Close to the Heel

By Norah McClintock

No one is more surprised than Rennie to hear that his late grandfather, whom he hardly knew, has left a mission for him to fulfill. Rennie is to fly to Iceland and deliver a message from beyond the grave, but when he gets there, nothing is simple or straightforward. For one thing, Brynja, the teenage daughter of the family he's staying with, is downright hostile. Her father Einar, who is to be Rennie's guide in Iceland, is preoccupied with looking after his elderly father-in-law, an old friend of Rennie's grandfather. Bored and a little bit annoyed, Rennie explores the town and becomes aware that the family is dealing with more than their grief over Brynja's mother's death the year before. Before he realizes what is happening, his curiosity puts Rennie in grave danger, with no one to trust and no one to save him except himself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
• Release date: Oct 12, 2012
• ISBN: 9781554699513

Norah McClintock

Norah McClintock won the Crime Writers of Canada's Arthur Ellis Award for crime fiction for young people five times. She wrote more than sixty YA novels, including contributions to Seven (the series), the Seven Sequels and the Secrets series.

Reviews for Close to the Heel

[elizajane_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the third book I've read in this series which purports that the books may be read in any order. So far, I completely agree with that premise and am enjoying picking out books in my own order. I picked this book next because the previous two books had mentioned this seventh grandson that no one knew and they had been asked to get in touch with him but they didn't. Also, I have not read this author before, but I have always wanted to as she is an award-winning Canadian author of YA mystery/thrillers. I was hooked with the first chapter which uses the device of starting at the end where the main character is in a life and death situation. Then the story starts from the beginning to eventually tell us how he ended up there. I loved the main character, Rennie and really enjoyed the Iceland setting. I haven't read many books set in that country that aren't adult thrillers. The book was quite intense and starts off mysterious almost from the beginning as Rennie stumbles upon both a mysterious death and disappearance. This book doesn't really concentrate on the grandfather as the other two did. His story is there but it's just in the background; the main focus here are the crimes and Rennie's relationship with his dad. The mystery was good quality; I never know what to expect from a YA mystery since I read so many adult thrillers. However I was caught up in the story and found myself figuring out the mystery only steps ahead of Rennie, including the twist ending ... until the author sprung a second twist that threw Rennie (and me!) for a loop. I love a surprise like that; it makes for a great mystery!No other grandsons were mentioned in this book at all so my next pick in the series is really going to be up to topic or author preference.

[shernor · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Norah McClintock's fast-paced, action-packed novel Close to the Heel is one of the intriguing linked stories in a series of seven books, all written by different authors. Unfortunately, I haven't yet had the chance to read the other titles, but Close to the Heel is a deliciously good entry, an exciting adventure for young readers.

[breadnbutter · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The concept of the Seven Series is what attracted me to request this book. It is basically 7 different and standalone stories all about one grandfather tasking each of his seven grandchildren with some world broadening adventure ( I haven't read any of the others in series so I can't say how similar/different they are to this one.)Better synopsis have been written, so I won't go into detail, but I will say that I really enjoyed the fast paced adventure in Close to the Heel. I feel McClintock is an excellent writer of young adult mysteries and I will certainly be passing this along to my younger siblings to read. I think it can be not quite as appealing to people who enjoy more in-depth, world building storytelling, but that isn't a common theme in young adult fiction anyway so don't be surprised that you won't find it here. Some of the plot lines are a bit "out there" but I am all about suspension of disbelief when I read so that isn't an issue for me personally.

