Man, I'd forgotten how good the Mercer Boys were. It kind of jarred me as a kid, because I thought they would be very Hardy Boys-ish where there isn't any real sort of character development across the series, just a bunch of books following a formula. But in the first book, the boys are fifteen and sixteen or so, and in this one, they're off to their first year of military school. I don't think I had any clue what they were doing, as a kid; I had never heard of a school where everyone was called Mister.

Picked this one up at a little Christmastime-only used book store in the mall, and I was like a kid in a candy store with all the great old boy's adventure stories they had. If only I was independently wealthy! But the Mercers are definitely right up there with the best. I'll try to find their permanent home sometime. ( )