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Mike & Riel #5
Dead Silence
After Mike skips out on meeting his friend Sal, he is stunned to find out that Sal has been stabbed to death near his high school. Even though there were lots of kids nearby, nobody will come forward to say what they really saw. So Mike starts asking some questions of his own and finds out that Sal was hanging around a girl who recently left a gang. Are they responsible for killing Sal? How can Mike find out the truth when nobody will talk?
- GenresMysteryYoung Adult
224 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2014
11 people are currently reading
76 people want to read
About the author
Norah McClintock
92 books208 followersNorah 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
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
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 1, 2018
To be honest, while I was reading "Dead Silence" I thought to myself "This is like the male version of Chole and Levesque". To all the readers who thought the same thing don't worry it's written by the same author. Long story short Mike's sweet, nerdy and good-hearted friend was found in an alley stabbed to death. Mike tries to find out who killed his bestie. Like always I'm well aware that I come off as a sarcastic a-hole but trust me I'm not a hard marker. I feel like I made a very serious error as a reader, which may or may not have affected my opinion of this book. You see, this is the 5th "Mike and Riel" book and this is my first time reading a "Mike and Riel" novel. Therefore I'm not really attached to the characters but the author didn't feel the need to explain the characters in depth since they've been already introduced (I don't blame her). So for me when Sal died I was like "Oh shucks, that sucks". But maybe if I had read the first four books maybe I would have felt something else in my stone-cold heart. As a huge mystery enthusiast, I've come up with a list to what makes a great mystery novel.
1) Have a juicy plot
You know what I mean? Like murder is a pretty good plot, the only time I don't care about the murder plotline is only when the victim is a politician, drug-lord or some sort of gang leader (no offence to politicians,drug-lords and gang leaders, I know dying sucks but I just don't care). So this book a fairly decent plotline. 1 point.
2)Requires a good protagonist
Again not the author's fault, I take full responsibility so I'm just going to say it...I don't really care for Mike. Maybe if I had read the first four maybe I would. Mike made/said some questionable things but overall he seems like a decent character. 1 point
3)Face some good obstacles
What I mean by this is that what's stopping the character from going to the police or telling some sort of authority about the problem? Basically, what's stopping the main protagonist from solving the problem? Mike really didn't have any sort of obstacle mainly because he has nothing to hide. Mike main problem was that his friend was dead and he felt guilty for not being there to help him. So Mike didn't have a lame excuse to not solve the problem, so that's good. 1 point
4)Have the ability to maintain my attention
I can already guess what your thinking... this girl has an attention span of a goldfish... WRONG because my attention span is much longer than that, I have an attention span of a 5-year-old. All jokes aside this book did keep my attention however that because I had a schedule to follow. This book wasn't intriguing enough for me to be on the edge of my seat. I can put this book done and not touch for three days without thinking about. A mystery has to always keep you on your toes and feel the need to constantly flip the page and feed yourself with more of the story. Unfortunately, this story did not meet that need. 0 points
5) Have an ending that'll knock my socks off
Sooo this is where the book failed to my needs, the ending. Sure this book had a quite some twists and turn but unfortunately, the ending failed to knock my socks off. I'm not going to say who but let's just say the killer is someone you don't care about nor do you care to learn about. 0 points
So if you add up the points which are 1+1+1+0+0=3 stars
So yes, I did like this books because it had scored points in important sectors however it did not consist a wow factor for me to say that I really liked it or for me to recommend it to someone.
FINAL VERDICT- Nancy Drew is not shook
1) Have a juicy plot
You know what I mean? Like murder is a pretty good plot, the only time I don't care about the murder plotline is only when the victim is a politician, drug-lord or some sort of gang leader (no offence to politicians,drug-lords and gang leaders, I know dying sucks but I just don't care). So this book a fairly decent plotline. 1 point.
