Jacob Stone Books In Order

Publication Order of Morris Brick Books

Jacob Stone is the pen name used by American bestselling and award-winning author of crime, horror, mystery and thriller novels Dave Zeltserman. The author has won both Derringer, and Shamus awards and his book Small Crimes was adapted into a Netflix film featuring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.

The author’s horror fiction, crime, and mystery novels have won him various awards and also been translated into over six languages. His novels Pariah and Small Crimes were named as the best book of the year by Washington Post with the later making it in the National Public Radio top lists of the best mystery and crime novels in 2008.

Deranged

Deranged is the first novel in Morris Brick series by Jacob Stone. The story introduces readers to a Los Angeles investigator named Morris Brick. Brick is a retired homicide detective who quit his job to start his agency.

The story kicks off with Henry taking care of his invalid wife. What makes this narration beautiful is how Henry cares for his wife and at the same time how he stalks his victims.

Morris is consulting on a film when he is called to the crime scene when the Skull Cracker Killer strikes. However, Morris’s wife is worried about his husband stress level, but Morris promises that he will keep his stress level under control. Throughout the story, you get to see how he conducts his investigations and how he finally unravels the mystery in this story.

Then there is the serial killer, a twisted person but not how most killers are. While the skull cracker killer is horrible, there are some moments when you as the reader will feel compassion for him.

Deranged is not your typical detective-serial killer book; it is a book that’s carefully crafted to stand out from the crowd. The story features a cunny serial killer, some gruesome crime and a smart police detective tracking down the serial killer. What makes the story unique is the fact that the reader already knows the identity of the serial killer from the start. The author puts more emphasis on the killer rather than the investigative story- attempts to explain the killer’s psychology and some details about his backstory.

Crazed

A great number of authors have drafted stories revolving around the world’s deadliest serial killers the likes of Jack the Ripper against world’s renowned detectives Sherlock Holmes. Author Dave Zeltserman writing under the pen name Jacob Stone has taken the exact premise and created a 21st detective-serial killer games under the title Crazed.

Crazed is the second novel in a series of books featuring a former Los Angeles police detective working as a private investigator.

As a police detective, Morris Brick took down several serial killers and working as a private investigator finds him on the trail of several deranged serial killers.

The serial killer in this second installment novel has been so smart in covering his trails such that not a single detective suspects that the same serial killer has murdered over 40 people over the years in a series of gruesome murders.

However, when the killer reads an article about the serial killer from Morris Brick earlier case, he travels from Seattle to LA and begins a murder spree in hopes to gather enough attention from both the police and the media.

Body counts in Los Angeles start rising fast, and soon Morris Brick finds himself involved since one of the serial killer victims is the child of one of his clients. Jacob Stone has crafted some of the best mysteries over the past decade, and his crime stories are amongst the best on the list.

The author has a knack for creating beautiful characters and getting inside their troubled heads. The story is told from the different point of views, and through this, the reader can dive into the killers twisted and troubled head as he plans on killing. However, the serial killer whom the author refers to as “Griffin” isn’t the only disturbed character in the novel. There several other characters in the story as disturbed as the killer himself and as a result they form the basis of this twisted thriller.

Additionally, not all the characters in the book are bad guys- for instance, there is one interesting guy who is an A-list actor, a good friend of Morris Brick and plays a significant role in the story.

With such compelling and colorful supporting cast, the private investigator and his team of investigators get somehow short shrift in the novel. Morris is good at doing investigations, but at the same time, he is also a common character especially when compared with the creeps and loonies he has to deal with.
One of the fascinating aspects of the novel is the fact that Jacob Stone intentionally makes his main character fallible especially when his emotions get better of him and pursues the wrong suspect. Additionally, one of Brick’s exciting team “member” is the pit bull named Parker who accompanies Brick in many of his investigations and somehow plays important roles in interrogations.

Overall, Crazed is a novel not for everyone- but it’s a nice treat for the readers who love stories with mutilations and killings described in graphic details. The author manages to craft the narrative suspense making Crazed as a fast-moving novel.

Malicious

Malicious, the third in Morris Brick series is a beautiful story with a flair of drama, celebrity touch, and too good to be true work between the FBI, the police and private investigator.

The killer strikes again and stages the body of his victim for the private investigator Morris Brick. The name “the killer refers to the serial killer in the novel,” and there’s an overview on some schoolboy’s life. The killer is smart with his schemes and planning.

The characters in the story are also smart and strong with the author tossing in some jokes in that makes the story an enjoyable read. Even though at times the situation is quite tense, the teamwork that Morris Brick adds in the story truly helps.