Last Chance

Robyn Hunter Mysteries #1

by Norah McClintock

Robyn's scared of dogs--like, really scared. But she agrees to spend her summer working at an animal shelter anyway. (It's a long story.) Robyn soon discovers that many juvenile offenders also volunteer at the shelter--including Nick D'Angelo, a boy from Robyn's past. A boy she hoped to never see again. Nick has a talent for getting into trouble, but after his latest arrest, Robyn suspects that he just might be innocent. And she sets out to prove it...

Genres: Mystery, Young Adult, Fiction, Romance, Teen, Contemporary, Canada

232 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2012

About the author

Norah McClintock’s fascinating mysteries are hard to put down. Her Chloe & Levesque series, Mike & Riel series, and Robyn Hunter series, all published by Scholastic Canada, have been popular with readers in many countries. Norah has also written several crime novels for reluctant readers in the Orca Soundings series from Orca Book Publishers,

Norah is a five-time winner of the Crime Writers of Canada's Arthur Ellis Award for Best Juvenile Crime Novel. Read Mistaken Identity, The Body in the Basement, Sins of the Father, Scared to Death, and Break and Enter to find out why! Norah's books have been translated into more than a dozen languages, and she has won numerous awards.

Awards:
Arthur Ellis Award - Juvenile
o 1996 – Mistaken Identity – Winner
o 1998 – The Body in the Basement – Winner
o 1999 – Sins of the Father – Winner
o 2002 – Scared to Death – Winner
o 2003 – Break and Enter – Winner

Red Maple Award
o 2004 – Hit and Run – Winner

Reviews

[alittlelifeofmel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series was a staple in every young Canadian's upbringing in the early 2000s. This was sold at every scholastic bookfair, and found in every library. I saw the series at a used bookstore and I remember the cover of this one being really memorable, so I bought it. I remembered very little about this book except the overall atmosphere.

The book itself was not very good. It gets a bonus star for nostalgia, but is closer to a 2 star. There are some uncomfortable ideas in this book. The main character's father actually disgusted me throughout. He refuses to accept that his marriage is over and he harasses, borderline stalks, and manipulates his ex wife. He crosses boundaries with no issue, uses his connections as a former police officer to get information he should not have, and does it all while thinking it's the funniest thing in the world. His entire presence in the novel left a really bad taste in my mouth, and it was never commented upon how abusive and harassing his behaviour was.

But, it was nostalgic and I liked Nick. The synopsis events happened with 40 pages left to go of the book and wrapped up REALLY quickly, so while this is marketed as a mystery novel, it was really not.

[Nadi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A mystery about a girl caught in the middle of something she didn't do.Along with a boy who is blamed for everything. She sets out to find if he was wrongly accused,and if he is actually innocent . Norah Micclintock creates a mystery almost impossible to solve.Readers will be caught in the story as she travels to find the right answer.A outstanding book you won't be able to put down.

[Shelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! I have always enjoyed the books about someone who is a trouble maker and you have to get to the WHY are the a trouble maker part! This is about a program which is through a animal shelter which takes teens who have been in trouble and turns them into dog handlers. But there is much more to the book than the program.

The main character Robyn has to work at the shelter because of her own run in with the law. But somehow she sees herself above the boys working there because it was an accident. She sets her own biased opinions to work and when she recognizes one of the boys in the group as someone who stole money from her previous school, she thinks she has him all figured out. But Robin really knows nothing about Nick. To top it off, she is deathly afraid of dogs, so this is not her ideal job anyway. But she just might learn something from the experience by the time she is done. Much more than she might think.

This book is very interesting and clean enough to put on the junior high shelves. I found it very easy to keep going with the story because I wanted to find out what would happen next. I was interested in the program, the shelter and how it worked, and what Robyn would learn from the whole experience. What I really wanted to know was if she would still be afraid of dogs when it was all over! Great book!

