Sioux City Reads 2025 Nominee: Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World’s Most Notorious Diaries by Rick Emerson

Now through November 30, cast your vote to help select the next Sioux City Reads title at SiouxCityLibrary.org/siouxcityreads.  

This year the Library selected books from the true crime genre. The chosen book will serve as inspiration for events, discussions, and challenges throughout the upcoming 2025 Sioux City Reads initiative.  

2025 Sioux City Reads Nominee Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World’s Most Notorious Diaries by Rick Emerson is the true story about the story, Go Ask Alice. In 1971, Go Ask Alice reinvented the young adult genre with a blistering portrayal of sex, psychosis, and teenage self-destruction. The supposed diary of a middle-class addict, Go Ask Alice terrified adults and cemented LSD’s fearsome reputation, fueling support for the War on Drugs. In 1979, another diary rattled the culture – the posthumous memoir of an alleged teenage Satanist, Jay’s Journal. In reality, Go Ask Alice  and Jay’s Journal came from a serial con artist who betrayed a grieving family, stole a dead boy’s memory, and lied her way to the National Book Awards. 

Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World’s Most Notorious Diaries is a true story of contagious deception. It stretches from Hollywood to Quantico, and passes through a tiny patch of Utah nicknamed “the fraud capital of America.” It’s the story of a doomed romance and a vengeful celebrity. Of a lazy press and a public mob. Of two suicidal teenagers, and their exploitation by a literary vampire. 

“One of the must-read books of this century.”—Gillian Flynn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Gone Girl

“Unmask Alice by Rick Emerson goes a long way to showing what investigative journalism could be in the right hands . . . this book is undeniably buzzworthy.” —Portland Book Review

“An absorbing and unnerving read . . . this book demands to be finished in one sitting.” —Booklist 

The winner will be announced in January. Visit SiouxCityLibrary.org/siouxcityreads, the Library’s Facebook page, or sign-up for the Library’s e-newsletter at SiouxCityLibrary.org/news to get all the latest updates.