The Shattered Bones - (The Breaker) by David Santana (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Finalist for the 2024 Kindle Book Award's "Readers Favorite", and winner in the Reader's Favorite Horror category.

Army veteran, Rylan "Rye" Beam, struggled to find balance after the Iraq War, reaching for a version of himself that no longer existed. With his boots back on American soil, he began building a family, convinced he was "maintaining" by drowning his demons in a bottle of whiskey. Unaware of how delicately he teetered on the brink, a devastating tragedy suddenly collapsed the ground underfoot and sent him headlong onto a murderous path.

Unable to cope with the loss of his family, Rylan had resolved to die, but, fearing he had squandered his life, vowed to make a difference on his way out. With a hammer in one hand and a list of twenty-one names clutched in the other, he set off on a cross-country quest for redemption and retribution while a brash young FBI agent was tasked with picking up the trail of a serial killer.

As Rylan continues to scratch names off his list, his mind begins to buckle under the crushing weight of all the broken bodies, and what began as a desperate man's attempt to satisfy a twisted sense of duty, becomes something entirely new when he starts interviewing his victims.

In seeking to understand what motivates people to commit violent crimes, his victims' stories challenge his rigid perception of guilt and innocence, forcing him to question the limits of justice.

THE SHATTERED BONES, is the first novel in a multi-part series chronicling the journey of a serial killer, the experiences that shaped him, and an FBI agent's struggle to stop his rampage.

Review Quotes

"...brutal yet ruminative... delves into the psyche of a vigilante, exploring themes of personal trauma, the quest for justice, and the muddy lines between right and wrong." - BookLife Reviews