2)Requires a good protagonist
Again not the author's fault, I take full responsibility so I'm just going to say it...I don't really care for Mike. Maybe if I had read the first four maybe I would. Mike made/said some questionable things but overall he seems like a decent character. 1 point
3)Face some good obstacles
What I mean by this is that what's stopping the character from going to the police or telling some sort of authority about the problem? Basically, what's stopping the main protagonist from solving the problem? Mike really didn't have any sort of obstacle mainly because he has nothing to hide. Mike main problem was that his friend was dead and he felt guilty for not being there to help him. So Mike didn't have a lame excuse to not solve the problem, so that's good. 1 point
4)Have the ability to maintain my attention
I can already guess what your thinking... this girl has an attention span of a goldfish... WRONG because my attention span is much longer than that, I have an attention span of a 5-year-old. All jokes aside this book did keep my attention however that because I had a schedule to follow. This book wasn't intriguing enough for me to be on the edge of my seat. I can put this book done and not touch for three days without thinking about. A mystery has to always keep you on your toes and feel the need to constantly flip the page and feed yourself with more of the story. Unfortunately, this story did not meet that need. 0 points
5) Have an ending that'll knock my socks off
Sooo this is where the book failed to my needs, the ending. Sure this book had a quite some twists and turn but unfortunately, the ending failed to knock my socks off. I'm not going to say who but let's just say the killer is someone you don't care about nor do you care to learn about. 0 points
So if you add up the points which are 1+1+1+0+0=3 stars
So yes, I did like this books because it had scored points in important sectors however it did not consist a wow factor for me to say that I really liked it or for me to recommend it to someone.
FINAL VERDICT- Nancy Drew is not shook
March 8, 2019
Dead Silence is a great mystery book. It also has suspense which leaves the reader hanging off their seat which people love just as much as I do. What would you do if your best friend died and didn’t know who did it?
That’s what happens to Mike. Mike’s best friend is dead. Even though it is not Mike’s fault he still blames himself. This all beings in school during lunch time. Mike and Sal had been talking about Sal’s driving test he had that day, and wanted Mike to go with him, but unfortunately that’s not what happened.
Mike wanted to go with Sal, but he couldn’t because he had to go back home during lunch to get his friend Rebecca her book back, but he never got home because on his way their he got some bad news that his best friend died. He was told that Sal got into a car accident, but that was not the case he was actually murdered. Its all over the News and everyone was being interviewed but no one could seem to find who killed Mike’s best friend, so Mike decided to figure it out himself.
All around the school everyone thinks Teddy is the murdered, because Teddy got mad at Sal because he put his arm around Staci “Teddy’s ex-girlfriend”.
The book is called dead silence, because people would not talk about anything that happened even though Rebecca knows two girls that seen the whole thing but weren’t willing to tell the whole truth.
I really enjoyed reading this book. This book was mysterious and had lots of suspense. It made me mad that Sal dies when all he was trying to do was help out a friend. To find out who actually killed Sal read the book Dead Silence by Norah Mccklintock.
That’s what happens to Mike. Mike’s best friend is dead. Even though it is not Mike’s fault he still blames himself. This all beings in school during lunch time. Mike and Sal had been talking about Sal’s driving test he had that day, and wanted Mike to go with him, but unfortunately that’s not what happened.
Mike wanted to go with Sal, but he couldn’t because he had to go back home during lunch to get his friend Rebecca her book back, but he never got home because on his way their he got some bad news that his best friend died. He was told that Sal got into a car accident, but that was not the case he was actually murdered. Its all over the News and everyone was being interviewed but no one could seem to find who killed Mike’s best friend, so Mike decided to figure it out himself.
All around the school everyone thinks Teddy is the murdered, because Teddy got mad at Sal because he put his arm around Staci “Teddy’s ex-girlfriend”.
The book is called dead silence, because people would not talk about anything that happened even though Rebecca knows two girls that seen the whole thing but weren’t willing to tell the whole truth.
I really enjoyed reading this book. This book was mysterious and had lots of suspense. It made me mad that Sal dies when all he was trying to do was help out a friend. To find out who actually killed Sal read the book Dead Silence by Norah Mccklintock.
