Book Review: Over the Edge by Norah McClintock

Over the Edge
by Norah McClintock
Chloe & Levesque Mystery

Kane Miller
ISBN-10: 1-935279-67-X
ISBN-13: 978-1-935279-67-9
Publication Date: September, 2010
List Price: $5.99

Review:

Was it a suicide? It has to be. It all adds up. Then why doesn’t Peter’s mom believe it? But, what if Peter’s mom was right and it wasn’t a suicide? Then, what was it? What made Peter go …

OVER THE EDGE?

Over the Edge is the first book in the Chloe and Levesque series.

Chloe is an average teenage girl who doesn’t seem as smart as she really is. In fact, Chloe is a great detective. She may have learned some of this from her new step father Levesque, the Chief of Police, who is well known in her new town East Hastings. She turns into a great detective because of the mysterious death of Peter Flosnik, a boy obsessed with astronomy and who supposedly committed suicide by falling off the Mac Adams lookout. Everybody is positive it was a suicide, but Peter’s mom won’t believe it. Why? That’s what Chloe is trying to find out. She uses tiny details that she finds out from her new boyfriend, Thomas, and the school newspaper editor Ross. Thomas is friends with Daria, Matt, and Lise, the popular kids in school who Chloe thinks are suspects in Peter’s death. Ross also provides Chloe with lots of information because as the school editor he always seems to know the latest gossip. Chloe also uses the facts that Peter’s mother gave her like a tape recording with Peter’s voice on it. Peter’s mom has no idea that he may have been black mailing Daria, Matt, and Lise. The details that seem insignificant are the ones that help Chloe the most. Soon, she figures out what really happened …

I enjoyed this book because of its suspense and excitement. It’s very hard to stop reading once you get into the middle of the book. The main character Chloe is very interesting because she is not afraid to tell her opinion about things, even if it means hurting someone you like. She is very confident in herself. The author uses very realistic dialogue and descriptions which make it easy to visualize what is happening. There are multiple mysteries that Chloe solves that lead her to solve the main mystery of the book which is determining how Peter Flosnik really died. The suspense the author creates makes it really difficult to put the book down. I could not stop reading it. I had to finish the chapter I was reading each night before going to bed. It was very clear from the beginning of the book that it was a mystery. The ending was very surprising, and I could not believe it. In some ways I didn’t want it to be the ending because it was so traumatizing to me, and I thought something else was going to happen. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys mysteries.

Review written by Savannah (6th grade student).

We would like to thank Raab Associates, Inc. for providing a copy of Over the Edge for this review.

Have you read Over the Edge? How would you rate it?