both South Africa and the United States. Throughout his ordeal, he’s prescribed OxyNorm, an opioid painkiller commonly known as Oxy in the US, where it’s been linked to millions of overdose-related deaths. No one in the medical fraternity warns Antonio of its highly addictive nature, and so his five-year addiction nightmare unfolds.

While managing a R600 million building project, launching a cutting-edge 5,000m² health and wellness facility, and overseeing his multibillion-rand insurance enterprise, this highly driven businessman grapples with a dual existence. His once magnificent life, built from rags to riches, begins to unravel as he consumes copious amounts of Oxy to manage his debilitating back pain, alternating it with even more addictive Suboxone to withdraw.

As he expands his multibillion-rand business empire, Antonio finds it increasingly challenging to conceal his inner turmoil. He becomes fixated on the clock, obsessed with when he can take his next fix.

Finally, in a mammoth surge of determination and willpower, Antonio goes into battle with the opioid dragon, resolved to wean himself off every last milligram of the drug.

The bravest book you’ll read this year.