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Eight years before Denny Colbert was born, his father was involved in a tragic accident that killed 22 children. Now Denny is 16, and all he wants is to be like other kids his age. But he isn't allowed to answer the telephone or have a driver's license, and his family is constantly moving from town to town—all because people can't forget what happened long ago.
When Denny defies his parents one afternoon and answers the telephone, he finds himself drawn into a plot for revenge which may prove deadly.
Sixteen-year-old Denny lives in the shadow of a deadly accident with which his father was connected when he was Denny's age, a disaster for which some of the survivors still blame his father.
Like the anonymously authored Go Ask Alice in 1975, an at times harrowing story of drug abuse for young adult readers, the Chocolate War – and others of the author’s books -- ran into trouble with parent groups who found the writer’s subject matter inappropriate and his approach too explicit. (According to Herb Fostal’s Banned in the USA, The Chocolate War was fifth on a list of the most frequently banned books in American public libraries and schools in the 1990s.)
Reviewers, however, praised his writing. A journalist for much of his life, Cormier balanced his characters’ grim situations with a deft, vivid, lyrical style. Reviewing The Chocolate War, a critic for The New York Times Book Review described it as “masterfully structured and rich in theme; the action is well crafted, well timed, suspenseful; complex ideas develop and unfold with clarity.” When it came to themes, Cormier was unromantic and unflinching. In I Am the Cheese, Cormier evoked the uneasy and elusive world of a boy whose father has testified against organized criminals; in The Bumblebee Flies Anyway, the story pivots around terminally ill teenagers; in Tenderness Cormier introduced a serial killer and a sexually manipulative teenage girl. “Every topic is open, however shocking,” he told a reporter for The Guardian in November of 2000, in what would be one of his last interviews. “It’s the way the topics are handled that’s important.” In Cormier’s world there are no easy answers and few happy endings, but there is extraordinary insight into the world of adolescence: the cruelties, the isolation, and the often-bruising search for identity.
Despite his reputation as a disturber of the literary peace, Cormier was a small-town writer, who spent nearly his entire life working as a journalist for the Fitchburg Sentinel in Massachusetts; he published a memoir of his career in 1991 titled I Have Words to Spend: Reflections of a Small-Town Editor. In addition to four novels for adults, Cormier wrote one last novel for young adults, Frenchtown Summer, the story of a young teenager’s arrival in a new town told entirely in the boy’s poetry. He died on November 2, 2000.
Cormier included his own phone number as that of one of the characters in I Am the Cheese, and wound up taking calls from thousands of teenagers.
Anonymous
Posted September 13, 2001
I have read the book ¿In the Middle of the Night¿ by Robert Cormier. This is one thrilling, full of action and mystery, novel with many twists and turns. It's a definite page-turner that is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat! It all started exactly twenty-five years ago on Halloween night. The night that John Colbert was assisting in the Globe Theater for a show, is the time he caused the dreadful tragic to occur, which completely flipped John¿s life downward. His life from that miserable and never forgotten night would never have been the same. John was only in his teenage years, sixteen years old, when he was blamed for the death of twenty-two children. Newspapers with the horrid tragic filled the air as families with dead children cried in the deepest depths of despair! As some, such as a mysterious person (Is she even alive?) Lulu, began to plot revenge on their murderer. Their murderer- John Colbert. The fact that John would have to live with the tragic the rest of his life was lodged within him like a block of ice that would never melt. Throughout John¿s life, he receives an unbelievable amount of harassment. Bomb threats¿Hate mail¿and mostly horrible phone calls at night. Poor Denny, John¿s son, has to live with his Dad¿s tragic too. He¿s forbidden answering the phone. He can¿t even act like a normal teenager! Will Denny survive this? The 25th anniversary, known to be the worst year for the family, approaches and the phone starts ringing incredibly at night and after school. Who could be calling for all these years? Denny¿s mind ponders. Then, it arrives, the afternoon when Denny¿s curiosity and temptation to answer the phone puts him into a suspenseful, sensual telephone game with a 'victim' bent on revenge. The calls begin to get very tense and heart pumping as they lead him to a situation leaving his life hanging by a thread! John Colbert¿s concern for Denny¿s safety is an ample because it will be the 25th Halloween and he, too, was sixteen at the time of the tragic. But why is Denny¿s father so determined that they are not going to disconnect the phone and they are not going to move out? For years, he has suffered from harassment and vigorous regret. When news reporters question John, his simple constant response is ¿No Comment¿ which stands out in articles read by irrational victims. What will Denny face this Halloween? Who is haunting John¿s family? This book is a suspenseful, powerful exploration of accusation and guilt. I greatly recommend this thrilling mystery novel to you!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted August 19, 2004
Im going into 6th grade, and im pretty smart for an eleven year old. Although this book was over my reading level, I still enjoyed it very much and understood it. These are the exact type of books I like... Freaky, Scary, Things that probably wouldn't happen in real life. This was the first book I read of Robert Cormier's And Im on this site writing down other books of his for me to buy. :) I already have five! :)
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted March 31, 2004
When i first began to read this book, i was very confused. Since it switches from character to character, you have to pay attention. After a few chapters you begin to understand the story, and really get into it. The ending is OK, but not too much of a suprise. All in all, this is a good book for jr. high school students.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted December 15, 2002
I really enjoyed In the Middle of the Night.It held you at the edge of your seat and worried about the main character,Denny and his relationship with Lulu, a mysterious caller on his phone. I would recomend this book very much for young adults.
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Posted July 28, 2002
This was a good book! People need to read this!!
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Posted February 23, 2011
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Overview
Eight years before Denny Colbert was born, his father was involved in a tragic accident that killed 22 children. Now Denny is 16, and all he wants is to be like other kids his age. But he isn't allowed to answer the telephone or have a driver's license, and his family is constantly moving from town to town—all because people can't forget what happened long ago.
When Denny defies his parents one afternoon and answers the telephone, he finds ...