Out of the Cold

Robyn Hunter Mysteries #4

by Norah McClintock

After a homeless man dies during a cold winter night, Robyn and her friends work to uncover who the man was before his time on the streets. They have only two clues to guide them: a class ring and an old photograph that the man left behind. Robyn just wants to honor the homeless man's memory. But as the search heats up, she begins to suspect that someone's investigating her too...

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

232 pages, Paperback

First published September 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

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

You wanna know what makes me sad? The fact that wonderful literature is written and...well, nobody knows. I mean, this Canadian writing prodigy - in my mind - has created something amazing and only a handful of us readers know about it. That handful is small and few in between. It's a bit frustrating, actually, to love something so much as I did and to be explaining something to your friend, who, honestly, has no idea what the hell you're talking about.

I found this book in my library two years ago (if I recall) and totally was blown away by the back cover. I rushed home, opened it up, and didn't put down the book for another three hours. I was crazy in love.

I remember purchasing the latest purchase as soon as it was released, and spending the night angry with myself for pausing halfway through and giving way to my tired eyes. I dreamt about the characters in this book, and had to pick up the story the next morning, not releasing the pages until it was complete.

To say this one isn't my favourite of the series would be an understatement, but I felt as if I needed to share my series review here, in the first book I read.

Robyn is such a fascinating character - and I have no idea why. I always feel the blood pounding and rushing through her mind, the hope and honesty she feels, the confusion over things with Nick, and now this new guy, Ben.

For you fellow Canadians out there, I really, really, really suggest you pick this up. For those of you reading this review from a different country, please, find this book. If you see it lying somewhere in your bookstore, pick it up. If you find it on eBay or Amazon, pick it up. It's a fast read, but it's worth it.

[Hpitcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

im so mad at nick in this book!

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was a truly amazing book :) i would reccomend it to anyone who is interested in crime fiction, young adult, it is really captivating

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Out of the Cold was always my favourite Robyn Hunter story, and I'm happy to report that in 2021, that remains to be the case. I think the new characters (Ben, obvs) and the mystery being the most intriguing are what makes it the most interesting, particularly after Nothing to Lose is a bit of a letdown after the first two books. I also like the fact that we are well into the series, and Robyn is just better at solving her mysteries by this point. She needs less help and is able to come to conclusions on her own rather than through the assistance of others. Putting together all of the pieces to solve the problem has always been my favourite part of reading mysteries. While I do miss Nick in this book, Ben is a fine substitute, and honestly is probably better for Robyn overall. I like the change of pace, anyhow, and knowing that Ben would never take off or keep anything from Robyn is refreshing. Overall, I think this one stands out the most to me because while the whole series in general makes me reassess my surroundings and consider people in new light, this one does it just a little bit more. There's a reason I always refuse to put this one down.

[Erica Kullberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the series as a teen and liked it. Now out of the blue I remembered it and just HAD to read it again. Now some 15 years later the books couldn’t ofc be found anywhere, but thankfully ebay to the rescue! I bought them all and have been reading through them, and I’m so happily surprised, they are as good if not even better then I remember. They also hold up pretty well even though times have changed which is impressive. Out of the cold was my favourite this far, can’t wait to read the rest!

[Kaia Seeley · Rating 5 out of 5]

BRUH BRUH BRUHH FREAKIGN WILDDDD THIS WAS SUCH A COMEBACK. the last couple books were kind of on a decline from the first one and i was considering dropping the series but this one BROUGHT ME BACK. the ending oh my gosh this twist was crazy, i didn’t think it would have two mysteries and the murder was absolutely wild. i think now that nick is out i could enjoy it more bc he was getting on my nerves. robyn was so smart in this one JESUS like so genius. ben is a cutie honestly like him more than nick bc i cannot forgive what he said to robyn in book 3 ugh. anyways 5 stars LOVE

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

3.5⭐️
J’ai bien aimé cette enquête, surtout en raison des personnages rencontrés au centre d’aide pour les itinérants. Quelques longueurs, mais les 100 dernières pages ont rattrapé le coup. J’ai aimé qu’on découvre le crime à la toute fin seulement, c’était différent!

[Adele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for school. Either way, it would have been good.

[Dolores · Rating 4 out of 5]

#4 in the Robyn Hunter Mystery series. Norah McClintock has a real knack for writing to appeal to reluctant readers. I still think her mystery "Tell" is one of the best I can remember for young adults. This series is a pretty good one, although this wasn't my favorite entry. Strangely enough, this was one of the best mysteries in the series, but Robyn's personal life, which I know has plenty of teen appeal too, is kind of underplayed here. It ended with an extra bit of mystery, so there's hope for book 5.

[Sunny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really really nice book! The story includes mystery-solving, teenage romance, and some reference to the status quo. McClintock can capture reader's minds and trick them into believing something that's actually the opposite of what's happening. A really nice read because it's interesting and has a lot of connections to the current world like modern-day technology, and modern-day crises!!

ps. finished it on a plane!! The story was too exciting!!

[Carol Nicolas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a YA mystery, with a little romance thrown in too. I enjoyed the story. The main character, Robyn, has a big heart, and she goes out of her way to find the answers to questions and help people. In this case, it's to uncover the real story of a homeless man who is found frozen to death.

[Nujhat]

LOVED IT

[Michelle]

A nice, light mystery, and not as preachy as it could have been.

[Julia · Rating 1 out of 5]

this book was so bad and unappealing and boring and exasperating to read and predictable. the ending is incomplete, the plot had no plot twists and flowed way too smoothly, and there was no message. even if there was one, I could think of one, probably because this book was so bad.