May 27, 2017
I have a personal dislike of unearned guilt, which the main character suffers deeply from. In this case, I wish I had read some of the earlier books, because they might have broadened my understanding and empathy for Mike's feelings.
He spends the entire book angsting because he pulled a harmless trick to get out of doing his friend a favor. Because of this, his friend decides to skip an appointment and therefore is in the right place to get killed. Mike is sure this is his fault, which is clearly stupid -- the killer was stalking Sal, so it just changed the timing. Also, Sal had revealed what seems like a significant betrayal the night before, which is a good reason to get a little space. Knowing more of the backstory might have helped there -- apparently some girl tried to get Mike blamed for a robbery (to the extent that he almost went to prison for it) and Sal had gone back to dating her. Obviously Mike had a good reason to be upset, and over the course of the book he finds other hints that the friendship was not as important to Sal as it was to him (which makes sense -- Sal was a very kind, outgoing person who was quick to forgive, while Mike is more private and also slow to let go of a grudge).
He spends the entire book angsting because he pulled a harmless trick to get out of doing his friend a favor. Because of this, his friend decides to skip an appointment and therefore is in the right place to get killed. Mike is sure this is his fault, which is clearly stupid -- the killer was stalking Sal, so it just changed the timing. Also, Sal had revealed what seems like a significant betrayal the night before, which is a good reason to get a little space. Knowing more of the backstory might have helped there -- apparently some girl tried to get Mike blamed for a robbery (to the extent that he almost went to prison for it) and Sal had gone back to dating her. Obviously Mike had a good reason to be upset, and over the course of the book he finds other hints that the friendship was not as important to Sal as it was to him (which makes sense -- Sal was a very kind, outgoing person who was quick to forgive, while Mike is more private and also slow to let go of a grudge).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 19, 2024
The ending basically ruins the whole plot of the book. It's supposed to be a twist, but would have better if they went with that plot first.
Also it'd be nice if someone drug Alex aside and taught him that women are people. Cuz otherwise it's mostly showing disabled people are violent.
Overall it's not much of detective novel as most of the "detectiving" happens in the last chapters and by that time it doesn't matter.
Really there just seems to be a "not a lot going on" for most of the book and it kinda becomes a slog.
Also it'd be nice if someone drug Alex aside and taught him that women are people. Cuz otherwise it's mostly showing disabled people are violent.
Overall it's not much of detective novel as most of the "detectiving" happens in the last chapters and by that time it doesn't matter.
Really there just seems to be a "not a lot going on" for most of the book and it kinda becomes a slog.
April 16, 2019
A friend that has been murdered by someone he may know. What did he do wrong to deserve this? He was a good person. Every one liked him. Unless there was someone who was bullying him or jealous of him.
March 9, 2020
A little weaker than the others. Mike felt really alone in this one.
January 7, 2025
5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
October 29, 2015
Have you ever wonder how life will be if your BEST friend was dead or killed.I know that you said no. Of course no one would want a best friend to be dead or be killed. The genera of this book is suspends because it talks about trying to find out sal's death. If you want a book with all suspends and mysterious stuff check out this book because this book is filled with all that. Mike thinks its his fault that Sal died. You will al know why in a bit.
This takes place in school at lunch time. Mike and Sal had been talking and Sal told Mike that he had a driver's test today. So when sal was in his way he saw a group of teens hanging around although it lookeed like they were giving a kid a hard time.So Sal went over there and saw Staci. Teddy(leader of the group) was talking to her and giving her a hard time because she had broken up with him. Sal got mad and Sal broke the group up and saved Staci. Sal put his arm around Staci like they were girlfriends and boyfriends. Teddy got mad but then no one knew what had happen to Sal. Some kid yelled that teddy had killed Sal but Teddy has always say that he is innocent and that he did not kill Sal or anyone. Riel a cop well Mike's roommate. Riel trys to find out who and why had someone killed Sal. At the end of the story Mike say it's his fault because he made up a lie not to go with Sal to take his driver's test but Rebecca( Mike's girlfriends) Say that it not fault because Sal died. Rebecca sounded so positive. But nothing could give Mike a second chance and go with Sal to take his driver's test .
