Cruel by Jacob Stone Book Tour and Giveaway :)
Cruel
A
Morris Brick Thriller #4
by
Jacob Stone
Genre:
Thriller, Suspense
“Rarely
is an author so skilled at portraying such unremitting evil and the
poignant, human side of his characters in a single tale.”
—Jeffery
Deaver
“Jacob
Stone is equal parts Thomas Harris, Michael Connelly, Jo Nesbo, and
Stephen King. CRUEL will leave you shaking . . . with fear,
excitement, and the uncontrollable compulsion to keep on
reading.”
—Lee
Goldberg, #1 New
York Times bestselling
author of True
Fiction
“17.”
L.A. detective Morris Brick knows the number all too well. It was the
gruesome signature the Nightmare Man left next to his victims’
bodies. Brick’s father was the first to investigate the killings.
Five women were butchered before the perpetrator vanished. Seventeen
years later he resurfaced—to kill again in the same depraved ways.
Now another seventeen years have passed. Brick knows in his gut that
it’s time for the Nightmare Man to reawaken. But even Brick can’t
imagine the madman’s true agenda. Or just how terrifying the
sleepless nights are going to get in the City of Angels . . .
Prologue
Downtown
Los Angeles alley, 2:18 a.m.
The
rat grew frantic in its efforts to escape the trap, its front claws a
blur as they scratched against the wire mesh. This one was older than
the juveniles already collected, and showed the scars of a lifetime
spent skulking through Los Angeles alleyways and sewers. Half of one
ear had been torn off, its grayish-black fur matted, and a dozen
wounds scabbed over. While the rat was larger than the others, it was
still emaciated enough to be able to squeeze through a hole the size
of a quarter. Rats like this one were crucial for what was coming. The
newspaper stories from 2001 didn’t mention rats, and neither did
the ones from 1984. That had to be because the reporters hadn’t
been told about them, or really about any of the specifics. In 1984,
the newspaper and TV reporters described the murders only as depraved
and sickening. A
police officer must’ve given them that description, and someone
with a touch of poetry in his soul named the killer the Nightmare
Man. That name stuck—both in 1984 and in 2001—but it didn’t
fully do the killer justice. While horrific, monstrous things were
done to the victims, they were things that could only have come from
the nightmares of a lunatic. Just
as some species of cicadas awaken only every seventeen years, the
same was true of the Nightmare Man. October second would mark the
seventeen-year anniversary of the start of the last killing spree,
and new victims had already been chosen. They were both the least and
most fortunate people alive. They would be dying the worst deaths
imaginable, but they would have a kind of immortality, their fates
forever entwined with the Nightmare Man. Because of that, they would
never be forgotten. The
cage was picked up, and the rat inside backed up and got on its hind
legs, its small black eyes shining with malevolence as it bared its
teeth. It was an ugly thing and would do nicely for what was needed. A
homeless woman lay curled in a fetal position as she slept beside a
dumpster. She stirred as the cage holding the rat was carried past
her. Her red-rimmed eyes cracked open, her round, craggy face turning
toward the soft padding of footsteps. In a raspy croak that sounded
as if her throat had been scraped raw with sandpaper, she asked for
money. Even from several feet away, the sour smell of cheap gin on
her breath assaulted the senses. A decision now had to be made:
whether to kill the old woman or ignore her. A moment of reflection
revealed a third option—simply hand the
homeless woman a twenty-dollar bill, and that was what was done. The
woman mumbled something unintelligible as she accepted the money. She
turned away as she hid the bill within her layers of clothing, and
then she presumably fell back to sleep. That
was how it needed to be. It wasn’t time yet for the Nightmare Man
to awaken from his slumber. October second was still a full ten days
away. That was when the killings would start again. Besides, snuffing
out the life of this old woman wasn’t necessary. Her alcohol-addled
mind wouldn’t later connect this late-night intrusion of her
makeshift home with the Nightmare Man’s return. But
the Nightmare Man was coming. And
Los Angeles would soon be weeping tears of blood.
Jacob Stone is the pseudonym for award-winning author Dave Zeltserman. Dave's crime and horror novels have been picked by NPR, the Washington Post, American Library Association, Booklist, and WBUR as best novels of the year, and his short mystery fiction has won a Shamus, Derringer and two Ellery Queen Readers Choice awards.
Dave's
crime noir novel, SMALL CRIMES, has been made into a major motion
picture starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Molly Parker, Gary Cole,
Robert Forster, and Jacki Weaver, and will be premiering April 28th
on Netflix. Several of his other books are currently in film
development.
Morris
Brick thriller novels written as Jacob Stone: DERANGED, CRAZED,
MALICIOUS, TWISTED.
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the tour HERE
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