It's probably twenty-five years since I read this book, 11th in the Lone Pine adventure series for teens. I'd never read the full GGB publication, and was surprised how much I enjoyed it. It took a few chapters to get into, and I found the crooks particularly unpleasant - there's a lot of danger in this book and some violence, though nothing gratuitous.

The premise is excessively unlikely - the Lone Piners and the crooks are trying to find a diamond necklace that was stolen many years earlier. They only have the sketchiest of clues, and are looking in a rather large area. But while reading it feels all too believable, and by the end I was quite drawn into the story (which, as it's a book for younger teens, naturally ends satisfactorily for all concerned, other than the crooks).

Best read after others in the series, but it could stand alone - recommended for children of about nine or ten and upwards, but most likely to be read by adults like me who recall these books nostalgically from their teenage years.

Longer review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-secret-of-gorge-by-malcolm-savi... ( )