As already mentioned, _When the Owl Cries_ was widely andenthusiastically reviewed throughout the country. The following areexcerpts from some of these reviews:
"_When the Owl Cries_ is a novel rich in pictorially vivid reading. Asyou turn the pages, you ask, What next? That is the immemorial appealof the thriller. But what gives the story stature as a work of art isthat Bartlett has been at pains to populate it with believablecharacters who are stirred by intensely personal concerns."--CharlesPoore, in the _New York Times_
"The book charms with its expert knowledge of place and people."--PaulEngle, in the _Chicago Tribune_
"Vivid, impressive, highly pictorial. What makes it a pleasure to readare its marvelous vignettes of Mexican ways of life."--Lon Tinkle, inthe _Dallas News_
"Only rarely is an American writer gifted with the perception andsensitivity required to translate into English the intensity and senseof 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, whomove toward the inevitability of defeat like figures in a Greektragedy."--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 PaulBartlett's poignant novel."--Clifford Gessler, in the _Oakland Tribune_
"This is a book the reader can see in his mind--on a wide screen intechnicolor with stereophonic sound. It doesn't need Hollywood but it'sthe kind of story that wouldn't do the movies any harm."--_FloridaTimes-Union_
"The interiors are magnificent: the feeling one gets of candles andbronze and rosemaries and Spanish furniture and nostalgia andhatred."--_London Times Literary Supplement_
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"The revolution is reflected in the crumbling of the great feudalhacienda system and the beginning of democracy... a warmly humannovel."--_Kansas City Times_
"A novel of exploitation and retribution."--_London Free Press_
"A capably written novel about an exciting land and an excitingera."--_Los Angeles Mirror News_
"An intense struggle heightened by personal involvement, written withunderstanding."--_Los Angeles Examiner_
"A beautifully atmospheric tale with a punch."--_Washington Post_
"Bartlett has pinpointed the struggle between the old order andnew--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."--_WichitaFalls Times_
"If you like to feel the exotic made factual, here itis."--_Saskatchewan Star-Phoenix_
"A lively and richly picturesque chronicle of a Mexico thatwas."--_Chicago Sun-Times_
"A book of substance and depth--beautifully, poeticallywritten.--_Moberly Monitor-Index_
"A skillfully written novel, interwoven with color andexcitement."--_New Bedford Standard Times_
"A suspenseful story."--_The Diplomat_
"A story of change, love, violence, and corruption that movesfast."--_Sacramento Bee_
"A penetrating novel, with wonderful scenes and richunderstanding."--_Long Beach Press Telegram_
"Filled with impressive details of landscape and Mexican life, allpresented with an artist's eye."--_Richmond News Leader_