Through such seminal plays as Streamers, Sticks and Bones, and Hurlyburly, David Rabe has given powerful voice to the often violent conflicts in the American psyche. In The Crossing Guard, adapted from the original screenplay by Sean Penn, he has written an unforgettable novel about parenthood, revenge, and forgiveness.

At the center: Two men on a collision course. John Booth, a man just released from prison, and Freddy Gale, a man so possessed by his thirst for vengeance he will stop at nothing. Not even murder.

At the climax: Freddy's beautiful and sympathetic wife, coping in her own way with the circumstances that have ruined her marriage. And Freddy, on two separate but equally powerful journeys - one, to find out how a man in America comes to terms with irrepressible agony, and the other his manic quest to find John Booth, a man waiting with a gun.