Sandy Steele #5 Alaska and #6 Troubled Waters

In Sandy Steele #5, Secret Mission to Alaska, Sandy and Jerry drive to Alaska with Sandy's father and his friend, Professor Crowell.  During the drive, a plane shoots at the group's vehicles.  Sandy's father refuses to explain, but Sandy deduces that enemy agents are after them.  Sandy and Jerry also participate in a dog race, where they get caught in a blizzard.

During the race when it begins snowing, the dogs slow down.  Sandy gets the bright idea that he and Jerry should get off the sled and run behind it to give the dogs a rest.  Charley, the driver, agrees and runs in front of the sled to break the trail.  What could go wrong?  Everything!  Sandy and Jerry get tired, fall behind, and are hopelessly lost in a blizzard.

The portion of the book that deals with the sled race is very exciting.  After the sled race, the boys go hunting in a brief interlude.  I did not enjoy that part, mainly because I'm not interested in hunting.  The hunting subplot is distracting, although it was placed in the book as a means to force a confrontation with the villains.

The book is excellent up to the end of the sled race and good to very good for the rest of the story.

In Sandy Steele #6, Troubled Waters, Uncle Russ gives Sandy a new sailboat.  Sandy and Jerry sail the boat to Valley View.  During a storm, the boat is lost, and the boys have to search for it the next day.  Unfortunately, they mistake another boat for their own, and the other boat is owned by criminals.  Sandy and Jerry's lives are in danger from that point on.

The explanation of different kinds of sails and how to use them was not of interest to me.  The information was quite detailed to the point of being overwhelming, so I skimmed that part.  It probably would have interested a reader who already knew about different sails.

I was kind of surprised when the criminals immediately confess to their crime as soon as they first encounter Sandy and Jerry.  This is only on page 90, with much of the book left.  This was done to set up the rest of the story, so it ends up logical, but it is a bit different.

I greatly enjoyed this story.

I ended up enjoying volumes two through six in the Sandy Steele series so much that I felt lost after I finished this book.  I wanted to read more of them, but I was done.