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	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
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Thriller / suspense fiction

PROVING GROUND

Peter Blauner

Written with the grit and detail of Richard Price and the propulsion of Lee Child, Proving Ground is a brilliant and morally complex New York crime novel by Peter Blauner, the writer who proves that Stephen King and James Patterson can actually agree on something.

The novel tells the story of Lourdes Robles, a tough, ambitious, Hispanic, female detective just off departmental probation and Nathaniel “Natty Dread” Hellerstein, the troubled young war veteran she initially suspects of killing his own father, a famous defense attorney loathed by every cop and prosecutor in the city’s five boroughs. What begins as a homicide that could have been committed by any number of potential suspects turns into a young man’s Hamlet-like quest to avenge his father’s death and redeem his own past sins. Proving Ground is both a post-war novel in the format of an urban thriller and a tale of a young woman determined to prove herself in a man's world. Peter Blauner is the author of six novels, including the Edgar-award-winning Slow Motion Riot and the New York Times bestseller, The Intruder. His short fiction has been anthologized in the Best American Mystery Stories and on NPR's "Selected Shorts from Symphony Space." For the last decade, he worked in television for shows such as Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Law & Order: SVU, where one of his teleplays was also nominated for an Edgar in 2014. Currently, he is a co-executive producer for the popular CBS show, Blue Bloods. He lives in Brooklyn.

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Book Published 2017-05-02 by St. Martin's / Minotaur

Comments

Peter Blauner's first book in ten years, Proving Ground, is a showstopper. A tour-de-force of smart, gutsy, relentlessly entertaining storytelling that counts as one of the finest novels I've read in the past five years. Blauner has a painter's eye for detail, a playwright's ear for dialogue, and a film director's kinetic narrative vision. All combine to create a turbo-charged reading experience. Proving Ground is a masterpiece of contemporary fiction.

Over the last 25 years Peter Blauner has proven to be a master of the urban darkside, his crime novels suffused with a knowing compassion for the bottom dogs who live in the Minotaur's maze that is New York City. Proving Ground is one of his finest efforts.

Peter Blauner’s new novel, Proving Ground, is an old-school page-turner, as war-damaged army vet Nathaniel 'Natty Dread' Dresden and police detective Lourdes Robles close in on the killer of Natty’s father…and, maybe, each other. Taut narration, spot-on dialogue, and sharply etched action sequences make this one a must read. I couldn’t put the sucker down.

Proving Ground is a startlingly powerful tale of lost lives and lost souls with a crackling crime drama at its core. No one understands the NYPD, the backroom politics of New York, nor the heart of the city like Blauner. No one.

As complex and as gritty as a Richard Price book, Blauner’s first novel in more than ten years was worth the wait. Read more...

With Proving Ground, Peter Blauner continues to prove why he’s one of the most consistently bracing and interesting voices in American crime literature. A beautifully written and relentlessly exciting thriller.

A new Peter Blauner novel is cause for celebration, and Proving Ground justifies the wait. This is a thoughtful, nuanced novel of crime and war and the human heart. Blauner's authentic and powerful writing is worthy of comparison to Richard Price and Dennis Lehane, and his story is coiled with emotional impact. Not to be missed.