Hardy Boys #68 Submarine Caper, #69 Four-Headed Dragon, and #70 Infinity Clue

In Hardy Boys #68, The Submarine Caper, Frank and Joe briefly look into who has stolen the plans to Alfred Wagner's submarine, but then they spend nearly the entire book looking for missing paintings.  Since the book has little to do with a submarine, I suppose that's why the book's title was changed to Deadly Chase in the Minstrel edition.

This book has too many characters, so many that it ranks up there with The Greek Symbol Mystery.  If I had known how many characters were going to be in this book, I would have counted them.  This Hardy Boys book is just like the typical Nancy Drew Wanderer book with too convoluted of a plot. 

On page 118, Rita goes to fix dinner right after the police leave.  The police had been called because she had been found bound and gagged.  I couldn't believe that the Hardys let her fix them dinner right after she had been assaulted!  They should have gotten some take-out food and brought back dinner.

On page 102, Frank suggests that the gang who stole the paintings could also be involved in the submarine mystery.  Frank exclaims, "Don't ask me how come he features in both mysteries!"  Well, why not?  It's like this in every book.

The sad thing is that I don't know if the mysteries were actually connected.  I began skimming the book around 50 pages before the end, and then I quit.  I couldn't take it anymore.  The book has too many characters, and I couldn't keep up with all of them.  I was bored and didn't care.

I did not enjoy this book.

In Hardy Boys #69, The Four-Headed Dragon, Sam Radley is found in the woods in a daze.  He cannot communicate and is hospitalized.  Frank and Joe try to find who attacked Sam.  Meanwhile, Fenton Hardy is on the trail of a dangerous criminal who plans to blow up the entire Alaska pipeline.

Since the book opens with Sam Radley injured, the book immediately caught my attention.  The story held my attention all the way through.  While I greatly enjoyed the first half of the book, the second half is outstanding. 

The last half of the book features a hurricane, and the boys are trapped in a spooky mansion in the middle of the woods during the hurricane and at night.  The mansion is also said to be haunted.  You can't get better than that.

This is an excellent book, which more than makes up for the lackluster previous book.

In Hardy Boys #70, The Infinity Clue, Frank and Joe receive a mysterious message from their father, telling them to speak to someone in Washington, D.C.  Their attempt at following their father's orders causes them to be accused of stealing a valuable diamond from the Smithsonian.  As the boys work to prove their innocence, they uncover a plot to sabotage nuclear power plants.

A minor earthquake that has a magnitude of between 2 and 3 occurs at the beginning of the book.  The earthquake topples telephone poles and knocks out the electricity.  Cars crash when the drivers become startled by the shaking.

20 years ago, I might have believed all of this.  We now have earthquakes between magnitude 2 and 3 rather often in Oklahoma, and we barely notice them.  The local earthquakes of magnitude 4 have only caused a few cracks in walls.  Our power poles don't fall over, and people in cars don't crash.

On page 45, Chet is left in the museum overnight with no food.  That's cruel!

The story is good from the beginning, but I enjoyed it more and more the further I read.  I greatly enjoyed this book.