A Cry in the Night

Rating:
Summary: An excellent novel of suspense
Review: After finishing the incredibly stale LET ME CALL YOU SWEETHEART, I was about ready to give up on Mary Higgins Clark. If you're someone who, like me, was beginning to wonder what all the Clark hoopla was about, run out quick and get a copy of A CRY IN THE NIGHT, which can be described as a sort of modern cross between PSYCHO and REBECCA. This is a very well-done book, and it succeeds on many levels.

Jenny MacPartland is a divorced mother of two who is swept off her feet by Erich Krueger, a kind, handsome artist who marries her and takes her back to his sprawling farm in Minnesota. Not long after she arrives, she begins to sense tension in the air. Erich begins to behave strangely. Her ex-husband, Kevin, comes down to visit her, stirring up trouble. The whole place is overshadowed by the strange presence of Caroline, Erich's long-dead mother, to whom Jenny bears a striking resemblance. Soon Jenny begins to have dizzy spells and wonders if she is sleepwalking during the night. What began as a dream for both the protagonist and the reader has transformed into a horrific nightmare.

Clark handles this transformation with considerable deftness, demonstrating her masterful control of pace and characterization. The plot is especially convoluted and intricate; in fact, there are as many surprising twists as there are pages. Unlike LET ME CALL YOU SWEETHEART and WHERE ARE THE CHILDREN?, in which the terror kicks in only in the last few chapters or so, A CRY IN THE NIGHT turns on the suspense less than halfway through the novel and never lets up the pressure. This is an unusually chilling book, but aside from all the suspenseful pleasures of the story, it is also a very sad and emotionally involving drama. There is no pat resolution or happy ending here, but the denouement, if bittersweet, is wholly satisfying. This reader is, I'm happy to report, an officially converted Clark fan.

Rating:
Summary: Classic Clark
Review: Here's how good this book is. I intended to just read a few chapters the other day, but ended up finishing the entire book in one night! It's a gripping well-told suspense story.

The main plot revolves around Jenny, a single mother of two, who enters a whirlwind romance with Erich Kruger, an artist, and ends up moving into his home with her children. But then Erich starts become more posessive and she notices his odd fixation on his mother, who died in an accident (or was it??).

Sure there was some deja vu for me in this book that made me immediately think of movies and books that have used similar plot twists (I won't say which or else it'll spoil the ending). But still this is a great book, but don't intend on putting it down once you start!

Rating:
Summary: This is Mary Higgins Clark's SCARIEST!
Review: I read this book for the first time when I was in jr. high and it scared me so bad I couldn't sleep. I'm in Grad school now, and every time I re-read A Cry in the Night it still scares me! I think it's scarier that her other books because Erich's obsession is so creepy, and also because children are in danger, not just a woman. Clark writes about kids so well, I wonder why she stopped including them as semi-major characters after Where Are the Children and this book. I highly recommend A Cry in the Night, and I rank it her second-best book after Remember Me. (At the time of this writing, We'll Meet Again is Ms. Clark's latest.) Don't start this one when you're home alone, because you won't be able to put it down, and then you won't be able to sleep!

Rating:
Summary: A Cry In The Night- AWESOME!!!
Review: This book was one of Mary Higgins Clark's best! My cousin lent it to me about a month ago, and I finished it in a week. It's about a young divorcee named Jenny. She has two little girls, named Tina and Beth. One day, she meets an artist named Erich Krueger, and her life totally changes. Married within the month, whisked off to Minnestota,and adored by all, Jenny is living the life others dream of. When herex-husband is murdered and she is accused, Jenny is caught in a frighten- ing whirlpool of events that threaten to shatter her sanity...
I recommend this book for ages 12 and up. It's one of my favorites. Anyone who likes Mary Higgins Clark should read this book. It was AWESOME! ...