[Eamonn turtle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought that this book had a different style then most books. In this first half of the book all that happened is my main character, Robyn got sent to an animal shelter. She had to volunteer because of a horrible accident; she broke a store window. It was very detailed but it wasn't exciting enough for me to really stay interested. I'm really happy I kept reading because after the boring but detailed half was over, it started to get exciting. You get to know thing about the character that you would never think of, charters starting to build relationships (not just romantic ones) and bad things start to happen to characters, really bad things. I am a little disappointed because the ending didn't come to an end. Even though this book is in a series I feel it should have had a better ending. I am not too disappointed because I plan to read the rest of the books in this series. I would recommend this book to some people but not too many because it is not really in one specific category. It could be considered crime,mystery,realistic fiction, or young adult. Overall it was a good book but it was really different.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man, I still have a crush on Nick, despite everything he's done, the decisions he's made, and the stuff he's put Robyn through. He was my original bad boy crush. Nick aside, I love how real these books are. They are gritty and not nice sometimes, but they don't feel like a fictional story. I fully believe these kinds of plots can happen in real life. Also what I like is that they are generic Canadian - I have no idea where they are located, but I know they are not located in America because no American author would mention Alberta as a place that Nick would run off to (that is not in this book, but this has turned into a review of the series in general). That alone makes me love them even more. Nothing turns out the way you want it to in these books, and they're great examples at exhibiting the "your fave is problematic" trope. And the growth the characters go through is actually pretty amazing and believable.

[Emilie | La prof de français · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2⭐️
J’ai bien aimé la famille de Robyn et toute l’équipe du refuge pour animaux. J’ai aimé ne pas trop savoir ce qu’il advenait de Nick. Par contre, j’ai trouvé que c’était long avant de tomber dans le côté policier. Mais je me suis attachée aux personnages et j’ai même été émue à la fin. Un bon moment de lecture! Je lirai prochainement Vague de froid de la même autrice qui met en scène Robyn à nouveau. J’ai déjà hâte de la retrouver!!!

[Ms. Patterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robyn is forced to volunteer at the animal shelter after getting arrested at a protest on animal rights. For Robyn, this is a scary proposition, since she's deathly afraid of dogs. While there she sees Nick, a boy from her past. He doesn't seem as terrible upon closer inspection as she first thought.

What is his story? Robyn is determined to find out, especially when he is arrested while working at the shelter.

It's not your typical mystery. The focus isn't on a crime. It's on a person. Nick. It's fast-paced for the most part, but it does take a bit to connect with the story. I wan't surprised with the mystery and it only took me a minute to figure out why Nick was acting the way he was, why he confessed to being the driver for the hit-and-run accident.

C rating.

[Beth]

As usual with McClintock, I like how Robyn solves mysteries but find the drama with her friends a bit dull. And I was amazed at how well she got along with her parents, who were both rather awful to her, not consistently but at key moments. When your mom shows up when you are in trouble and instantly takes the side of everyone else there is trouble.

I hope Robyn learned her lessons from her problems in the first chapter:
1) People in uniform are allowed to hurt you. Don't whine about it.
2) The truth is useless. You are guilty of whatever people in uniform think you have done.
3) If you get in trouble, at all costs avoid involving your parents. They will try to make things worse.

But the bad boy Nick did help her make friends with a scary dog, despite her dog fears.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book for a middle teen, but though my daughter suggested it for a challenge I needed an animal cover for, (which my over did have unlike the one here.) and I grew up on Nancy drew, I find with years I have moved beyond low key Ya fiction. I have found a few YA though which have been to my liking so it depends. I recommend this book for-depending on maturity and reading asbilitiesa 11-14 years old that like mystery, action and some adventure.

[Kaia Seeley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very enjoyable, just something I picked up from my school library to pass time. I was pleasantly surprised! I started reading it because it’s part of a series so it’ll keep me entertained for a long time. Excited to read the rest! 4 stars because it was good but a middle school type book yk.

[Frisk Dreemur · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was AMAZING! I didn't even realize it was a mystery until the end, Norah will keep you hooked all the way I definitely recommend this book to people who like realistic fiction and mystery this is the first book in the Robyn Hunter Mystery series you can't put it down!

[Lila · Rating 4 out of 5]

the dad was SUCH an infuriating character.. anyways, i was surprised at how much i enjoyed this book. i figured out part of the twist right from the start but it was still a fun mystery piecing it together!

[Kamryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a realistic fiction and mystery book. The cover I have is a picture of a dog, Orion. The cover explains what is happening in this book since it does have to do with dogs. My favorite part is when Robyn has to find reasons why Nick did not hit a man with a car and run away and she wants to figure out why. Joey(nicks stepbrother) "saved" Nicks life when they were younger, so Joey thinks Nick should do the same and take the blame for the crash. Even worse, the man Joey hit died so that was more time in prison. My least favorite part was that I did not have one. I really recommend this book for 5th through 8th grade. It is really good and I hope to read the next book in the series.

