"A fascinating and exciting blend of misdirection, topsy-turvy, and violence." -Reed Farrel Coleman "A dark and different serial killer novel that will haunt the reader long after the book is closed." -John Lutz "Los Angeles has seldom seen such grisly fun. It's James Ellroy meets Alfred Hitchcock on the psychotic side of the street." -Paul Levine "One of the most compelling, thrilling, and truth be told, at times look-away-from-page-frightening serial killer novels I've read in a long, long time." -Vincent Zandri Introducing L.A. investigator Morris Brick, a former homicide cop on the trail of a murderous psychopath who gives a terrifying new meaning to the word DERANGED . . . They call him the Skull Cracker Killer. He drugs his victims. Breaks open their skulls with a hammer and chisel. The rest is inhuman. Five years ago he terrorized New York City, claiming twelve victims before the killing stopped. Now he's racking up victims on a fresh hunting ground. Where former LAPD homicide detective Morris Brick is working as a consultant on a serial-killer film. Where a desperate mayor pleads with Brick to take on the case. And where the only way he can stop the next wave of murders is by outsmarting a madman-before he strikes again, this time much too close to home . . .