Peter Blauner

'Proving Ground', Peter Blauner's first novel in a long time, is a gritty crime story starring a cast of tough Brooklyn cops with a plethora of somehow connected murders to clear, a PTSD victim of the Iraq war who happens to be the son of a famous attorney who was just murdered, and some dynamite action and dialogue. I've seen Blauner's writing in this one described as being Richard Price-like, and I'd heartily agree with that. I couldn't put a finger on specifically how they're similar, show more other than the overall feel, pace, milieu, and storytelling seem to be very comparable. That's high praise.

The plot is sort of a conventional who-done-it, complicated by the general disdain most of the characters have for the main murder victim (he was a criminal defense attorney who represented many really bad actors), his son's background and behavior, the involvement of the FBI, and a pervasive feeling that nothing's like it seems. I don't want to spoil the plot, but everything is connected in some way, and in the end even more connections are revealed. Although by the conclusion of 'Proving Ground' we know what happened and who did what, I wouldn't say it wraps up nicely for all parties.

This novel goes on my 'best of the year' shelf. The writing is great, dialogue is spot-on, the characters are fully developed, and the author paints realistic pictures of the environment. Loved it! show less

When Ali Hassan's eighteen-year-old grandson Alex skips out on going to college to go to the Middle East to join the holy war, the only one he will communicate with his grandfather...and only if his grandfather tells him the story of his life.

So, Ali Hassan tells his story of growing up in Egypt. He was a poor boy who fell in love with movies. When he had a chance to work for the legendary Cecil B. DeMille on the set of The Ten Commandments, he was overjoyed. But the 1950s was a time of show more great turmoil in Egypt. The king had been forced to abdicate. The military government was in flux with the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood waxing and waning by the day. Ali's own cousin Sherif was getting more and more militant. And soon, Ali finds himself caught up in politics and espionage and shifting governments.

His emails to his grandson and his grandson's return emails show a caring man determined that his grandson does not make the same mistakes that he had made in his own past. And the emails show a grandson who is gradually becoming more and more disillusioned with the choice he made.

The story was wonderful. The writing vivid and descriptive as though seen through a cinematographer's eye. The people were all well-developed and intriguing in their choices and actions. From Raymond Garfield who is making a documentary about the changes in Egypt and who is also likely a Jewish spy to Mona Salem who is the French-Egyptian love of Ali's life and who is informing on the actions of those rebelling against Nasser's new rule in Egypt, all of the characters have a variety of sides which are presented sympathetically.

Read this one! It is filled with unforgettable characters in a turbulent time and place in world history. show less

Remarkable!

Amazing piece of writing that brings together a radicalised young Muslim from the US post 911 and the story of his Egyptian Muslim grandfather in Egypt in the 1950’s during Nasser’s rise to power, coinciding with Cecil B. DeMille’s filming of the Ten Commandments.
Alix’s grandfather, Ali Hassan writes to Alix (now Abu Suror meaning ‘father of joy’) about his fate, his journey during those years. How he regained a faith he’d lost, not through radicalisation, but show more through circumstances that lead from a step away from repudiation of his religion to an acceptance of things. The miracle of love during this time comes slowly. His grandfather had been writing about his life over the years and he was now sharing it with Alix.
A family drama that has legs and captures a vast array of reasons why people do things, people who are in the wrong place at the wrong time, the power of belief and commitment, the disappointment of being given a cause only to find the empty truths, political expediency, money—all are described.
Grandfather’s time in prison is diabolical and yet must be endured. The coming together of a Jew and Muslim, when what’s demanded by your torturers is a step too far. The scenes with Raymond Garfield in prison, a Jew, were harsh and poignant.
Gripping in its intensity, I was drawn in. I literally felt the sand and heat of Egypt in my nostrils, and shook my head over the making of the movie, the Ten Commandments at a time when the political situation in Egypt was on a knife’s edge.
And Alix? His grandfather’s writings speak to his heart.

A St. Martin's Press ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher. show less

Reposted from Reviewing the Evidence with permission.

Peter Blauner is not your typical book-a-year author. We've had to wait more than a decade since the Edgar award winner's previous novel, SLIPPING INTO DARKNESS. That stingy schedule is not the only thing he has in common with Richard Price. Like Price, he has a bone-deep feel for New York's neighborhoods, a talent for making his characters fully alive, and the gift of turning descriptions into moments of found poetry on nearly every show more page. He's pretty handy with plot, too.

In this case, the story revolves around the murder of a civil liberties lawyer who has brought suit against an FBI agent who sent an innocent Muslim American to a dark site overseas for years of brutal interrogation. The lawyer's son Nathaniel has earned a law degree but has stubbornly refused to follow in his father's footsteps; he became a prosecutor instead of a defense attorney. He also joined the army to fight a war his parents opposed and came home from Iraq with a full-blown case of PTSD and a body covered in tattoos including one that says "everywhere is war."

Yet after the murder he teams up with his father's partner, who wants him to help bring the case to the courtroom. Natty can hardly say no. He grew up with Benjamin Grimaldi, who taught him to box and provided a father figure in some ways more influential than his own dad. Besides, if the FBI had any role in the murder, he wants the truth to come out if only for his mother's sake. She's a life-long activist in her own right who has no love for the FBI. She's also suspicious of the NYPD, given her husband was famous for winning cases against them.

In addition to Natty and his circle, we get closely acquainted with the detectives assigned to investigate the lawyer's murder. Lourdes Robles is trying to get back on her career track after a setback and has been partnered with an aging legend on the verge of retirement. It's important that she figures out how to make this partnership work, how to run an interrogation effectively with a zen-like master who's coming to the end of his career just as she's hoping to restart hers. Watching her gingerly feel her way into the case and regain her confidence is nearly as gripping as the moment when Natty and Grimaldi confront the FBI in court. Though the Muslim defendant is clearly innocent, there's nothing simple about the murder of his lawyer. When Lourdes and her partner see a pattern taking shape, their investigation leads them into a direction that makes everything far more complicated. The complex story is framed by a prologue and a final chapter that force us to think about the meaning of that tattoo.

Blauner, who has spent recent years writing for television, has plenty of hackneyed material to work with. A Latina woman trying to prove herself in a man's world and trying not to worry about her weight (page one of chapter one); an Iraq veteran who's always on a hair-trigger, ready to explode into violence (page one of chapter two). It could go horribly wrong, but it doesn't because Blauner is a terrific novelist and PROVING GROUND is proof of it. Is it selfish to ask him to turn off the TV and write nothing but novels in future? We don't want to wait another ten years for a book as elegantly written and engrossing as this one. show less