[Cela Esqueda · Rating 3 out of 5]

With a mother for a lawyer and a father who is a retired cop turned private detective, it is inevitable that Robyn seeks to find the truth regardless of the numerous obstacles she faces. In Last Chance, the first in a mystery series, Robyn’s thirst for the truth finds her solving a mystery surrounding a troubled teen from her past. During the first few lines of the story, we learn that Robyn is at the police station and is on the verge of obtaining a criminal record for an act she accidently committed. Fortunately, her mother is able to avoid the charges by volunteering Robyn’s services at a local animal shelter. Despite her deep fear of dogs, Robyn begins working at the shelter where she encounters someone from her past that is not quite fond of her. His presence there and the acts that follow are the things that Robyn tries to understand.

Although this book is well written and continually keeps the reader engaged, it does not immediately come across as a mystery novel because it lacks the intense moments of suspense and an unsolved crime typically of the mystery genre. Considering the main mystery in the book revolves around a boy and his actions that seem to be illogical and a crime he admits to committing, the story is more about understanding why these events occurred as they did. In some senses, not involving the main character in life threatening or extremely risky situations is a fair choice because itdiscourages young adults from being Nancy Drews and underestimating the risks involved when solving a criminal mystery. On the other hand, it makes the storyline seem more about a girl who is interested in a bad boy, who’s really good, but can’t seem to catch a break and not about a girl trying to solve a mystery. Fortunately, future books seem to involve more complicated storylines.

Standing alone, this book provides an excellent example of not judging a person solely on appearance and that there are more complicated reasons behind people’s actions than simple acts of violence. If no other book in the series was read, the person would walk away satisfied with the storyline and a deeper understanding of dogs and troubled teens. Although it appears the protagonist is of high school age, I would recommend this book to as young as sixth grade students. Its language is not complicated at all but the message is important because many of these students are in junior high and will be entering high school. They will face situations where making the right choice is not always easy and sometimes things are not as what they appear to be.

[Cami · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book helps us learn that we should never make assumptions about people

[K.L. Bernard · Rating 5 out of 5]

On a so called protest against animal testing for various products, Robyn Hunter ends up in jail. Her mom, the attorney, gets her released with the promise she will do volunteer work at a local animal shelter. Of course, this arrangement is better than jail except Robyn has a phobia of dogs. Especially since she was attacked by a German shepherd when she was eight years old. The good thing out of all of this is her obsession, or fear of dogs, has resulted in her knowing lots of facts about them. Upon her arrival at the animal shelter Robyn has an expected encounter with a large dog. But to her surprise she is saved from a potential attack by the dogs trainer. Nick D'Angelo, the trainer, is a familiar face from Robyn's past. Hopeful he doesn't recognize her, Robyn shakes off her fear and resumes her mission to work at the shelter and do her time as a member of the fund raising committee. Robyn is not alone in her mandatory volunteering, the boys from RAD (Rehabilitate A Dog) are here too. Most of them are here instead of participating in a court mandated anger management counseling session. Her past with Nick isn't a good one. He had gotten into some trouble and Robyn had been the one who turned him in. She is learning, with her lunch time conversations with Nick, that perhaps he has changed and is working towards the good. He really loves working with the dogs and he is good at it. Although he still seems to have some issues with anger, he seems to be happy working with the dogs. His goal is to someday be able to adopt Orion, the bad dog from Robyn's first encounter at the shelter. Robyn's new image of Nick soon becomes shaded with doubts when she learns that he has been implicated in a hit and run incident while driving a stolen car. Robyn decides to find out more about the sudden change in Nick and make an effort to help him out of a very bad situation. McClintock has created a story full of emotional twists and turns. Readers quickly become engaged with the characters and the paths they choose to follow along with the constant element of danger. Readers who are animal lovers will find this story interesting and touching. McClintock teaches readers that everyone deserves a second chance and that enemies can become friends. It is recommended that children older than 10 years should read this book with the permission of their parents.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Award winning young adult author, Norah McClintock, begins a new mystery series with Last Chance. Robyn Hunter, whose father is a former police officer, and mother is defense attorney, has found herself on the wrong side of the law. At an animal rights protest, in attempt to stop her friend from doing the wrong thing, she inadvertently smashes a store window. Though it was clearly an accident and misunderstanding, the storeowner is furious. So she agrees to spend her summer working at an animal shelter, despite the fact that she is afraid of dogs.

