I read of Rick Brant's adventures, including this story, as an adventure-loving youth. Reading it now, I find it just as fun an adventure as ever - it has not lost its ability to create detailed scenes in my mind. The author's skill in weaving a tale of two friends on a summer houseboat cruise who stumble into a mysterious conspiracy of national importance has not suffered with age; though GPS and cellular phones were science fiction fantasies when this story was originally written, the lack of them doesn't keep this story from seeming as if it could have been written last week. As a current resident of the Chesapeake Bay area, where this story is set, I find it even more accurate and easy to picture than I did when I lived elsewhere and read it when it was new. The abrupt and sinister villians, the support of good friends, and the final dangerous showdown between them - a good story never goes out of style!