[rmboland · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

First off, let me just say how in love I am with the concept of this book and it's companions-a series of 7 books, 1 shared back story, 7 different authors. Here is the actual copy from the press release I received:"It all started with Eric Walters and his passion for bringing great stories to kids-especially boys. Eric's idea was to ask six other well-known children's authors to contribute a novel each to a series that would be connected by a grandfather's love of his seven grandsons."From the very first chapter, I was already intrigued-it opened with a bang, and instantly left me wanting to know how Rennie, the main character, was going to find his footing, interact with other characters, and basically, evolve as a person.During the beginning of the story, Rennie receives a request via video from his late grandfather-the real grit of the story unfolds as he sets off to fulfill it. I really enjoyed the back story for this book, and the sense of adventure it instilled in my mind before the real adventure even began. I like how the author didn't unnecessarily waste time on the scenes and dialogue leading up to the true heart of the tale, and I found that I couldn't turn the pages fast enough-eager to see where she was taking both Rennie and me.Rennie's character perplexed me slightly as the story went on, as one minute he came off as a rebellious, obnoxious teen, the next he's caring and concerned for the well being of others-I just couldn't bring myself to fully connect with him. I think I was captivated with his character simply because I felt like he was the one who would eventually unearth one of the main mysteries.The secondary characters-Brynja, and her father Einar- were much easier to dislike. While I felt that their characteristics were necessary for the story, I just couldn't really stand to hear from them when they were in a scene. Especially Brynja, I pretty much wanted to strangle her from the get go.Overall this book was compact and quick-paced. It was like a tiny, keep-in-your-pocket mystery, and at the end, I found myself satisfied with the wrap-up, and intensely curious to read the stories of the other 6 grandsons. I'll be getting my hands on those as soon as I can.*Won as an Paperback ARC from Library Thing*

[speedy74_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Norah McClintock's conception of seven books that can be read in any order intrigued me. So when I received an advanced copy of Close to the Heel, I was curioust to see just how she would set up the story lines. The death of Grandfather results in special instructions for each of his seven grandchildren. In a videotaped will, the grandfather relays to each grandchild an unfulfilled dream or desire that has been left undone by the grandfather. Rennie is charged with returning some journals to the site of a plane crash the grandfather survived long ago in Iceland. When he arrives to fulfill his mission, he finds himself caught in the middle of a murder mystery. While young readers may like the suspenseful beginning and build up to the resolution, I found that there were some details that just didn't ring true. For example, Rennie himself just doesn't quite hit the mark in terms of balancing his "bad boy" image with his everyday actions and certain elements of the plot seem manipulated like Rennie's acquaintance at the newspaper who just happened to have worked with the murder victim. Overall an entertaining read that probably won't stick with me much longer than this review took to write.

[sleahey_3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Rennie is a bundle of anger, and has plenty to be upset about, between his mother's death (for which he feels guilty) and his father's military strictness. After a summer at boot camp, though, he feels ready for a mission created by his late grandfater, which involves a somewhat mysterious trip to Iceland from Alberta. The story that unfolds once Rennie arrives in Iceland is somewhat confusing and complicated, with an unexplained disappearance in the present, and an unexplained appearance in the past. The ARC indicates that a family tree and map will be included in the final edition, so that make make the plot easier to follow, and presumably the grammatical errors and typos will be corrected. A strength of the book is the suspenseful and harrowing beginning in the middle of the story, followed by the events that led up to that point.

[shootingstar2428 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Close to the Heel follows the protagonist, Rennie, who is given a mission by his late grandfather, whom he hardly knew. His grandfather wants him to go to Iceland to bury an important but mysterious item from his past. However, this seemingly simple mission turns out to be much more complex – and dangerous – than Rennie ever thought. As he learns more about his grandfather’s past and the purpose of his mission, he realizes that pursuit of the truth can literally kill you. Part adventure story, part murder mystery, this book has many twists and turns to keep the reader turning the pages.Despite the fast-moving plot, though, this book did not impress me. I felt like the characters were very one-dimensional, and I could not relate to any of them. I also think there were too many characters to follow – especially with unfamiliar, foreign names. In addition, the ending seemed abrupt to me, and I had to re-read certain passages to understand what really happened in the book once the truth was revealed at the end. Overall, this was just an average book to me, and I probably won’t be reading any more books in this series.