A Cry in the Night

1. Higgins Clark, Mary. A Cry in the Night. New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1982.

2. Exposition- The main characters are Jenny Krueger, mother of Tina and Beth Krueger and wife of Erich Krueger, Rooney and Clyde Toomis, and Luke and Mark Garrett.

Rising Action- When Jenny goes into the house to get something when her, Erich, Tina and Beth are supposed to be going on a trip, and Erich leaves with the girls and refuses to tell Jenny where they are.

Climax- When Jenny finds Erich's cabin and finds that all his artwork actually wasn't painted by him! His mother was the real artist, and Erich actually drew twisted, disturbing photos of horrific crimes he is planning to commit or already has commited. Jenny grabs the one of her daughters - with cords tied tightly around their necks - and takes it to Clyde, Mark, and the sheriff to prove that Erich is indeed a dangerous psychopath.

Falling Action- When everyone finds out that it wasn't an accident that killed Caroline Krueger, it was actually Erich's twisted actions. He pushed her into the water and pushed the lamp in after her. He comes after Jenny and Rooney shoots him to save Jenny.

Resolution- Before Erich dies, Jenny asks him where Beth and Tina are and whether they are still alive or not. He says they are still alive, but he never gets out where they are. The police find them, but they are nearly frozen to death. Jenny realizes that maybe she has feelings for Mark, but will never rush into a relationship again.

3. This book took place in the early 80s and in Minnesota. It was over a course of about two years. The time period didn't really affect the story, but the place definitely did. Jenny had to overcome a lot of obstacles in the forest, with farm animals, and in huge blizzards. If she were somewhere else she may not have had a blizzard or farm animals to deal with.

4. Jenny- She started out as simple Jenny MacPartland, -- young, divorced, working in a New York art gallery, struggling to single-handedly take care of her two young daughters - and in a flash, she was married to successful artist Erich Krueger, living on a lavish farm in Minnesota. She loved her new life, but slowly began to realize Erich's deranged ways of life. The fact that he was utterly obsessed with his long deceased mother, Caroline; he never even slightly changed one thing in his house since 26 years before when she died, he forced Jenny to wear Caroline's aqua night gown to bed, he would sneak around dressed up as Caroline, and the fact the Jenny bore a startling resemblance to Caroline. Jenny discovers that the reason Erich married her was because of her likeness to Caroline and that Erich would rather die than have Jenny leave him. He forces her to stay locked up in the house, not let her talk to anyone on the farm or in town, and pretty much stalks her.

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