There are certain books you read at the wrong time and they hit anyway.
One Last Hit by Austin Rampt is one of them. I listened to the audiobook on Audible, in Austin’s own voice, while I was packing up my house and cleaning out decades of accumulated life. Box by box, room by room. Austin was just there, talking through my Bluetooth speaker like a guy on a road trip who has nothing left to hide.
That is actually the best thing I can tell you about this book. The man narrates his own story the way he probably tells it at a meeting: no performance, no polish, just the facts of what happened and the occasional pause that says he still can’t quite believe it either.
Here is what you need to know about Austin Rampt: eight rehab programs, a decade-plus of active addiction, crack cocaine, heroin, and a stretch of time living in Mexico with members of the Sinaloa Cartel. Not as a trafficker. Just as someone so deep in the life that Mexico was the next logical stop. He does not glamorize it. He does not use it as a calling card. It is just what happened.
The book opens in a way I did not expect. Austin is in sobriety. Working a program. Multiple years in. And then he relapses. Stays out. The next stretch is tumultuous in the way that late-stage addiction is always tumultuous: which is to say it is both chaotic and numbingly repetitive at the same time.
That structure is the most honest thing about the book, and also what makes it different from the standard addiction memoir arc. The fall-and-rise story is almost a genre requirement at this point. Austin gives you the fall, the attempted rise, the fall again, and then the actual rise. That extra loop is where most memoirs skip to the good part. He does not.
There is a scene involving his grandmother that stopped me mid-box. I am not going to spoil it. What I will say is that I was not sober when my Grandma Bryson died, and I know we are not supposed to carry regrets, but I would have done some things differently in her last days. That scene brought that back in the clearest possible way. Not in a crushing way. In the way that only a very specific, very real detail can reach you across the years. I can picture myself lying next to her, in her single-wide, as she was taking her last breaths, and I was insanely hungover and debating how I could sneak some of her pills from the medicine cabinet. I don’t know who that girl is today, but I do feel for how broken she must have been in those moments.
If you are the kind of person who reads addiction memoirs for the ride, the chaos, the sheer what-were-you-thinking-ness of it all, this book will not disappoint you. It goes places. Austin went places.
But here is where I land honestly: One Last Hit is a great story more than it is great writing. The voice on Audible works because it is Austin’s actual voice, unfiltered and unguarded. On the page, some of the emotional connective tissue that makes a memoir stick, the moments where you understand not just what happened but why this person, why this particular shape of pain, is thinner than I wanted. Listening to Austin tell it in his voice changes that dynamic.
Grounded in his recovery, today Austin Rampt is a husband, a father of five, and a business owner. He shares his story with anyone who needs to hear it. Addiction memoirs take us back to the times we aren’t proud of and remind us how far we’ve come. Austin puts it all out there.
#QUITLIT Sobees Score: 3.5 out of 5 Sobees
Best for readers who want a memoir that goes on a genuinely wild ride and does not apologize for it. Listen to the audiobook if you can. His voice is the whole thing. Thanks for helping me move, Austin. Your story didn’t physically move any boxes, but it did help me process some emotional baggage I didn’t realize I was still hanging onto.
One Last Hit is available in ebook, paperback, and audiobook. Get your copy here.
Follow Austin in all of the digital places and social spaces:
- Website: onelasthitbook.com
- Instagram: @onelasthitbook
- Facebook: One Last Hit Book
- YouTube: @OneLastHit
- TikTok: @OneLastHitBook
One Last Hit — The Podcast | Austin Rampt | Addiction Recovery & Sobriety
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Q: What is One Last Hit by Austin Rampt about?
A: One Last Hit is a memoir by Austin Rampt about more than a decade of active addiction, including eight rehab programs, multiple stints in jail, and a period living in Mexico with members of the Sinaloa Cartel. It covers his path through repeated attempts at recovery and the life he built on the other side: husband, father of five, business owner.
Q: Is One Last Hit available as an audiobook?
A: Yes. One Last Hit is available as an audiobook narrated by Austin Rampt himself. The audiobook format is worth noting because Austin’s own voice changes the experience considerably. If you have the option, listen to it.
Q: How does One Last Hit compare to other addiction memoirs?
A: Most addiction memoirs follow a fall-and-rise structure. One Last Hit includes an extra loop: Austin gets sober, relapses, stays out, and then finds his way back again. That second fall is where most memoirs skip to the redemption chapter. Rampt does not.
Q: Who should read One Last Hit?
A: Readers who want an addiction memoir that goes to genuinely dark places without glamorizing them. It is best suited for people in long-term recovery, those who love quit lit and want something rawer than the typical recovery narrative, or anyone who connects with first-person storytelling over clinical accounts of addiction.
Q: Where can I buy One Last Hit by Austin Rampt?
A: One Last Hit is available in ebook, paperback, and audiobook formats at onelasthitbook.com.
