Rick Brant #16 Egyptian Cat Mystery and #17 Flaming Mountain

In Rick Brant #16, The Egyptian Cat Mystery, Rick and Scotty travel to Egypt with Parnell Winston.  Winston will be working on a project while the boys enjoy Egypt.  As a favor to a new acquaintance, Bartouki, Rick and Scotty take an Egyptian cat prototype with them to give to Bartouki's business partner.  The boys have trouble making the delivery, as it turns out that other men try to take the Egyptian cat away from them.

The Egyptian cat consists of lead that is covered with plastic.  Somehow the plastic makes the cat look like a reproduction of an authentic Egyptian artifact.  This is somehow an extraordinary idea, although I can't image how plastic over lead looks and feels just like sandstone.  That aside, this excellent idea is to be rushed into production in Egypt, so the boys take the statue to Egypt.  The story doesn't ring true.  I knew that the cat had to have been designed to hide something, yet the boys wonder for the entire book why the cat is important.  It's hard to enjoy a book when the protagonists, who have 15 previous adventures behind them and are seasoned detectives, act like complete idiots.

The cover art to this book is in the style of the later Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys Nappi covers, which is quite different from other Rick Brant books.

I did not find this story to be engaging.  It's hard to pinpoint exactly why, but the story didn't grab me.  The main reason probably has to do with the lack of a mystery about the cat, since I knew that it had to contain something important.  I did enjoy some parts of the book greatly, but much of the book was mediocre.

In Rick Brant #17, The Flaming Mountain, the Spindrift scientists head to San Luz island to try to save it from a volcanic eruption.  Fears are increasing that a volcanic eruption is imminent, and the Spindrifters gather data in hopes of coming up with a means to prevent an eruption from destroying the island.

This book is a return to the kind of adventure that I enjoy, although I do miss Chahda.

This is an engaging book.  The solution is a bit hard to believe.  As long as the reader doesn't worry about how logical that part is, then the book is quite enjoyable.