A critically-acclaimed New York Times bestseller when it was published in the 90s, THE INTRUDER returns to print with urgency of today’s headlines. Can a good man go too far to protect his family? That is the question underlying this gripping tale, which pulls the reader into its stranglehold of terror in the tradition of Dennis Lehane, Thomas Harris, and James Patterson, who called it “ the best novel I’ve read in years.” Jacob Schiff is a product of a tough city neighborhood who’s managed to carve out a successful life with a loving family and a thriving law practice. But all of that is threatened when his wife, Dana, a psychiatric social worker, offers help and hope to a mentally disturbed homeless man named John Gates. When the patient decides Dana’s family has somehow stolen the life he was meant to have, Gates begins to stalk them, generating violent confrontations and threats. The police offer no real solutions and so Schiff makes the mistake of his life: he recruits a day-laborer/street enforcer, Philip Cardi, to warn the homeless man off. That sets off a series of violent confrontations and escalating consequences that upend the lives of all the characters.

Nathaniel Dresden never really got along with his father, an infamous civil rights lawyer who defended criminals and spearheaded protest movements. As an act of rebellion, Natty joined the U.S. Army and served in Iraq, coming back with a chest full of commendations and a head full of disturbing memories.

But when his father is found murdered near the peaceful confines of Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, Natty is forced to deal with the troubled legacy of their unresolved relationship. He also has to fend off the growing suspicions of NYPD Detective Lourdes Robles, a brash Latina cop with something to prove, who thinks Natty might bear some responsibility for his father’s death. Though truth be told, the list of people—cops and criminals—who wanted David Dresden out of the way is long. The search for answers leads Natty and Lourdes into an urban labyrinth where they must confront each other—and the brutal truths that could destroy them both.

Proving Ground is New York Times bestseller and Edgar Award winner Peter Blauner’s first novel in more than a decade, and is a sweeping crime novel, an intricate story about the quest for redemption, and a vibrant portrait of contemporary New York City, all told in Blauner’s singular voice.