Deranged — Jacob Stone

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 . . .