The shelter runs a program, RAD, where many juvenile offenders learn to manage their anger and frustrations by working with last chance dogs. One of these volunteers is Nick D’Angelo, a boy from Robyn’s past, and one she would rather not have seen again. It looks like Nick is up to his old ways again, but as she takes another look at the situation, she suspects he might be innocent.

This is a wonderful book for ages 11-16, and I love how it covers a multitude of messages wrapped in a very absorbing mystery. Robyn is a delightful young woman, and I like how she goes through a series of emotions. She waivers between believing and not believing in Nick, and I think girls can learn a lot from her snap judgments, as well as her determination if give Nick a second chance.

Nick is that typical cute, but tough bad-boy. Yet he and Orion, the dog he is training, teach you that what is on the outside doesn’t always synch with what is inside. It also exposes your daughter to the fact that her way of life isn’t all that is out there. This is a great book to open up discussion on how reaching beyond circumstances is sometimes needed to heal someone, and give them a second chance.

This is a great story, and I give it five stars.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually received this book through NetGalley to review ahead of time. The premise behind the story sounded interesting at the time so I thought I would give it a go.
Robyn is the protagonist in this story. She's a nice young lady who was in the wrong place at the wrong time during during a bad prank at a peaceful protest. Her mom and dad are divorced; her mom is the high-powered strict lawyer and her dad is the happy go lucky retired policeman. In exchange for her penance she has to volunteer her summer away at an animal shelter. This wouldn't be a big deal except Robyn is absolutely terrified of dogs. Not to mention she realizes that she and one of the troubled teens working at the shelter have a past.
I really enjoyed the story of Robyn's summer. The characters were well written and not shallow; you could relate to them. I loved the doggie characters as well. I would very much like to read more of Norah McLintock's books about Robyn and her adventures. Sometimes you just have to have a break from vampires and werewolves. I thoroughly enjoyed this YA read!

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended for gr. 5-9.

Robyn is volunteering at an animal shelter as community service due to a public disturbance which was really not entirely her fault. There are two problems with this job: first, she has a dog phobia and second, Nick is also volunteering there in a program for juvenile delinquents. Robyn once turned Nick in for a crime and he has never forgiven her. This being a YA novel, Robyn and Nick learn to understand each other better and there is a positive resolution.

Robyn was a very realistic character who young teens will relate to. There is a bit too much exposition on the need for shelters and training dogs, but not so much that it gets in the way of the story. Although billed as the first of a mystery series, this was not so much a whodunit as unraveling a series of misunderstood events. The promos for the next two books seem more like traditional mysteries with the same main character.

[Hannah Cobb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Robyn Hunter almost gets arrested over an animal-rights protest gone wrong. The protest was her best friend's idea; she doesn't even like animals. In fact, she's scared of dogs. So when she's given a choice between going to court or putting in community service hours at a local animal shelter, she almost takes her day in court.
Then her mom interferes, and Robyn finds herself face-to-teeth with an enormous dog. She thinks she's a goner for sure until she's rescued by a cute and strangely familiar guy--who turns out to be the very last boy she wants to be working beside. Robyn thinks she knows what kind of boy Nick D'Angelo is. When circumstances seem to prove her right, will she turn her back on Nick, or dig into the mystery to find out who really stole the money from the animal shelter?
This is a light teen mystery, perfect for any twelve or thirteen-year-old girls who don't want forensics, too much romance, or (to be honest) all that much of a plot.

[Trimble · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is book one of a great mystery series with a little bit of everything in it to represent the life of most typical (and not so typical) teenagers. The main character, Robyn Hunter, deals with a range of emotions: fear, boredom, frustration, embarrassment-- and there's a hint of a possible romance as the series continues. In the end, Robyn learns that people and situations aren’t always as they seem and that often times, people deserve another chance. Most teenagers will be able to find many things they can relate to and will enjoy this book. It’s even a fun, light read for an older crowd who might enjoy a little reminder of how life is as a teenager. The addition of the mystery twist makes this an even more interesting read as the reader tries to figure out how the story might resolve. This is an excellent and easy read that makes me look forward to continuing the series.

For full review go to http://www.compassbookratings.com/rev...

