The Prodigal's Son: Crackhead to Jesus Freak

by Samantha Tschritter, Larry Leech (Editor)

Addiction 📕 Prodigal 📕 Relapse 📕Spiritual MisfitBack Cover

At 1:30 a.m. Sam Evans received the phone call every spouse dreads. “Mrs. Evans, this is a sergeant with the police department. There’s been an accident.” Six hours later, she received another call. “Mrs. Evans, this is a nurse at the hospital. We found something on the cat scan.”

Instead of preaching that Sunday, Pastor Clint Evans went to jail with a BAC of .24, a cancer diagnosis, and a felony charge of fleeing police. The Prodigal’s Crackhead to Jesus Freak chronicles a Christian’s lifelong battle against demons, addictions, and unworthiness. This story portrays a God who steals the show with a backlash of grace toward a man whom others branded “unredeemable.”

The Prodigal’s Son flings church doors open wide to the world’s misfits and challenges pew-squater saints to stop measuring their godly perfection against the dirty, homeless and addicted. From gutter to pulpit to ditch to grace to grave, The Prodigal’s Son speaks volumes of God’s furious love for the world’s castoffs.

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This is a story of a pastor arrested for drunk driving. The affects of alcoholism on families is staggering. "My wife hid her addiction from me," "My husband hid his alcoholism from me." Millions of men and women are affected by drug addiction. Do you want to know how to find hope when battling addiction? Are you looking for support for spouses of addiction? If you just found out your husband's an addict, or your wife's an alcoholic and you're grieving your spouses addiction, look no further than The Prodigal's Crackhead to Jesus Freak. Within the pages of this book, you'll find hope with an addict spouse, learn how to handle your husband's addiction, and close the cover knowing you are not alone.

396 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 1, 2026

Reviews

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Review

What instantly drew me into this book was the author’s writing style. Bold, honest, and even at times gritty, the author unapologetically delved into this tense and heartbreaking reality of addiction to give readers a vivid image of what this does to both the addict and their loved ones uniquely. The juxtaposition of Clint’s role as a church leader and pillar in the Christian community with the imagery often used to depict addicts and how people think of those who suffer from it was powerful to behold, and the strong emotional response readers have to the author’s writing will become evident soon after starting this book.

The heart of this book was the balance between an honest response to addiction and spirituality, and how those who hold onto faith deal with these troubling moments in life. The author’s particular faith in Christianity takes a firm stand. Yet the author’s messaging and theme of this book go far beyond one specific faith, reaching out to readers of all religions and even non-religious readers such as myself, for addiction affects all people, not just one group over another. Paired with the health crisis that he faced and the emotional impact of the battles he fought through, readers will be heartily invested in this story.

The Verdict

Memorable, emotional, and compelling, author S.E. Tschritter’s “The Prodigal’s Son” is a must-read nonfiction memoir about addiction and faith. The insight, the author’s unique writing style and voice that exuded honesty, humor, and depth, and the heartfelt storytelling the author poured into this book will stay with readers long after that emotional final chapter.

[Danielle Urban · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Prodigal's Son by both Samantha Evans and Larry J. Leech II, is a book that speaks to all people. It is about how we travel through life filling it with everything but what we truly need. That thing we truly need is God in our lives. The main person featured inside this nonfictional read is a man named, Clint. He went from falling to rising back up to God. The journey was not an easy one but a fulfilling one, once accomplished. This book inspires hope, renewed faith, and a promise that there is a light at the other end of the dark tunnel. None of us are alone. Having lost someone to addiction I can truly feel the raw emotional and heartbreaking journeys across these pages. I hope others will read this and maybe also have those who suffer from addiction read it, too. Maybe, it will inspire them that change can happen.

I received this copy from the publisher. This is my voluntary review.

[Jeni Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

So emotional and heartbreaking. So well written. Hard to put down!