Saturday, October 22, 2016

Wynn and Lonny #5 Dead Heat at Le Mans and #6 Midnight Rally

In Wynn and Lonny #5, Dead Heat at Le Mans, Wynn and Lonny become part of a project designed to test synthetic oil for use in the military.  Wynn and Lonny will race two Monzas with the synthetic oil, and if the oil works, then the military will use it.

I found it interesting how the plot centers around the development and testing of synthetic oil, which is used widely nowadays.  These books were on the cutting edge of auto racing.

This book has way too many characters, and I couldn't remember them.  I grew more bored as I read further into the book.  I skimmed the last one-third of the book.

In Wynn and Lonny #6, The Midnight Rally, Wynn and Lonny are hired as stunt drivers for a Hollywood movie.  The movie features a cross-country race.  As the movie is filmed, the boys discover that someone is following the production and creating acts of sabotage.

I enjoyed the book at first, but soon, the plot falls into the same pattern as so many of the later Stratemeyer Syndicate books.  I skimmed around the last half of the book and found I did not care at all about what happened.

I found the information about racing to be interesting during #2, 3, and 4 in the series.  I am not interested in racing at all, but I still found the content engaging.  I had never thought about the kind of adjustments that need to be made to race cars so that they will perform at top speed.  I learn a lot from reading books.

The easiest books to find in the Wynn and Lonny series are #1, 2, and 4.  The best books in the series are #2 and 3.  Fortunately, #2 is inexpensive, so it is the one that should be purchased in order to try out the series.  If you are not particularly interested in racing, then paying high prices for the harder to find books is not a good idea.  If you love racing, then go for it.

Even though the later books were harder for me to read, I enjoyed reading about Wynn and Lonny's racing experiences.  The two young men and their female friends are upstanding, likable young people who work hard and are undaunted by setbacks.  They are excellent role models.

"The Checkered Flag" is an excellent article about the Wynn and Lonny series.  Read it to learn more about the authors and the development of the series.

1 comment:

Amy Sisson said...

Hi Jennifer, thanks for pointing me from the Facebook group to your reviews of the Wynn and Lonny books. Good point on trying #2 as a sample as it's readily available and better than #1.