No Direction Home by Greg Cayea

No Direction Home by Greg Cayea

In 1999, Greg Cayea was sent to Hidden Lake Academy: the most infamous juvenile institution in America touting itself as a therapeutic boarding school. The school has since been shut down for the tragic maltreatment of troubled youth, but before that, it was a dark place to be. No Direction Home tells the story of the series of events that landed Greg there, what it was like, and how he adventurously escaped.

It starts on the first day of middle school in an upscale neighborhood in Long Island, New York. Greg was labeled the biggest piece of shit in sixth grade because of a few unfortunate circumstances, and there seemed to be no hope for redemption. Then one day everything changed, but it was a bit too late. Greg was on a crusade for vengeance. What ensues is a series of escapades filled with theft, drug addiction, prostitution, suspension, and eventually permanent relocation to many residential rehabs across the country. Still, nothing could calm him down. He was a bit too off the hinges by then for rehabilitation, and after a scuffle with anti-semitic cohorts at one of the inpatient rehabs he ended up at in Louisiana, and after a daring escape with a girl too good to be true, he's scooped up and transferred to Hidden Lake Academy, a fucked up place tucked in the obscurity of the Appalachian Mountains. From that point on, all bets are off and there is one mission, and one mission only: get out. His attempted escape morphs into a chaotic tale of homelessness, bad crowds, rancid romance, and bravery in all the wrong places, but one thing is for sure. Greg will never be the same.

The question is, will he ever find his way home?