Book Review: Slow Dancing with the Devil: A Son’s Substance Use Disorder, A Mother’s Anguish
by Susan Bartz Herrick
Reviewed by Tandy Culpepper
In Slow Dancing with the Devil, Susan Bartz Herrick delivers an unflinching, deeply personal account of her son’s tragic battle with opioid addiction—a journey that ended in heartbreak with the death of 30-year-old Robert Luke Paschal. Herrick’s memoir is more than a testament to a mother’s love and anguish; it is a sobering, meticulously researched exploration of the national opioid epidemic, and the systemic failures that continue to fuel it.
The book opens with the devastating car crash that nearly claimed Luke’s life. Airlifted to a hospital with a crushed chest, broken neck, and extensive internal injuries, Luke survived—but the aftermath proved equally perilous. Prescribed OxyContin for pain management, he soon became ensnared by the drug’s addictive grip. Herrick details how Purdue Pharma downplayed the drug’s addictive properties, placing countless families, like hers, in the path of ruin.
What distinguishes this memoir is Herrick’s dual perspective—equal parts emotional and analytical. She lays bare the despair, the hope, the denial, and the relentless effort to save her son. At the same time, she weaves in rigorous research on substance use disorder, turning her grief into a guidebook for others facing similar struggles. The result is a book that reads both as a personal chronicle and an educational resource—raw, compassionate, and fiercely informed.
My conversation with Susan was marked by candor and clarity. She speaks of Luke not only with love, but with urgency—to help others recognize the signs of addiction, to break the silence that so often surrounds it, and to equip families with the knowledge that might make a difference.
In 2021 alone, more than 60,000 of the 80,000 overdose deaths in the United States were opioid-related. Slow Dancing with the Devil reminds us that every one of those numbers is a person. A son. A daughter. A Luke. And behind each is a mother like Susan, still fighting to be heard.