In The Middle Of The Night
Revenge for a tragedy, a fire twenty-five years ago which killed twenty-two children. Must Denny live forever with his father’s fatal mistake?
On Hallowe’en years ago, 16-year-old Denny’s father was involved in a tragic accident that killed 22 children. And it seems one of those children can’t forget.
Denny wants to be like other kids his age, but he’s not allowed to drive or answer the phone and his family moves so often he’s always the new kid in school. Then there are the phone calls: every year, they wake Denny up in the middle of the night. And every year, Denny’s father calmly answers. But this year it’s different. It’s been 25 years since the accident.
When Denny defies his parents one afternoon and answers the phone, he finds himself drawn into a highly-charged relationship with the mystery caller, someone who haunts his days and nights and threatens a deadly revenge.
In this chilling novel, which examines the consequences of a young man’s rebellion against his father’s past, Robert Cormier once again shows himself to be a master of suspense.
Robert Cormier was the author of such important teen books as The Chocolate War, I Am The Cheese, The Bumblebee Flies Anyway and After The First Death. He was born in Leominster, Massachusetts, describing himself as “a skinny kid living in a ghetto-type neighborhood wanting the world to know that I existed.” When his own children were small, he worked as a newspaper reporter and wrote at night. He used to write a story over and over until he was satisfied. He wanted to make his stories as true as possible, yet censors often disliked his books. Robert Cormier passed away on November 2, 2000.