About That Night

July 28, 2014
McClintock (the Mike & Riel Mysteries series) offers a slow-burning whodunit set in a snowy small town around Christmas. Sixteen-year-old Jordie Cross’s ostensibly perfect boyfriend, Derek, is staying with her family for the holidays when Ronan, her volatile ex, shows up, accusing Derek of taking a bracelet he gave Jordie. After Jordie can’t find the gift, she interrogates Derek, who sneaks out to retrieve a bracelet he claims he bought her recently, to prove his innocence and devotion. Soon after, both Derek and a beloved local teacher are found dead, and Ronan is the prime suspect. Lt. Michael Diehl, the late teacher’s husband, returns from leave to investigate, but it’s clear from the beginning that Jordie will be the one to solve the case and clear Ronan’s name. McClintock’s third-person, present-tense narration maintains a detached, procedural tone as it shifts attention among several characters, sharing snippets of their histories, establishing the novel’s small-town setting, and creating many suspects. The details that McClintock meticulously places throughout the story lead to an ending that resists tying everything up too neatly. Ages 12–up.

September 1, 2014
The discovery of two bodies yields numerous suspects.With its unspecified setting, this Canadian import could take place in almost any snowy small town in North America. One night during the Christmas holiday, a police lieutenant's wife suffering from early-onset Alzheimer's disappears and is later found frozen and dead. This unfortunate event is soon overshadowed by an even greater tragedy that same evening: the unexpected murder of high school student Derek Maugham. When it's discovered that his girlfriend, Jordie, was possibly the last to see him alive-and after a dispute no less-she becomes one of the main suspects. An omniscient narrator focuses on the clues and motives rather than characterization as Jordie (as well as the police) tries to find the real killer. And as she pieces together the whereabouts of her missing bracelet that's related to the case, she discovers that she's not the only one with secrets to hide-about both deaths. The teens don't always sound their age ("how can anything be an anniversary after only one-sixth of an annum?"), but their mature speech, combined with plenty of adult characters, makes this a great crossover novel. The present-tense narration helps keep the mystery taut with concise pacing. A classic whodunit. (Mystery. 13 & up)

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October 1, 2014

Gr 7-10-Despite McClintock's strong reputation for page-turning mysteries, her latest novel, sadly, does not deliver. The premise-two missing persons later found dead and an angry ex-boyfriend looking for retribution-certainly has potential. The novel opens with Jordie vacillating between her too-good-to-be-true boyfriend Derek and her bad boy ex, Ronan. Ronan accuses Derek of stealing a bracelet he once gave to Jordie, and he demands Derek return it. After an argument, Derek leaves Jordie's house and is never seen alive again. That same night, a beloved former schoolteacher suffering from Alzheimer's also disappears. Too much time is spent listening to Jordie ruminate on Ronan's innocence (not Derek's death) in lieu of creating tension. For someone who initially appears intelligent, it does not dawn on Jordie that if she must lie for Ronan, something is rotten in the state of Denmark. Despite the promising premise, the flat writing, stale characters, and loose ends (the teacher disappears from the story and seems peripheral to the rest of the narrative) do not render this a compelling read. Readers may see a glimmer of hope at the novel's end when it appears McClintock has purposefully misled in order to deliver a twist, however, this is merely a tease and no solid resolution is achieved. Ultimately, this mystery lacks action, suspense, and a verdict, the very elements that readers of whodunits find gratifying.-Laura Falli, McNeil High School, Austin, TX

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