Such Sheltered Lives by Alyssa Sheinmel opens inside an ultra-exclusive Hamptons rehab center built on discretion, money, and the promise that no one on the outside will ever find out what happens within its gates. From the opening pages, we know a body will be found on a nearby beach—and that inevitability hangs over Rush’s Recovery like a threat the staff can’t quite contain.
I’ll be honest: this book gets off to a rough start. The early writing feels tentative and occasionally amateurish, and there are factual errors that pulled me sharply out of the story. One in particular made me stop and reread in disbelief: a character’s academic background is described in a way that suggests someone earned—or was earning—a PhD through night classes at a community college. That’s not a minor slip in phrasing; it’s a fundamental misunderstanding of how higher education works. No one is getting a doctorate that way. Errors like this made me question the author’s lived experience and research, and they chipped away at my trust in the narrative early on.
Continue reading “Such Sheltered Lives by Alyssa Sheinmel: Celebrity rehab, buried secrets, and a thriller that finds its footing late”
Write on the World 