Hardy Boys Undercover Brothers #34-36: The Lost Mystery Trilogy

The Hardy Boys Undercover Brothers Lost Mystery Trilogy consists of the following titles.

#34 The Children of the Lost
#35 Lost Brother
#36 Forever Lost

In #34, The Children of the Lost, ATAC sends Frank and Joe to Idaho to investigate the disappearances of eight children over the course of twelve years from Misty Falls State Park in Idaho.  One of the children, Justin Greer, has reappeared and has amnesia. Frank and Joe interview Justin and camp in the state park during their search for clues.

This book begins with a prologue, which details Justin's reappearance.  Normally prologues annoy me, but this one is good.  The suspenseful atmosphere set up by the prologue is then ruined when the next scene shows Frank and Joe in the usual Undercover Brothers story introduction where they are in the middle of wrapping up a previous case.  I hate those scenes!

This book deals with a character who has amnesia.  I typically do not enjoy those kinds of books, because I have trouble caring about someone whose identity we do not know.  This one is different because we know who Justin is.  Since Justin doesn't remember who he is or where he has been, the amnesia is intriguing.

This first book in the trilogy is very suspenseful.  I knew that Frank would disappear by the end of the story, since the next book is Lost Brother.  I was tense with expectation as I waited for the disappearance.

In #35 Lost Brother, Frank has vanished.  Joe has no clue where he is and is left trying to solve the case on his own.

In this type of story, the dual first person perspective pays off.  We get to see what is happening to Frank and what is happening to Joe.

Very early in this story we learn for certain who the culprit is.  That is, Frank and the reader learn.  Joe still does not know, and the culprit is a tremendous threat.

Poor Joe looks so forlorn on the cover. Actually, Joe looks like that on every trilogy cover, but at least he has a good reason to look sad on this book's cover.

In #36 Children of the Lost, Frank continues to try to escape, and Joe continues his search.

I have one minor complaint about the names of two characters.  Justin's father is Jacob, and I kept confusing the two characters. Authors should be careful about using names that begin with the same letter.

I love young adult dystopian trilogies, and this trilogy is very similar to those.  This story is dark and is not for younger children.

All three books are excellent.  This is an outstanding trilogy.  This type of story is perfect for a trilogy, with the story developing throughout the three books.  These three books are by far the three best books in the entire Hardy Boys Undercover Brothers series.