Jeans, Peter. Stoker's Bay

Jeans, Peter. Stoker's Bay.Cygnet, 2003 [1-876268-97-2]
Angus is sent to a residential High School on the coast where he becomes best friends with Kes early on. The two go through the struggles of being away from home for the first time. As the story progresses and they get older, Kate comes into the picture. She is a good friend to them both and eventually a love interest for Angus. Kate's father hires a local to do some work on his boat who takes a liking to Kate (much to her chagrin.) The 222 page book ends in much excitement when the (former) hired hand kidnaps Kate and Angus and Kes go to rescue her. Will the three of them ever forget what happens at Stoker's Bay? How far does friendship and loyalty go when someone dies? The first quarter of this book is enjoyable although very slow as the two boys and later Kate progress through their years at school. The excitement all happens at the end. This story takes place in Australia so one must be aware of things like summer vacation includes Christmas. I thought it was a bit of self-promoting the way the author kept mentioning what happened in his previous book.