Pool Shark

They say addiction happens to other people.The broken ones. The ones who grew up in chaos.Michael Delaney didn't.He grew up in a middle-class family in West Hartford, Connecticut, surrounded by friends, summer days at the beach, and a childhood that looked normal from the outside.But underneath the surface lived something harder to explain-anxiety, anger, insecurity, and a constant craving for the rush of adrenaline that came from doing things you weren't supposed to do.What started as small rebellions-stealing, fighting, cigarettes, skipping school-slowly escalated into a life consumed by drugs, chaos, and survival.Before long, Michael found himself living in a battered green van with shattered windows, chasing heroin through the streets with a crew of friends who were slowly disappearing one by one.Pool Shark is a raw, honest memoir about addiction, shame, survival, and recovery. From reckless childhood adventures and teenage insecurity to heroin addiction, homelessness, and ultimately redemption, Michael Delaney tells the story of how quickly an ordinary life can spiral out of control-and what it takes to come back from the edge.Unflinching, vulnerable, and deeply human, Pool Shark is a story about self-destruction, survival, and the possibility of change.

Pages: 541, Paperback, Independently published