As already mentioned, _When the Owl Cries_ was widely and
enthusiastically reviewed throughout the country. The following are
excerpts from some of these reviews:
"_When the Owl Cries_ is a novel rich in pictorially vivid reading. As
you turn the pages, you ask, What next? That is the immemorial appeal
of the thriller. But what gives the story stature as a work of art is
that Bartlett has been at pains to populate it with believable
characters who are stirred by intensely personal concerns."--Charles
Poore, in the _New York Times_
"The book charms with its expert knowledge of place and people."--Paul
Engle, in the _Chicago Tribune_
"Vivid, impressive, highly pictorial. What makes it a pleasure to read
are its marvelous vignettes of Mexican ways of life."--Lon Tinkle, in
the _Dallas News_
"Only rarely is an American writer gifted with the perception and
sensitivity required to translate into English the intensity and sense
of tragedy of the Latin races."--Joe Knefler, in the _L. A. Times_
"Mr. Bartlett has given us a powerful, unusual and taunting novel,
filled with characters as real as the headlines in today's papers, who
move toward the inevitability of defeat like figures in a Greek
tragedy."--D. Evan Gwen, in the _Oxford Mail_
"A _Gone with the Wind_ of Mexico."--_Library Journal_
"The Spirit and atmosphere of Mexico breathe from every page of Paul
Bartlett's poignant novel."--Clifford Gessler, in the _Oakland Tribune_
"This is a book the reader can see in his mind--on a wide screen in
technicolor with stereophonic sound. It doesn't need Hollywood but it's
the kind of story that wouldn't do the movies any harm."--_Florida
Times-Union_
"The interiors are magnificent: the feeling one gets of candles and
bronze and rosemaries and Spanish furniture and nostalgia and
hatred."--_London Times Literary Supplement_
[Illustration: author photo]
"The revolution is reflected in the crumbling of the great feudal
hacienda system and the beginning of democracy... a warmly human
novel."--_Kansas City Times_
"A novel of exploitation and retribution."--_London Free Press_
"A capably written novel about an exciting land and an exciting
era."--_Los Angeles Mirror News_
"An intense struggle heightened by personal involvement, written with
understanding."--_Los Angeles Examiner_
"A beautifully atmospheric tale with a punch."--_Washington Post_
"Bartlett has pinpointed the struggle between the old order and
new--between father and son."--_The Atlanta Journal_
"One of the high-ranking novels of the year."--Worchester Telegram
"A dramatic, well-written symbol of transition."--_San Jose Mercury_
"Achieves a totality of effect that reminds one of Poe."--_Wichita
Falls Times_
"If you like to feel the exotic made factual, here it
is."--_Saskatchewan Star-Phoenix_
"A lively and richly picturesque chronicle of a Mexico that
was."--_Chicago Sun-Times_
"A book of substance and depth--beautifully, poetically
written.--_Moberly Monitor-Index_
"A skillfully written novel, interwoven with color and
excitement."--_New Bedford Standard Times_
"A suspenseful story."--_The Diplomat_
"A story of change, love, violence, and corruption that moves
fast."--_Sacramento Bee_
"A penetrating novel, with wonderful scenes and rich
understanding."--_Long Beach Press Telegram_
"Filled with impressive details of landscape and Mexican life, all
presented with an artist's eye."--_Richmond News Leader_