A fictional serial killer terrorizing Stockton: Author says new book inspired by city's 'bad rap'

Mar. 16—After a decade as a Los Angeles private detective, Jake Carter is closing his agency and getting ready to join the corporate world.

But when his former partner is found murdered in a Stockton homeless camp, killed by a serial killer murdering the city's unsheltered, Carter returns to his hometown to solve the crimes.

Along the way, he partners with a forensics professor at Delta College whose mysterious past shrouds her true motivations., and the duo play a game of cat and mouse with the killer.

That's the plot of Matt Abraham's new novel "Old Debts," which was released online earlier this week. The Delaware native moved to Stockton six years ago with his wife and two children, and three years later, Abraham began writing the 80,000-word novel.

One thing he wants readers to know, is that the story is not related to, nor inspired by the Wesley Brownlee case that Stockton Police Department officers investigated in 2022.

Brownlee is currently in custody and awaiting trial for allegedly killing seven people in Stockton and Oakland over an 18-month period.

"A year and a half ago, I saw the first article (about the killings), and I thought, 'there's no serial killer in Stockton,'" Abraham said. "Then they caught him, and I was like, 'you've got to be kidding me.' But no, this has nothing to do with that. (The book) is complete fiction."

Abraham, 48, was inspired to write the novel by his love for Stockton and the homelessness problem that he first noticed upon moving to the area.

He said Stockton gets a "bad rap" from residents of surrounding cities, what with the legal troubles endured by former Mayor Anthony Silva, the city's bankruptcy filing in 2012, and the general increase in crime it has experienced over the years.

"Human beings suffer from something called primacy, which is the first time we're exposed to a fact, we hold onto it, even if we're disabused of it later, with overwhelming, obvious information," he said. "We'll still hold on to that first thing we heard, even though we know it's wrong. I see it when people hear there's a murder in Stockton. It's like 'oh, typical Stockton.' There's three murders in Manteca... 'oh, that's terrible.' Why is Stockton always such a bad thing?"

Abraham said he wanted to write a sort of 'love letter' to Stockton that showed its residents there was nothing of which the city needs to be ashamed. However, he said you can't write a novel without tension, an antagonist or imminent danger, otherwise you'd have a dull story.

"So for me, there was something just interesting about a villain who picks off the weakest among us," he said. "And as challenging as a subject like homelessness really is, I think at our core, human beings still look at them with the passage 'There by the grace of God go I.'"

When he turned 21, Abraham moved to Philadelphia and then met his wife at the age of 28. The couple moved to Hawaii, where Abraham graduated from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

After five years in the Aloha State, the couple lived in Singapore for five years, and then in China for four before coming to Stockton.

Abraham uses his knowledge of governmental policies and fiction structure to deliver a story that both informs and entertains the reader in the style of Dan Brown, author of "The Da Vinci Code."

But Abraham is more influenced by the "big three" of classic noir in Raymond Chandler, Daschell Hammett and Mickey Spillane, which he said hold up much better than most works from that era, because they're driven by action and dialogue, rather than narration.

"I tried to pick up a few classics, and they're so heavily narrated," he said. "But as readers became more and more complex, more experienced with (dialogue and action), the tropes changed. There was more shorthand, and it was like you could get more done with less. But those writers always focused on setting mood, keeping the tone exactly right, the pacing was always fast, and there was amazing, snappy dialogue."

Abraham began writing "Old Debts" three and a half years ago. But as a stay-at-home dad raising two children, life tends to get in the way. There was a period of a year and a half where he was unable to write, and it took a few months to get back into the full swing of finishing the book.

His wife is an expert in international education, and currently works for a company that helps foreign exchange students adjust to college life at University of the Pacific.

Abraham is hoping to create a series of Jake Carter novels set in the San Joaquin Valley, and is already working on a sequel to "Old Debts," which will be set around the murder of a prominent energy company's CEO during a blackout caused by a massive fire.

He said "Old Debts" will not only entertain readers, but will explain the origins of homelessness and present ways to fight it.

"Anybody who reads this book, they're going to be satisfied with the conclusion," he said. "It's not going to change the world. It's not going to spark a movement or a discussion. That's not what it's here for. It is just four hours of just fun reading."

To purchase the novel, visit amzn.to/4c6yDOd, or tinyurl.com/AbrahamDebtsBook.