Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Hardy Boys #34 Hooded Hawk and #35 Clue in the Embers

In the original text of Hardy Boys #34, The Hooded Hawk Mystery, the Hardy boys receive a peregrine falcon by special delivery.  The falcon was sent to the boys to aid them in Fenton Hardy's latest case.  Fenton is searching for a gang that is smuggling illegal aliens from India into the country.  An Indian prince has gone missing, and the boys also search for him.

The beginning part of the story contains a detailed description of how to care for and use a trained hawk.  It was a bit much.  This book is from the era when Grosset and Dunlap books became educational, which generally makes them not quite as interesting as the older stories.

The boys go to Chet's farm to work with the hawk.  Conveniently, the villains are also near Chet's farm.

I overall enjoyed the story up until around two-thirds of the way in.  At that point, I lost interest and started skimming.  I did not read the last two chapters.  I did not care at all.

In the original text of Hardy Boys #35, The Clue in the Embers, Tony Prito inherits the contents of his uncle's shop.  As soon as the items come into Tony's possession, multiple people try to steal the items.  One person claims that two medallions, supposedly wanted purely for sentimental reasons, were part of the collection and asks for the Hardys to find them.  The boys soon learn that the medallions are clues to a treasure.

I did not like the beginning of this book, but I gradually gained interest.

Even though I overall enjoyed this story, the plot consists of a repetitious and annoying cycle of events.  The boys make a discovery, and then are immediately attacked or threatened by a villain.  The boys look for the villain, make another discovery, and are attacked or threatened again.  The cycle repeats over and over throughout the entire story.

The book is okay but never interested me that much.  Towards the end, I began skimming.

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