The first disappointing Hardy Boys book (The Hardy Boys: Hunting for Hidden Gold - Franklin W. Dixon)

Member Name: pmcds

Product:	The Hardy Boys: Hunting for Hidden Gold - Franklin W. Dixon
Date:	04/12/08 (38 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Appealing to young adults

Disadvantages: Disappointingly tame in comparison to other Hardys books

For the 5th Hardy Boys book, Franklin W Dixon does what he did to the saga in his 4th book. Hunting For HIdden Treasure takes the brothers Frank and Joe Hardy out of their comfort zone and transports them away from home and gives them the task of treasure hunting instead of solving crimes with their supersleuth father Fenton Hardy.

The Hardy Boys books are aimed at young adults and ther are literally hundreds of them. The first and original series of books were penned by Franklin W Dixon (pen name for Leslie McFarlane) and the first ones were released in the 1920s. As a result, many of them seem outdated to the more modern reader, but they are still excellent stories.

In this book, Frank and Joe travel to the village of Lucky Lode to go treasure hunting after hearing a story about it. However, they are not the only ones looking for the gold, and they realise that there is a gang of villains led by Big Al, and that one of his men has been spying on them. As the treasure threatens ever closer, so do the villains and the danger heightens as the Hardy Boys seek to get rich quick!

In comparison to previous espionage and murderous Hardy Boys tales, this one seems rather lame. I like the way Dixon didn't ust want to throw the same story rehashed at us over and over again, but I felt that this one just didn't quite work as well as some of the others. The fact that it all boils down to treasure hunting and people's greed should appeal to a younger adult audience, and this is what the book is aimed at, but I feel that fans of the Hardys may be a little disappointed in comparison.

However, it is still a decent enough book, and worth a read. Hunting For Hidden Gold is available from amazon.co.uk for very low prices for used copies, or available either as a hardback copy or in a collection of Hardy Boys books in paperback. Prices range from 1p to around the £8 mark, depending on which version you're after.

Summary: The 5th Hardy Boys book