The Intruder by Peter Blauner

The Intruder Reviews

• 
  Troy Stoops

  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.
• 
  Gary

  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

  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

  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

  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

  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

  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.
• 
  William

  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?
• 
  Mary Thompson

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

  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

  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.
• 
  Rita

  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

  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

  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

  4.5 thought provoking and compelling.
• 
  Wendy

  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

  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

  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.
• 
  Dina

  Jake has it all. John G. had it all but lost it. In between is Phillip, a low-level mobster who sets out to show John G. what happens when you step outside your social realm.
  
  On the surface, the premise seems too simple. However, once you read about John G and his drug addiction and mental illness, it quickly becomes compilcated.
  
  A few parts seemed a bit farfetched, but a solid story overall.
• 
  hirosaki

  I got this book off of a booksale and I thought it would be your typical psychopath intruder but it was more than that and I really loved it! There was a really soft plot twist on who the real intruder is, it was a really good book that gave me mixed emotions!
• 
  Laurence Green

  Recommended by Stephen King and you can see why. It's sharp and taut and if it seems a little slow to get going, there's good reason. The story builds well and resolves quite neatly, though the finale feels a little forced
• 
  Amy

  The good: it was a twisty story with some unexpected turns.
  The bad: misogyny, or maybe just a lack of development for what could have been strong female characters. Instead they were all stereotypes.
  
  
  
  
  
• 
  Jess

  This was a thrilling book! Following two men from very different worlds the author moves seamlessly between POVs. The plot, the characters, the feel of New York was so gorgeously written that I could not put this down! I highly recommend!!!