SURFMAN : The Adventures of a Coast Guard Dog

In this new book in a long list of dog adventures, Col. Meek seems to have broken with what was beginning to look like too rigid a pattern. Perhaps the Coast Guard story is a more unusual one, allowing a wider range of adventure. In any case, this is one of his best stories, though Surfman, the Chesapeake Bay dog, does not emerge as individual a character as his master, Curly, who was bent not only in establishing his own right to name and fame in the Coast Guard, but to clearing the mystery surrounding his father's disappearance. The setting is Hatteras, which affords perhaps the greatest scope for the challenge to Coast Guard responsibility of any spot on the Atlantic, and Col. Meek has taken advantage of them all. Exciting might-be-true adventure developed with formula technique, perhaps, but holding reading and authentic detail.