The Intruder: A Novel

by Peter Blauner

New York Times A lawyer is tormented by a destitute, emotionally unstable man--until one shocking moment changes "A great plot." --Los Angeles Times

Jacob Schiff has a good career, a beautiful home in New York City, and a loving family. John Gates has none of those things. A psychiatric patient with a traumatic past, John received professional treatment from Jacob's wife, with little success. Now, he's following her and lingering near the Schiffs's front door, menacing and harassing them at every opportunity--convinced that what Jacob has rightfully belongs to him instead.

But Jacob Schiff has endured some brutal experiences too, and he has an angry streak. When, in desperation, he decides to take action to protect himself and his loved ones, the encounter takes a turn he didn't predict, and everything he was trying to save may be utterly destroyed.

From the Edgar Award-winning author of Slow Motion Riot and Sunrise Highway, this "gripping" novel "develops into a raw-nerved courtroom thriller . . . a harrowing, compelling read" (The New York Times).

"More than a story about a man protecting his family. It's about a man losing faith--in love, God, and humanity--and the possibility of regaining it." --Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"The Intruder is un-putdownable." --Stephen King

"A disturbing, cathartic climax." --Entertainment Weekly

"Irresistible." --Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"A tour de force." --Publishers Weekly, starred review

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Crime, Horror, Mystery Thriller

392 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Peter Blauner (b. 1959) is the Edgar-winning, New York Times bestselling author of nine novels, including SLOW MOTION RIOT and THE INTRUDER. A native of New York City, he apprenticed under famed newspaper columnist Pete Hamill and first broke into print as a journalist for New York magazine. His books are detailed, character-driven crime novels that have attracted a devoted cult following. His newest novel, PICTURE IN THE SAND, due out in January 2023, is his first work of historical fiction.

Reviews

[Troy Stoops · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're tired of the cotton candy fiction that populates the bestseller lists, a book like Peter Blauner's The Intruder just might hit the spot. Beautifully written, wonderfully evocative of city life, this is a thriller for the middle-brow crowd (and there's not many these days -- there doesn't seem to be a great many writers between the Jonathan Franzen side of the aisle and, say, the James Patterson).

The book involves three men (and a few exasperated women) -- the book's protagonist, Jake Shiff, a New York lawyer who overcame a rough and tumble childhood to establish an upper crust life; John Gates, an on-again off-again junkie who got clean long enough to find a wife (also a junkie) and daughter and begin a career with the subway system, but who lost everything following an accident in which his daughter was killed; and Philip Cardi, a low-level, closeted and self-loathing hood trying to work his way out of his Uncle Carmine's grip (all while not being 'outed'). In turn, each of these men 'intrude' into the other's lives. Two brutal murders, and the moral implications of each, bookend the story.

Keenly interested in sociology, Blauner delves into the similarities between the men. Although each occupies a vastly different social strata, in very real and disquieting ways they're all men traveling through their very own circle of hell. Brute self-interest, a barely functioning moral compass (and nonexistent for one of them) inhibits the lives of each, but even more disastrous seems to be their self-imposed isolation. Blauner seems to conclude that men make their own prisons and then curse the bars.

Last night, with ten pages left to go in the novel, I was almost positive that Blauner couldn't wrap up his story. Satisfactorily, anyway. Boy, was I wrong. The conclusion was horrifyingly perfect. A family on the verge of obliteration, aided by a man who lost his, bands together to end their nightmare.

I'll definitely hit up Blauner again (although I'm a little down that he's only written six, and nothing in nearly a decade), and if you're looking for a novel that's not simply to pass the time but to truly engage with (but aren't quite up for a Great Novel) then you could do a helluva lot worse than The Intruder.

[Lou Jacobs · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE INTRUDER by Peter Blauner
Publcation: February 2024 by Dead Sky Publishing
Page Count: 317 pages


