This is an obvious retread of #5 Lights, Camera... and #6 Action!, except that in this book, everyone behaves in a bizarre, emotional, and even trashy way. Bess is practically hysterical about the idea of being a stand-in and keeps saying, "Omigosh!" She screams and acts giddy. When Nancy gets cast instead, Bess is angry with her and sulks and cries.
Bess should have understood that Nancy got herself cast because of an investigation, but of course Nancy doesn't explain herself. Supposedly Bess is untrustworthy and cannot ever keep a secret. Then why has Nancy confided in her in all of the other books?
Nancy claims that she has stage fright. Bess says that Nancy was good in the musical, Grease, a year before. I wondered why they didn't mention the film from #5 Lights, Camera... and #6 Action! It's like it never happened...
Both the director and star of the film act like they are smitten with Nancy. The director asks Nancy out, and the lead actor kisses Nancy on the lips. Ned sees the kiss and is devastated. This happens on page 76. I stopped reading in the middle of the page and thought, "What, is this a damn soap opera?"
So anyway, Ned avoids Nancy from that point on. He won't answer his phone, and Nancy doesn't try that hard to set things right.
Needless to say, this book has serious continuity problems. I felt like I was reading a Nancy Drew Files book and an annoying one at that.
I did not care for the first half of the book. The discontinuities were way too distracting. Once I was towards two-thirds of the way into the story, I began to greatly enjoy it. The last part of the book is quite thrilling. Someone is murdered, and it happens quickly and unexpectedly.
While I enjoyed the book towards the end, I do not consider this book to be that good. It is way too bizarre to be considered good.
The bike race is grueling and insane and just about kills George. I found it quite unbelievable that George would even attempt this kind of race. It is very extreme.
Even though the bike race is improbable, this is a very good book.
This mystery didn't really grab me. Ned's various digital devices went missing. While this was a shame, I felt no sense of urgency.
George is so psycho about running a marathon with Nancy and Bess in this book and forces Bess and George into grueling training. This is rather strange, and it would have made more sense for this book to have been sequenced before #25 Trails of Treachery.
On page 98, Nancy puts a toxic waste sample in her bag. Yikes. This reminds me of the toxic waste situation from The Flying Saucer Mystery.
This book is mediocre.
2 comments:
These books don't have even half the charm of the Original Nancy Drew books. Imagine if Mildred Wirt was still alive.She would probably get a heart attack seeing how her characters have changed so much.
I am not sure that Mildred Wirt Benson would care one way or the other because she didn't create Nancy Drew. On the other hand, Harriet Adams would probably have a heart attack if she were still alive. Harriet Adams was very careful to protect Nancy Drew during the years that she was alive. If she had known how the character would be changed after she sold the rights to Simon and Schuster, she might not have sold them the rights.
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