The Night of the Gun is a memoir of drug addiction, but with a twist: the author (a New York Times reporter) uses investigative techniques to confirm and deny his drug-clouded memories.

The main design problem was to find a way to connect the title—specifically, the word gun, which might lead the reader to misunderstand the book—with drug use.

At a glance, the typography could look like simple hand-lettering; look closer and you see it is not.