[abbylee Oqueli · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a book I bought at the NCTE conference, along with a stack of others that are meant to reach struggling readers with high interest materials at a lower reading level. I had student after student read and want to talk about this one. They all loved it and begged for the whole series to be added to our classroom library. I finally got around to reading it and see why they liked it to much. The plot was simple, but very engaging, the characters were likable and fun to get to know, and making a lovable dog the driving force to solve the mystery presented in the book kept me turning pages and I'm sure drove my students to do the same. It made me think and question, which was really exciting, because I know it was doing the same for my students. I'm glad I got the rest of the series, these are the kinds of books that hook readers and make them feel as successful as they should when a good book is in their hands.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robyn can be bad news for Nick, the daughter of a cop and a lawyer she has a lot a faith in going straight to authorities with her assumptions before really sorting things out.
When she finds herself in custody... she thought a friend would damage a storefront (assuming again) during a animal rights protest and in an effort to stop him broke the window of the store. She gets a hand slap and if she works at a dog shelter she can avoid charges.

On her first day there she meets Nick, a boy who she accused of stealing back in middle school. That brush with the 'system' branded him a bad boy. Now Robyn finds herself curious about what makes Nick tick and why he is required to work out his anger issues with dogs. An interesting pilot program that has kids who need rehabilitation work with dog who need retraining.

When Nick is charged with manslaughter, Robyn realizes she needs to dig deeper and find out what really happened that night.

[Allie Rae]

a classic wrong place at the wrong time kind of coincidence. Robyn a young girl can't seem to stay away from trouble. When she was younger she witnessed a crime of stolen charity money. When she's at a animal rights protest march she ends up breaking a window a dropping something (well lets say unmentionable...) on a women's head. She gets taken in to the police and her mom and dad come. Instead of going to jail and having a police record she is given a choice. She can either go into custody and have a chance of being in jail or go volunteer at a shelter. She is fine with that but she doesn't exactly like dogs do to a traumatic experience. When she thinks things can't get worse she meets the very boy she wished to forget. The guy who she turned in for stealing the charity money. It seems he's changed but a run in with the law makes everything change.

[Neill Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robyn is a good kid but when her friends convince her she should attend a protest rally she inadvertently flings a bag of excrement at a shop owner and is charged. Her mother is a lawyer and is extremely distressed - her father, divorced from her mother, is an ex-cop who now does private security, and he thinks it's kind of funny. When she ends up doing community service at an animal shelter she meets a boy that she had given evidence against a few years earlier and thinks she observes him again committing a crime. Getting to the bottom of it forces her to come to terms with some of her personal problems.

[Rachel Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Robyn Hunter got in trouble and found out that she had to volunteer in an animal shelter to avoid going to court she was less than excited. It didn't help that she was attacked by a dog as a kid or that she meets someone from her past that she wishes she wouldn't have. Forced to spend time there she realizes that she may have judged people and things to quickly. All this is going on as she trys to uncover the mystery about what really happended to Nick. I loved this book becuase it was intresting and fast paced (I finished it in a night). Even though I don't usually read this genre I still thought it was really good and I will defentily be reading the next one in the series.

[PopcornReads - MkNoah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a firm believer in getting shelter dogs as companions, so when I saw the book cover for Last Chance by Norah McClintock, it really touched me. Ms. McClintock is a five-time winner of the Crime Writers of Canada's Arthur Ellis Award for Best Juvenile Crime Novel, so I knew she had to have some definite writing chops. And she does. Last Chance is Book #1 in the YA Robyn Hunter Mystery series. It’s a story about preconceptions, something we’re all guilty of, and second chances, something every creature deserves. Read the rest of my review at http://popcornreads.com/?p=3594.

[Rossana Snee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. Kept me turning the pages the whole time. The story is about Robyn who has to volunteer at a dog shelter. She's terrified of dogs because of a previous incident. At the shelter she meets Nick, an apparently bad boy who's in a program called RAD. To me the story is really about not judging a book by its cover and that looks can be deceiving. Overall I really enjoyed this book and the author's writing. I plan to get the next in the series.

[Elizabeth Nygren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read the Robyn Hunter series before, but never in order. I am excited to do so now! I love Norah McClintocks books because it's very hard to find a good mystery book. I remember reading this book, and it was better the second time around for sure. The ending was a little strange, but I still really liked it. Especially how Robyn figured everything out in the end. Can't wait to read the next one!

[Worthreading · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was written for middle school students. It creates enough suspense and interest for students, as it deals with a troubled teenager who has been guilty of past crimes and a young girl who must prove that this time he is innocent. The plot will appeal to struggling readers, but there are some difficult words that may discourage reading.