THE CRUCIFIXION EXPERIMENTSJake Mercer's life is spiraling out of control. As a criminal profiler and one of the senior homicide investigators in the Oakland Police Department, he's spent the last twenty-five years getting inside the heads of killers and trying to understand the way they think. He's the best at what he does, but constantly playing in the minds of madmen carries a heavy price, leaving Jake an out of shape, alcoholic loner suspended from active duty. THE MURDERS HAVE STARTED?Another serial killer is prowling the streets now, a violent lunatic who's making a game of nailing retired Catholic priests to trees and bridges and hydro poles around the city. Torture and murder isn't enough, the predator experimenting with the bodies of his victims to further whatever diabolical plan only they seem to know.THE EXPERIMENTS HAVE BEGUN?Broken down or not, Lieutenant Mercer just might be the only man who can catch this killer before the frightened citizens of Oakland start to panic. Reinstated back onto the force and trying his best to stay out of the bottle, Jake finds himself teamed up with two rookie detectives in what will be his most difficult case ever, and quite possibly his last.