After more than twenty-five years this tour-de-force is thankfully republished with a new lease on life. This tale is even more relevant and appropriate to the times and issues of today. Penned by author, journalist and television producer, Peter Blauner. …. Edgar Award winning author of nine novels. The story of two very different men, as their lives collide going in opposite trajectories of life. Jake is a successful lawyer with wife Dana, son and all the trappings of bourgeois life… money, status, and a gorgeous home in the city. John Gates is experiencing a stepwise , gradual slide into hopelessness. Previously employed as a subway motorman for the Transit Authority…. he loses his job after being held responsible for a rail accident. His beloved daughter dies in his arms after running to him to cross the street. With the daughter’ death his once wonderful marriage slowly unravels. After the lose of his daughter and wife his life incrementally slides downward. Eventually he cannot even make the rent and is forced into the streets, begging and collecting cans and bottles for change. He finds himself living under bridges, sleeping on cardboard. He obtains Haldol from the ER in an attempt to hold onto a shred of sanity. On one visit to the ER he comes upon Jake’s wife, Dana, who is a psychological social worker. Her emphatic attention is misperceived by John. Suddenly he is repeatedly at the doorstep of the Schiff home… insisting Jake has “stolen his life” … his wife and child … by “a change in molecules.” John’s harassment reaches intolerable levels… Jake feels it necessary to intervene to maintain the safety of his family. In an ill advised moment of concern he follows the advice of local contractor, Philip Cardi … who has ties to the mob. Jake, Philip and his cousin venture to John’s abode under the bridge with baseball bats in their hands, determined to scare him away. As a result of the visit a man will die and Jake’s life will forever be changed and his freedom and way of life challenged. A tense and suspenseful dramatic denouement will unfold as Blauner expertly weaves the complex and twisted elements to a startling conclusion.
Thanks to Dead Sky Publishing for providing as advance copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read although a little chilling.
I really enjoyed this book and read it very quickly due to getting hooked from the start.
I plan to read more of Peter Blauner.

[B.W. Ginsburg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter Blauner's The Intruder will without a doubt be one of the best books I read all year! From beginning to end, I found myself thorougly intrigued by the plot and characters of this story.

Not only is The Intruder full of action and suspense, but it is a great example of humanity at both its best and worst. The book excels at whisking its readers into a world of sadness, violence, and even - at times - hope.

As an author, I have to say that The Intruder is a book that I highly recommend to any adult seriously considering becoming an author themselves. If you find that you struggle with character development, this is an excellent novel to study in order to help improve your skills.

I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by this book! After not bothering to pick it up for years, I soon discovered what a treasure trove I was truly missing. If you're looking for a book that you'll never want to put down and that will constantly have you wishing you were as talented as the author who gave it birth,, then I highly recommend The Intruder by Peter Blauner!

[Paige Sollers · Rating 2 out of 5]

This started out strong. I felt the strain that John G. was feeling at the loss of his family and the subsequent decisions he ended up making. About a fourth of the way through though, my problem became that the way the character arc for the antagonist was introduced completely changed the trajectory of the story so ineffectively, that I almost stopped reading. It's fine for the character to be revealed as evil, hard-hearted, murderous even. But the slurs and clearly racist tones that rose to the top made it hard to get through. Highlighted by the fact that I bookmarked so many new vocabulary words within the novel, it definitely felt as though the use of the words "nigger" and "spic" were overly utilized in a way that were unnecessary to the point of the plot. A reader can tell when a character is intolerant by the way the details in the story are written, their actions, facial expressions, non-verbal cues for starters, so the fact that the slurs and prejudice were not made by what came off as an "urban writer", led me to believe that it wasn't the character who held these ideals, but the writer. Ultimately, I didn't appreciate this particular art form from the author because it detracted so much from an otherwise engaging story.

[Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of Plot Twists

The title to this book is interesting and serves as a decent introduction to the story. Ostensibly, the Intruder in the story is the homeless man who fixates on Jake Schiff and determines, through his crack-induced haze, that Jake Schiff has somehow stolen his family and his home. But, as you read you notice that there are actually lots of intruders. Jake Schiff is a Jewish lawyer from a rough Brooklyn neighborhood who doesn't quite fit in with his WASP law firm and their snooty ways. His wife is a social worker who is an intruder in her work world because she cares more about the clients than the bureaucracy. There's a mobster named Phillip who is an intruder in his world because he's hiding his homosexual feelings in the very, very macho world of the mafia. He's also an intruder in Jake's world as he forces Jake to deal violently with the homeless madman who has laid siege to his life.

But, then again, maybe I'm reading symbolism in to places where it doesn't belong. What the heck, it's fun. This book is a good read and has enough plot twists to satisfy all but the most jaded of readers.

Read all of my reviews (more than 1,000!) at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter Blauner is one of my favorite authors, I appreciate the mix of well defined, believably human characters, interesting plots and strong social commentary that he brings to his novels. Among other things, this book examines the premise of how a tragic event can dramatically alter the life of an individual and then have a ripple effect on the lives of others. I found the book to be edgy and thought provoking, it has elements of crime, courtroom and family drama all combined into a great read.

[Just · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was mostly good, but the end kind of fizzled out like the author lost steam after putting so much effort into the rest of the story.

[Mary Jane Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

An extremely violent and disturbing story. A train conductor becomes homeless after an accident. He stops taking his medication regularly and instead smokes crack. He becomes obsessed with the family of a social worker. Her Lawyer husband fears for the safety of their son as well as his wife. A neighbor volunteers to help discourage the homeless man's stalking as the police are no help. This becomes a much bigger bigger problem.

