I first read this 50 years ago, and remember finding it thrilling.

There are some elements which make this different to previous Lone Pine stories.

The book covers a greater time frame moving through the Easter holidays, to greater discussion of their separate school lives, to an adventure in the summer holidays at Seven Gates (Again).

Usually the Lone Piners separate to solve a mystery near the end of the book. This time, Mr Morton sends them on separate treasure hunts early on, which lead to them identifying the mystery of stolen dogs.

The separate trips also allow the older Lone Piners to begin to appreciate how much their pairing matter to them. Something made more apparent by Charles Sterling and Trudie's engagement.

The mystery of dog napping is made worse when Mackie is stolen by Robens. Peter is angry that the Lone Piners have relied too much on adults and they have not taken charge of events, and Mary is furious and frightened for Mackie.

Eventually Mackie is saved, but at the cost of a broken ankle for Peter.

As usual, everything ends with a feast and explanations.

The other big change is in the tone of the book. The emotional and romantic life of the older Lone Piners is now touched upon more, and is starting to seem as important as the adventure. Loyalty, friendship and kindness to animals remain key values and Peter becomes a central character due to her strong and virtuous nature.

Peter is asked to be Trudie's bridesmaid, and Mary hints to Dickie that Peter will always be in the Morton's family. ( )

Seventh in the Lone Pine series of adventure stories for younger teenagers. In this book, the older Lone Piners are sixteen, and beginning to realise how much they mean to each other. Their adventure centres around dogs being stolen, and involves the ten-year-old twins' Scottie Macbeth.

There's humour, and a surprising amount of moving passages that made my eyes mist over. With this book, it feels as if the Lone Pine series really gets going, with some great characterisation. Nothing too deep, and probably too innocent for most of today's teens, but I always enjoyed these books, and am pleased to find that I like them just as much now as I did forty years ago.

Latest full review: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-neglected-mountain-by-malcolm.h... ( )