Hardy Boys #173 Speed Times Five, #174 Hide-and-Sneak, and #175 Trick-or-Trouble

In Hardy Boys #173, Speed Times Five, Frank and Joe participate in the Fire Creek Mountain Race in Canada.  Soon after the race begins, accidents occur, causing one contestant after another to drop out of the race.  Is someone sabotaging the race?

This book has too many characters which are introduced too quickly.  It took away from my enjoyment at times.  That aside, this is a very good book and is very exciting.

Page 147:

"The thing about sabotage," Frank said, "is that you don't have to actually do it many times.  After a couple of incidents, people start to get paranoid and see sabotage everywhere."

It's not paranoia.  We aren't imagining that almost every single Hardy Boys book is about sabotage!

In Hardy Boys #174, Hide-and-Sneak, Frank and Joe are one of three teams being filmed as part of a student film project.  Each team competes in an impromptu competition on  Barmet Bay.

I was quite dismayed as I began this book.  Having read #173 a few months previously, I had just finished #172 Trouble in Warp Space, which was quite boring, and this book appeared to be a repeat of #172.  Fortunately, the plot is a little different, although it is still weak.

The characters are all introduced fast and in one scene at the beginning with minimal description.  I made no effort to try to remember, especially since I expected this book to be as boring as #172.

The book is better than #172, since the boys are on Barmet Bay in The Sleuth.

It's odd the way the author describes The Sleuth.  It is an old boat, and it is described like the boys seldom use it.  I guess they don't use it much in the digest series, but that's never been mentioned before.

The book has no mystery until two-thirds of the way through the story, so this is a strange book.

I only mildly enjoyed the story.  It's decent but not that great.  I wouldn't want to read it again.

In Hardy Boys #175, Trick-or-Trouble, the Bayport Merchant Association is sponsoring a Halloween mystery contest.  Each merchant has different clues, and a wide range of prizes are available.  Some contestants play dirty, keeping others from getting the clues.  Frank and Joe seek out the culprits, hoping to even out the competition.

This book is also not that great.  The clues didn't interest me.  The entire book consists of the boys going around to get clues, seeing somebody not playing fair, trying to figure out the clues, seeing someone get a prize, and so on.  The boys also get into a few fights with the possible culprits.  The process repeats throughout the book.

This book mostly bored me.