Shattered Wings opens with the story’s ending (no need to read the last chapter first, if you are one of those readers who has to know in advance how a story ends).

“The rain in coming down harder now, each drop larger than the one before it. I look up, but the water keeps me from seeing the menacing sky, illuminated only briefly by a silent crash of light. My hair is fallen and becoming matted to my forehead. I can feel the stain spread across my chest, and the water streaking down my cheeks in rivers, as though the world were crying in my stead. I must look an awful mess; and yet I will look even worse in so short a time, as I squeeze the rubber grip in my hand, resting the steel comfortably against my thigh. The barrel is still warm from being so recently in use.” *

Healey reveals the circumstances in John’s life that brought him to this point in chronologically ordered scenes from recent events interspersed with flashbacks from John’s younger years. The consistent pace of the story flowed smoothly and before I knew it, I was drawn into John’s world. A content family-man living in a suburban home with his lover Charlie and their daughter Cassie. But the world John loves and knows so very well is about to be challenged through unforeseen events and circumstances which sends John into a downward spiral. Each event in John’s life builds on itself until John is no longer in control.

Healey brings to life believable characters in events and circumstances which are common place in our world today to make for an emotional and heartbreaking read – one you won’t soon forget.

* Except from the beginning of Shattered Wings by Bryan Healey

4 out of 5 stars.