[William · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was on a list of best novels, and I didn’t care for it. I several times thought about DNF but I did and it just felt way to long for the plot of trying to prove our MC didn’t beat the bum to death.
After finishing I don't know why this was a best seller. Really who makes these lists?

[Eileen Murphy-Schmehl · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great read! This was just the twisty, emotionally charged thriller that I was looking for!
Jake is a successful lawyer with a wonderful family, and then some people come into his life and change it forever. It was twisty, scary, and dare I say HOPEFUL at the same time. Read this book!!!!!

[Mary Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not “un putdownable” like the review says but a good read.

[Martha Fiorentini · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel was just not a genre I enjoyed very much. Too violent and depressing with characters I found unlikeable.

[Lynne · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's not worth your time. Pretty typical and not well written story of a wealthy attorney who gets involved with a mobbed up bad guy. There were so many red flags the attorney failed to notice, which contributed to the poor writing assessment. Why did the author include all those red flags just to have this allegedly smart attorney ignore them? The plot line was predictable and even a bit sappy. Don't bother.

[b · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a great story that had the misfortune of being written by someone who thought it would be a good idea to douse the plot with racism and set it on fire with bigotry.

At one point I even tried to highlight all the racism that took place in the author's voice until I realized I couldn't get through a single chapter with nothing racist in it.

For your reading pleasure, I'll quote a passage early in the book;

"He's been around black people most of his life. Grew up and went to school with them in the Bronx. Worked with them at the TA. Learned to walk like them, talk like them, even do drugs like them."

I mean, seriously. It's like the author took out an encyclopedia of slurs and tried to base this book around it.

[David S · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, but ultimately disappointing. Wanted some post-holiday escapism and picked up three mysteries at the library, and this was the first that I read. The writing and plot were okay, is somewhat formulaic. I thought the depiction of someone undergoing a psychotic break was a bit over the top but reasonable. But the ending was terrible. It was completely to formula, ticking off the boxes, and probably not even physically possible.

[Rita · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh, it's shallow. Nothing I haven't seen before. I do have to admit to a bias here, I'm tired of mentally ill people being cast as the villains. Right when I saw where this was going--Ooooh, scary mentally ill homeless guy is terrorizing you, what would YOU do?--I got turned off. The portrayal of the mental health professional community was off the mark, too.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was a very good read. The story kept me interested throughout and had a good amount of detail to keep things interesting and more real. The one issue I had was the ending. It seemed s bit abrupt but maybe that’s because I didn’t want it to end.

[McQueen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written story with well crafted characters...and not much needless waffle. So a quick and easy, entertaining ride.

This is my first book by this author. I'm keen to try more of his work.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 thought provoking and compelling.

[William Kozy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good read--it creates a kind of suspense in an unusual way. We experience a growing sense of frustration with a system in which a family can be threatened with violence from a deranged mental patient, but because he doesn't quite cross the line that would warrant intervention by law enforcement, they have to put up with the homeless man's presence night after night. Maybe it's not completely believable that in reality, the police can't do anything even when the stalker uses a box cutter to threaten them, the author does a pretty good job of convincing us that our justice system would indeed be handcuffed in this situation.

The ultimate irony is that the victim is a lawyer himself, so there is an element of hubris in the tale of a family man who has made his living prosecuting people, is now subject to the loopholes in the legal system that he had been only too willing to exploit in his practice.

He's a complicated character that lawyer, Jack Schiff, and so is the semi-assailant, John Gates, a former New York City subway motorman, whose life spiraled downward out of control after the tragic death of his daughter. They're both interestingly drawn characters, as is the true villain of the story who pops up later and sets the plot in a more awful direction for Jack Schiff. All well-drawn characters.

The dialogue is well-handled as well, and the pages turn relatively quickly. The biggest disappointment in this otherwise very readable and engaging book is the ending. Like so many other books that start well and have a good middle but then oddly drop the ball at the end, this book probably joins that group. Did Mr. Blauner feel the legal case climax wasn't enough of a punch? Maybe it wasn't but for starters he could've drawn it out more with more legal curveballs that upped the tension. But secondly, even though the decision to add the follow-up scene wasn't a bad decision at all, it faltered due to what felt like too lazy a set-up. I'd also question the ability of the bad guy to attempt his violence--wouldn't he have been closely watched by law enforcement at that point in the book? The action sequence is just too hastily laid out. And the final battle as it were had some hard-to-believe moments especially regarding how a gun manages to constantly wind up all too conveniently recoverable in the middle of the melee.

But again, I liked the book, and I 'll think you'll appreciate the deft handling of the two major characters' foibles and their good characteristics. Despite their poor decisions and missteps, we are given enough backstory about their lives to sympathize with them very much.

