Nearly unbelievable true story that often reads like a thriller, CROOKED STRAIGHT tells of Maryse's unconventional coming of age through early loss of innocence, rebellion, survival, international drug trafficking adventures from Toronto to Amsterdam to Spain.

But that's just the back story.

We enter her life early one morning in Toronto when Maryse, age twenty-five, has managed to extricate herself from a life of hopelessness in the confines of the drug scene, a life she landed in because of her deep shame over her early experiences of abuse at the hands of her mother, grandfather, and others—events for which she shouldered the blame.

Today, however, life hands her much bigger problems.

Over a five-hour span, she's forced into choices she'd rather not make—choices that compel her to look deeply within, to tear apart her past.

Choices she must make immediately.

Choices that could affect her very freedom, yet give her an opportunity to see justice served—though in a startling way—if only she'd help Toronto police in the arrest of a serial rapist.

KIRKUS REVIEW: A Harrowing, Absorbing Account of a Survivor.

A debut memoir recounts the cruelty and abuse a Canadian woman suffered in her youth. Nine-year-old Laflamme wanted to run away from her home in Quebec. According to the author, her mother regularly beat her, and her grandfather molested her and her younger sister. This was in the early 1960s, when people, like school faculty members, generally ignored signs of domestic abuse against children. Laflamme convinced herself that anywhere away from her family would be safer, but that sadly wasn't the case. Multiple men forced themselves on her as she tried living on her own.
By the time she settled in Toronto, she had a boyfriend, but the two were deeply into drugs—using and selling. As the law soon took notice, she spent some time overseas but, years later, in 1979, returned to Canada.

That's when she encountered a peculiar assailant; he held the author at gunpoint but was considerably less violent than the many abusers in her past. She even equates the ordeal with having sex with a lover, as she remained calm throughout. But her reluctance to report the rape had more to do with the outstanding warrant for her arrest.

Laflamme's concise prose deftly expresses the mindset of an abused young girl. The author, for example, felt shame, as if the atrocities inflicted on her were her fault. Intriguing snippets of her simple fantasies intermittently appear, such as the author and her boyfriend leading worry-free, financially stable lives.
Though she covers only two decades, she still skims over a few years and events, including her horrific rape by several men in Rimouski, Quebec, which she references twice in the text.

A third of the engrossing book focuses on the '79 assault. It's an apt depiction of the hardships women face when reporting rape, such as openly discussing an attack with male cops.

Still, Laflamme concentrates on her fear of arrest, generating suspense with the author's trying to leave before any officer recognized her.

If you liked THE LIAR'S CLUB, I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS, as well as gritty and true twisty tales with humor and a happy ending, you won't be able to put down CROOKED STRAIGHT. Be sure to "strap in" for the wild ride.