Eric Jones tees up Stone crime series sequel with a modern mafia origin story

Eric Jones is spotlighting Antillus Stone as the launch point for his crime-fiction series while preparing the sequel, Bellicus Stone. The novel follows finance graduate Jake Stone as a bar confrontation in Manhattan pulls him into organized crime, raising the book’s central question: how far can a person bend before losing a moral center?

Why it matters: - Antillus Stone frames a modern mafia story around a finance professional, not a career criminal, which broadens the genre’s appeal. - The novel centers on how ambition, loyalty, and violence can reshape a person’s moral choices. - The series is also being positioned for a wider audience through print, ebook, audiobook, and four language editions.

What happened: - Eric Jones is preparing Bellicus Stone, the second book in the Stone crime series. - Jones is also drawing attention back to Antillus Stone, the series’ first installment and the origin story of Jake Stone. - The story follows Jake, an ambitious finance graduate whose career plans in Manhattan collide with organized crime. - The novel is set in New York City, spanning financial institutions, upscale neighborhoods, and the criminal underworld. - Jones says in his introductory note that Antillus Stone is a tribute to the classic mob genre, reimagined for a modern audience.

The details: - Jake Stone grows up in rural upstate New York and studies in California before arriving in Manhattan with an MBA and plans for a finance career. - A bar altercation in Manhattan brings Jake into contact with two rival Mafia organizations. - Vincent Capoli is portrayed as a Mafia patriarch whose family loyalty and personal code sit alongside organized crime’s violence. - Roberto Rossi leads a competing organization defined by intimidation, exploitation, and the pursuit of power without restraint. - Jake’s relationship with the Capoli family complicates his sense of justice. - Jake’s relationship with Isabella Franco raises the emotional stakes of his choices. - Jake’s martial arts training, financial knowledge, and family values become important as the pressure escalates. - The novel examines whether a person can keep a moral identity while aligning with people who operate outside the law. - Antillus Stone is available in English, Spanish, Hindi, and Mandarin. - The book is available in print, ebook, and audiobook formats. - Readers can find more information on Eric Jones Books. - The official book trailer is available on YouTube.

Between the lines: - Jones is positioning the Stone series as more than a crime plot, with philosophical questions about justice, vengeance, and identity. - The contrast between Capoli and Rossi gives the book a moral framework instead of a simple good-versus-bad conflict. - The sequel tease suggests the series will keep expanding the same themes of power, responsibility, and loyalty. - Jones’ background in philosophical nonfiction appears to shape the series’ focus on human behavior and ethical tension.

What's next: - Bellicus Stone is listed as coming soon through the official County Road 12 bookstore. - The sequel will continue the series’ focus on power, personal responsibility, and the consequences of loyalty. - Jones is expected to keep building the Stone universe across additional crime-fiction installments.

The bottom line: - Antillus Stone uses a classic mob setup to ask a modern question: how much can one person compromise before justice starts to look like vengeance?