[Megan McCarthy-Biank · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t expect The Intruder to have the hold on me that it did. Blauner showcases his talent for leading readers to believe that the story will go a certain way, only to throw in a couple of plot twists that completely turn everything around. Through John, the author shows us how a series of tragic events can send anyone on a downward spiral. Through Jake, we see how far a man will go to protect his family, and how one mistake can cause a ripple effect with dreadful consequences. And with Philip, the author shows us how his inner turmoil directs his motivations. The main characters are multidimensional and authentic. I was invested in all their outcomes. And just when I thought everything was about to wrap up, Blauner throws another curveball for the last few pages, leading to a conclusion that readers won’t believe.

In-depth book review: https://cantinabookclub.com/review/th...

Podcast interview with Peter Blauner:
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6Ovk...
YouTube: https://youtu.be/0od2qfiNLLg?si=oPUN5...

[Ellie Travica · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

Again, I seem to be in a minority here, but I felt like this book was quite clunky and changed focalisers unnecessarily. I’d be happy having it just as John G and Jake but adding others like Dana, Phillip and Alex was a bit convoluted.

I also found some of the language to be quite derogatory, and was completely turned off when the word ‘retarded’ popped up twice. I cut it some slack the first time from John’s POV but in Jake’s POV I just found it gross and unnecessary.

The book overall I felt was a bit slow at times, only really picking up pace more towards the end, but even then I’d checked out. I also thought the ending was quite bizarre - a whole family drowning a bloke with his head in the toilet? Maybe it’s just me, but between the three of them surely they could just knock him unconscious and take him to the cops? Killing him was almost like letting him off too easily.

Anyway, that’s my rant. I’m glad others enjoyed it but I couldn’t get around this one.

[Don Bott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had my reservations at first for this gritty New York City drama, circa 1995. Especially at the beginning, the stereotypes seemed to be layered too thick, as though the author had watched “Goodfellas” too many times. (Side note: I do love “Goodfellas.”)

The story ultimately has a Grisham feel: Successful lawyer who had though he’d left his tough past behind finds himself in a terrible situation, thanks to an awful conflagration of bad circumstances and foolish decisions.

Somewhere around the midway point I was able to forgive the book for its characters-as-caricature. I started to feel compassion for a handful of characters, notably Dana, the wife, and John Gates, the man who could have been an antagonist but becomes something much more complex. As for the actual antagonist, Phillip Cardi: far too much of a caricature.

[Hereswhatsgoingon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whoa...this was an intense thriller, about a lawyer who gets himself into a bad situation after a homeless man stalks and threatens his family. The second page put me off a bit, by quoting a news article that said the protagonist had been charged with second degree murder and the prosecutor hadn't ruled out asking for the death penalty. (Huh? Im not a lawyer but that doesn't seem to line up with what I know about the law.) I was so distracted by what I saw as an error that I thought I wouldn't be able to get into the story. I was very,very wrong. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading this, and will be looking for more by this author.

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. Poor decision making, stereotypes of race/culture/mental illness, and a sprinkling of sexism thrown in for good measure make up the bulk of this novel. A man suffers a tragic loss of his daughter and resulting PTSD/depression that leads to substance abuse and homelessness. The other main character is a pull-up-by-bootstraps attorney who can’t fit in because he’s a Jew. Their lives intersect and predictable chaos follows as the attorney apparently has no moral anchor and no ability to read people tho it is described as his strength in the first chapters. You can absolutely pass on this one.

[wally · Rating 3 out of 5]

finished 28th march 2024 good read three stars i liked it kindle library loaner first from blauner thought the title and cover interesting didn't go past that before i took it on loan at the digital library...plus it was available. entertaining story you can read the description without me providing it again big plus there isn't any obvious politics involved blauner isn't trying to persuade me about ideas he holds dear...i wondered during the court sessions about the relative availability of a person's health record...many stories i read a person's health record seems almost sacred more so than the documents so-and-so stored in his garage. thought the swirly at story's end appropriate.

[Deborah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really into this at the beginning but it petered out for me. Too much switching around to keep up with all of the characters. I felt so badly for the homeless man but wasn't invested enough in the story to care as much about Jake and his friends. A hard pass on any other of this author's books.

[Anita · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you enjoy a story that progressively downwardly spirals until all of the characters are caught in desperate circumstances without out the hope of recovery, you might like this. I did not. I skipped past chapters 30-to chapter 80 just to see if anyone is redeemed and pulls out-it gets worse from there to it’s unsatisfying conclusion. I was disappointed needless to say.

[Jan Sears · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast-moving story

This is my second Blauner book and I almost quit at one particularly brutal point. There is lots of violence and inhumanity here, but the story is gripping. I had to skim ahead in a few places but it was still a pretty good read. Just a bit too brutal for me in a few places.