Customer Reviews
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Zach Attack!, Apr 26, 2023
Zachary McDaniel Wahhsted is a very distinct personality. Diagnosed as schizophrenic, Zach lives with his illness and discusses it honestly, openly and frankly wit everyone he encounters. Zach has classic psychotic symptoms such as the difficulty in sorting out fact from fiction; auditory and tactile hallucintions; minimal social skills; poor judgment; bizarre ideations; bizarre verbalizations and suicide attempts. Each chapter opens with clinical notes and excerpts of letters about Zach.
Zach suffered from adolescent onset psychosis. His first episode with the illness occurred when he was 14 and found wandering the streets barefoot. From there, he is taken to Clearwater State Hospital where a benevolent pyschiatrist, Dr. Calvin Curtis ("Dr. Curt") takes over the boy's care. He is honest with Zach's mother; the boy has an especially severe form of schizophrenia and at best, can hope for remission through medication. Since Zach experiences a crawling sensation on his skin when his meds wear off, the doctor warns that this signified a poor prognosis and and that young men who suffer this side effect often commit suicide.
The story opens with a rush as Zach enters a local coffee shop in Spokane. His sole goal is to get maple bars and his meds. Zach tells all and sundry that at 3:30 he "takes his medicine" and Zach's mother has agreed to meet him at the shop with his medicine. A robbery is taking place and each patron and employee are held hostage by two teenage robbers. Zach talks to the boys, Joey aka "Stormy," 14 and Alan aka "Frosty", 17 and discusses his illness in an open, childlike way. He plainly has no concept of privacy. He also makes very personal comments to the other hostages, such as when he told one elderly woman with kind eyes that she had pretty eyes like a dog. He thinks a child who is understandably immobilized with fear is a zombie. Zach is not at all hesitant about sharing these observations. The boys don't know what to make of him and the other hostages shy away from him.
After a long stand-off, the boys finally release the other hostages save for Zach, who insists on calling his doctor. Zach and Dr. Curt become heroes after they talk the boys into doing the right thing. Once released, Zach's main aim is for those maple bars.
The story reminds me of the 1968 Beatle song, "Yer Blues" as the lyrics of that song could easily underscore this book. It ends on a tragically ironic note and will leave readers thinking for a very long time.
This is an author to watch out for!
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Sixteen-year-old Zach..., Nov 25, 2022
Sixteen-year-old Zach, a schizophrenic in need of his medication, is one of several hostages in the botched robbery of a coffee shop by two desperate teenagers.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Fantastic Book, Keeps You Reading Till the Very End, Oct 29, 2023
The book Inside out by Terry Trueman is about a Kid that developed a mental disease that makes him hear voices in his had. This mental disease is called skitsophrenia and the book will teach you about this disease and a situation not good for him. He gets caught in an armed robbery at a bakery after school and needs his medicine to maintain his disease and keep dirtbag and rat from coming back. To find out more about the story or disease read on. Inside out is almost guranteed to keep u reading until the very end.
Inside Out is a very good book. I recomend this book to everybody that reads this review because if you didnt read it you couldnt be recomended.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 great book, Oct 6, 2023
Insideout by Terry Trueman was a great book. It showed how some people have problems and disabilities and shows how they cope with them. Its a very over whelming book. It makes you wanna reach out and help someone with a disabilaty like Schitzophrinia. The main character in this book had it and he learned to cope with it despite what people thought. Unfortuneatly Zach couldn't take it anymore and he decided to do something about it. Read this great book to find out.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Every word in this small book is powerful and gripping. , Jul 26, 2023
Long gong...barrelcracker... barrel...barrel o'monkeys...wong-gong."
"Time...grime...pantomime...long-gone wong-gong is a wong-gone long gong..."
These words may seem strange and convoluted to you, but Zach Wahhsted hears them in his mind day in and day out. Zach has schizophrenia, which causes him to hear voices. He finds that if he takes all of his medication on time, the voices go away and he has fewer problems getting through the day.
All Zach wants is a maple bar as he waits at the local coffee shop for his mother to bring him his meds. But before she can deliver them, Zach finds himself a hostage in the middle of a holdup gone wrong. The longer he goes without his medication, the more difficult a time he has keeping in touch with reality.
Hours after he is supposed to receive his medication, Zach agrees to stay behind as a hostage while the boys he calls Frosty and Stormy let everyone else in the coffee shop go free as part of a deal with the police. Reality begins to slip away, and the voices in Zach's head grow louder as he tries to stay alive and get out of this mess.
Complex and chilling, Terry Trueman's picture of a schizophrenic's mind alternates between lucid and hallucinogenic. Often, the reader's feelings towards Zach are as confused as Zach's thoughts. Every word in this small book is powerful and gripping. Don't be surprised if you find yourself out of breath at the end.
--- Reviewed by Carlie Kraft Webber
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