The title relates to the book because the book is called Dead Silence and people would not talk or say anything that happen to poor Sal, in page 20 it says the Rebecca found two girls who had seen the whole thing but only said a little bit of what they said. This is the qoute of what one girl saw and said to Mike. "I was in my way to the mall and saw Teddy giving Staci a hard time. Then i saw Sal walking over there and he stopped the group from hurting Staci. Teddy was teasing her of hanging out with the retards because Staci and Sal tutor the special ed kids." Seriously that what it says in the book. Like i said the title relates to the book because no one wanted to say more than they knew.
I was angry about the way that Sal had died. That really really made me sad and every time i dream i pray everything in my life would go well. Back to what i was angry about. I was angry the way that Sal had died because i know how would it feel to have a best friend being killed. In the book it states that Sal had been stabbed in the chest!!If I were the author i would have made sal die a other way because being stabbed in the chest would hurt a lot.
I rate this book 5 Stars because this book was the GREATEST book I've read in my life.This is the greatest boook because i don't know why but this book seriously made me feel like i was in the book, like i was a person in the book just right behind them hearing everything they said and did. I recommend this book to Mr. Bruton because he love books and i hope he is a type of guy who likes scary and suspends stuff. :) This is the book you would want to read all day long with out no stop. This book will make you sad and angry at the charaters!
This takes place in school at lunch time. Mike and Sal had been talking and Sal told Mike that he had a driver's test today. So when sal was in his way he saw a group of teens hanging around although it lookeed like they were giving a kid a hard time.So Sal went over there and saw Staci. Teddy(leader of the group) was talking to her and giving her a hard time because she had broken up with him. Sal got mad and Sal broke the group up and saved Staci. Sal put his arm around Staci like they were girlfriends and boyfriends. Teddy got mad but then no one knew what had happen to Sal. Some kid yelled that teddy had killed Sal but Teddy has always say that he is innocent and that he did not kill Sal or anyone. Riel a cop well Mike's roommate. Riel trys to find out who and why had someone killed Sal. At the end of the story Mike say it's his fault because he made up a lie not to go with Sal to take his driver's test but Rebecca( Mike's girlfriends) Say that it not fault because Sal died. Rebecca sounded so positive. But nothing could give Mike a second chance and go with Sal to take his driver's test .
The title relates to the book because the book is called Dead Silence and people would not talk or say anything that happen to poor Sal, in page 20 it says the Rebecca found two girls who had seen the whole thing but only said a little bit of what they said. This is the qoute of what one girl saw and said to Mike. "I was in my way to the mall and saw Teddy giving Staci a hard time. Then i saw Sal walking over there and he stopped the group from hurting Staci. Teddy was teasing her of hanging out with the retards because Staci and Sal tutor the special ed kids." Seriously that what it says in the book. Like i said the title relates to the book because no one wanted to say more than they knew.
I was angry about the way that Sal had died. That really really made me sad and every time i dream i pray everything in my life would go well. Back to what i was angry about. I was angry the way that Sal had died because i know how would it feel to have a best friend being killed. In the book it states that Sal had been stabbed in the chest!!If I were the author i would have made sal die a other way because being stabbed in the chest would hurt a lot.
I rate this book 5 Stars because this book was the GREATEST book I've read in my life.This is the greatest boook because i don't know why but this book seriously made me feel like i was in the book, like i was a person in the book just right behind them hearing everything they said and did. I recommend this book to Mr. Bruton because he love books and i hope he is a type of guy who likes scary and suspends stuff. :) This is the book you would want to read all day long with out no stop. This book will make you sad and angry at the charaters!
January 30, 2016
High school will never be the same. Those were Mike’s thoughts the day his best friend Sal was killed. He blames himself for not being there for Sal that fateful day and is angry at everyone especially Teddy, the school bully, and his gang. In his mind Mike has already solved the case, and Teddy is guilty. All he needs to do is to convince the police. Read the rest of the review here: http://shouldireaditornot.wordpress.c...
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews