Hardy Boys #101 Money Hunt, #102 Terminal Shock, and #103 Million-Dollar Nightmare

In Hardy Boys #101, The Money Hunt, Frank and Joe travel to Maine to help their father's friend who owns a hunting lodge.  Accidents have occurred at the lodge, and guests have seen a ghost!  Years ago, bank robbers hid their loot somewhere near the lodge, and the boys wonder if there is a connection.

I really like the setting in the woods of Maine.

I enjoyed this book, although it partially lost me towards the end, since it went into some length explanations of exactly what the villains did.  When the boys are imprisoned on the helicopter, the two villains immediately begin discussing at great length their entire story from start to finish.  Later after the villains are captured, we get the boring play-by-play on who-did-what.

In Hardy Boys #102, Terminal Shock, Frank has been visiting bulletin boards online, while Joe knows nothing about computers and is uninterested.  Frank's friend Jim, who runs a bulletin board, suddenly is taken ill.  He has been poisoned.  Frank and Joe must find the culprit—and the antidote—before Jim dies!

The old computer jargon is fun and interesting.  I tend to enjoy books like this one, because they make the computers sound so fascinating and mysterious.

Joe acts very stupid about computers.  He knows absolutely nothing!  At the time this book was first published in 1990, I was Frank's age.  Joe is just one year younger than I was at that time.  Teenagers did know about computers!  I recall having a computer in my elementary school classroom in 1983.  It's ridiculous that Joe is so oblivious to them.  I get the idea that the adult writing the book knew nothing about computers and was self-educating himself or herself while writing the book.  After all, I know less about current technology than today's teenagers.  That's the way it always is.  The adults know less than the youth.

It's odd that Joe is the one depicted to hate computers.  It would have been more logical to have Chet take that role and tag along with the boys on the case.  It's strange for Joe to act so clueless and complain about computers for the entire book.

I enjoyed this book.

In Hardy Boys #103, The Million-Dollar Nightmare, Frank and Joe are traveling in San Francisco.  While walking down the street, they just happen to see a wanted criminal who was featured on a recent television show.  The criminal is wanted for stealing a valuable horse several years before.  The boys are certain that the brief sighting will give them the insight they need to crack a case that has puzzled authorities for years.

This book didn't interest me, for the reason that I didn't care.  Since I didn't like the book, I read it very quickly to get it over with quickly.  The book might be okay, but I did not care for it.