ALA Booklist

Canadian mystery-writer McClintock delivers a tight-knit and compelling tale of two deaths in one night: Elise Diehl, a beloved former schoolteacher suffering from Alzheimer's who dies from exposure, and Derek Maugham, a popular high-school hockey player who had just fought with his beautiful girlfriend, Jordie. The prime suspect in Derek's murder is Ronan, Jordie's ex-boyfriend, a secretive young man with anger issues, who Jordie still loves, but the discerning eye will catch holes in other characters' alibis and motivations as well. McClintock avoids the usual patterns of murder mysteries, relying on detailed and believable characterizations that round out the plentiful plot twists. When she does employ a frequently used device, the characters often comment on it ironically, bringing the reader into the joke. Mystery fans will appreciate the thoughtful plotting, the complex characters, and an ambiguous ending that guarantees readers will be mulling over the story long after they finish. Of special note are the descriptions of landscape and weather: cold, forbidding, and characters in themselves, with their own secrets and dangers.

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

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. (Sept.)

School Library Journal (Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 CDT 2014)

Gr 7-10 Despite McClintock's strong reputation for page-turning mysteries, her latest novel, sadly, does not deliver. The premisetwo missing persons later found dead and an angry ex-boyfriend looking for retributioncertainly 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

Voice of Youth Advocates

When Jordie picks a fight with her boyfriend, Derek, over a missing bracelet from her ex-boyfriend, Ronan, she has no way to know that it will be their last conversation . . . ever. Derek slips out of Jordie's house, where he has been staying, to run an errand, only to never return. No one knows what happened. Jordie walks the path she knows Derek would have taken and discovers a clue that leads police to Derek's body. Jordie quickly realizes the number one suspect in Derek's murder is Ronan, and she goes out of her way to protect him. She withholds information from the police, urges others to keep quiet, and hopes her suspicion is wrong. Even after Ronan is arrested, Jordie works steadily to clear his name. When Ronan finally reveals the events of the night Derek was killed, Jordie realizes that there is a different story herean even darker one that no one has stumbled upon.Jordie is a complicated charactershe is mean and at times violent; seems oddly detached about Derek's death; and is frustratingly dedicated to protecting Ronan. There is plenty of action during the investigation, though the pacing puts most of the tension near the end with the plot twist. The ending allows the reader to make up his or her own mind about what truly happened that night. The story requires a bit of a suspension of disbelief, but the action, untrustworthy main characters, and short chapters will keep readers turning the pages of this mystery.Amanda MacGregor.