Dead Man Walking? (The Hardy Boys: Submarine Caper - Franklin W Dixon)

Member Name: keeperofthematri

Product:	The Hardy Boys: Submarine Caper - Franklin W Dixon
Date:	14/08/09 (44 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Paintings plot thread is interesting and has potential

Disadvantages: Narrative style is weak. Submarine subplot is a little dull.

Frank & Joe Hardy are the teenage sons of famous private detective Fenton Hardy & his wife Laura. Together, (& sometimes from help with family & friends) they investigate all sorts of crimes & strange occurences....

The Submarine Caper was published in the US in 1981 & was the sixty eighth in the series. The book first appeared in the UK in 1982 & was numbered 66 when it was published by Armada. It was also published under the title "Deadly Race".


This book opens with Frank & Joe spending part of their eternal summer vacation in Germany. Keen to brush up their language skills we're told that they're staying at the home of Gerhard Stolz, an investigative reporter who is a friend of their father. Stolz is off to Glocken to cover a story about some valuable paintings that were lost during World War II which have now been located. He asks Frank & Joe to call in on his friend Alfred Wagner who is in the process of inventing a mini submarine & who think his plans are being duplicated.

It soon becomes clear that Wagner may have cause for concern as there are a few suspicious events relating to his workshop and Frank & Joe are almost run off the road by a red porsche. But a call from Stolz presents them with a second problem. It appears that the paintings were hidden away during World War II by the mayor of Glocken & three other men. All of them supposedly died during the war & the location of the paintings was lost.

However, the mayor's daughter has found a note revealing the location of the paintings. There is to be a ceremony to mark their discovery, but Stolz has received an anonymous phonecall telling him that everyone will be in for a surprise when the painting's hiding place is opened the following day.

As the anoymous call stated, the painting are found to be missing from the hiding place when it's opened. Frank & Joe theorise that the paintings may have been moved not long after they were hidden there by one of the four men involved in hiding them. But, all of them are dead ~ aren't they?

Events get more serious as someone breaks into Stolz's house & ties up his wife Rita. Then Stolz himself is kidnapped before the Hardys fall into the hands of a gang who leave them facing the prospect of a very watery grave.........


The usual supporting characters who appear in this book are:-

+ Fenton Hardy (mentioned but doesn't appear)



This is book is a little different from the rest of the series. Usually, in the first chapter the reader is introduced to Frank & Joe, there's a brief description of both of them and the some stuff about their mother, their Aunt Gertrude & how their father, Fenton Hardy, worked for the New York police department before retiring to Bayport to set up his own detecive agency. Then, usually, one or more of Frank & Joe's friends are introduced.

This book has very little of that. It starts with the boys already in Germany. There's a brief reference to their father, but he's not even named & then there's nothing else at all, which is a little strange for the reader when that's what they've been used to from reading previous books in the series.

The book contains two main plot threads, the submarine plans & the disappearance of the paintings. The submarine plans plot thread is the less developed one of the two & this may be why it's never particularly grabbed my interest. Frank & Joe spend very little time with Alfred Wagner & it's more a matter of luck rather than detection work which reveals who is copying Wagner's plans & why.

The painting plot thread gets much more "room" in the book & is, in my opinion, the more interesting storyline of the two. Of course, the "Something Hidden During World War II Then Being Hunted For Years Later" idea is nothing new. There's a number of films revolving around gold, gems or other treasure being hidden during World War II & then being hunted years later. Oddly enough a lot of those type of films were popular in the 1970s which may be where the "inspiration" for this book came from.

The problem is that this book doesn't gel together that well. Some of the supporting characters are reasonably well developed but they don't really have any sort of distinct personalities of their own. Other supporting characters are little more than names on a page. The narrative meanders from time to time & the writing style doesn't particularly grab or retain the attention which is a pity as the paintings plot thread in the book had definite potential.

All in all, this is a reasonably paced book that's just rather average. There are worse books in the series, but then again, there are books that are a whole lot better as well. Not one that deserves to be top of anyone's wishlist.

At the time of writing the new & used paperbacks are available from 1p upwards from Amazon.

Summary: Sixty Eighth Hardy Boys Book