The police place Robert in protective custody, and Greg threatens him again. One night, Greg appears outside of the widower's house and fires a gun, seriously wounding the widower but only clipping Robert. She considered it to be one of her weaker efforts, calling its principal character "rather square... a polite sitting duck for more evil characters, and a passive bore". Jenny goes to visit Robert's ex-wife Nickie, who says she left him because he seemed like bad luck. Jenny catches him one night, but instead of being upset, she invites him in and they talk. Brooding and atmospheric, CRY OF THE OWL is a complex and interesting psycho-thriller. Nickie tries to persuade Robert to tell the police that she had nothing to do with setting him up, and warns him of an enraged and drunken Greg. The setting for this book is much like the Though hurt by the younger and stronger Greg, Robert manages to knock Greg unconscious and into a river. Brooding and atmospheric, CRY OF THE OWL is a complex and interesting psycho-thriller. Greg tries to knife Robert but instead kills Nickie. With Paddy Considine, Julia Stiles, Karl Pruner, Phillip MacKenzie. Bizarre coincidences set up Paddy Considine's fall into a murder scenario involving a somewhat wacko played by Julia Stiles.
A badly decomposed body is found in the river and the police think it is Greg's, but identification proves difficult. He spies on her through her kitchen window, enjoying "the girl's placid temperament, her obvious affection for her rather ramshackle house, her contentment with her life". During the next weeks, Jenny pursues Robert, contacting him at his home and at his job at Langley Aeronautics. One night, on a road, Greg starts a fight with Robert that ends when Robert knocks Greg unconscious and leaves him on a river bank. The police speculate that Greg might be dead (though they have no body), either by accident or because Robert killed him. Robert will again be front and center in a death investigation. He is drawn into a relationship with a young woman whose boyfriend goes missing, leaving the new arrival as a … The Cry of the Owl is a classic of bleak, psychological despair and suspense. Highsmith drew on her own experience as a stalker; years before, when employed by a New York City store, she became obsessed with a woman she had waited on. After Robert Forrester is caught by Jenny Thierolf, the girl he has been spying on, he in turn becomes the victim of her obtrusive advances. She linked the owl immidiately to death. Highsmith drew on her own experience as a stalker; years before, when employed by a New York City store, she became obsessed with a woman she had waited on. He drags Greg out of the river and leaves him on the bank. with Jenny,a nice young woman any guy would like to meet and date. Patricia Highsmith’s 1962 novel fits the late writer’s mold quite effectively, a portrait of how the main characters’ poor judgment and bad choices ruin their lives. When The Cry of the Owl opens, 30ish … She adapted these events for her novel The Price of Salt. Jenny sees their chance meeting as an act of fate and breaks off her engagement to hot-tempered Greg Wyncoop, who is resentful and begins spying on the pair; he plans to learn more about Robert so as to find a way to get even with him. Each seems to represent something more for the other than it appears, to embody a larger emotional force than a mere personality. The final shot shows Robert looking out Jenny's window, reminiscent of his view on the house in the opening shots. He admits that they fought and that he left the unconscious Greg near the river. Also, a colleague and former friend dissociates himself from Robert. Robert is again left as a suspect in an apparent crime scene. She also believes that, just as years ago an unknown man appeared in her family's house before her younger brother's death, so Robert's appearance foretells a death. Highsmith wrote The Cry of the Owl between April 1961 and February 1962. Greg attacks Robert with a knife; in the subsequent fight, Greg is knocked unconscious, but Nickie is fatally injured. One of the bullets eventually hits Robert; the police do not seem to believe that Greg is alive and Robert's neighbors condemn him for 'leading a young girl astray' and 'leading her to her death'.
He begins spying on Jenny Thierolf, a girl living in the countryside, because to him she represents a state of harmony, a stark contrast to his own personal life.
The novel is dedicated only to "D.W.", an apparent reference to Daisy Winston, Highsmith's former lover and neighbor in New Hope.Following a painful divorce from his wife Nickie, Robert Forester leaves New York and moves to small-town Langley, Pennsylvania, where he develops an obsession for 23-year-old Jenny Thierolf. I don't think it's a good title, because it was only mentioned once in the whole book. The police finally see the truth and arrest Greg, but release him on bail. Highsmith's novel was the premise for the French film This article is about the novel. Based on Patricia Highsmith's novel, OWL is slow-paced but involving. The owl’s cry has awaken him to the reality of his situation. Robert Forrester is going through a painful divorce from his wife Nickie. The disappearance of Jenny's fiancé Greg after a fight with Robert marks the beginning of a series of dangerous and ultimately fatal incidents.