Wonderland Avenue: Tales of Glamour and Excess

This achingly forthright account of heroin addiction and the madness of life in the L.A. rock-and-roll scene fairly crackles with reality. Sugerman ( No One Here Gets Out Alive ) tells of his well-heeled yet troubled childhood and of his association, begining at age 12, with the Doors, particularly his relationship with the band's nihilistic leader, Jim Morrison. Himself experimenting with drugs at the time Morrison OD'd, Sugerman developed an addiction, at the same time assuming more responsible and more visible positions with the Doors' organization. The author describes in wrenching detail his increasingly outrageous behavior which, because it was equalled or exceeded by his friends and associatesseveral of whom died during this periodwas perceived within his milieu as, if not normal, at least acceptable. Fortunately for Sugerman, he stopped his wild rush toward self-destruction just short of its realization. His facility with dialogue and his breakneck writing style complement perfectly the intensity of the subject matter. (Mar.)