Adventure

The 1945 edition of this book surely presents one of the wackier plots of the entire Hardy Boy series. The boys are on the trail of a gang that supposedly steals radio parts and builds "black market" short wave radios. The nefarious crooks hide and ship their radios in taxidermy specimens -- stuffed wolves, stuffed bears, stuffed skunks and so on. The idea seems to be that keeping and transporting radio- stuffed stuffed animal specimens will get far less attention from the police authorities than mere cardboard boxes of electronic gear.

As it turns out, the Hardy Boys' have gotten interested in short wave radios, and their chum Chet has taken up taxidermy as a hobby -- both being amazing coincidences given that the crooks need stuffed stuff in which to stuff their illegal radio stuff. And speaking of coincidences, the remote Canadian hideout of the head crook ("Spike") lies very close to a place where a group of scientists were stranded; returning via a small airplane from the African Gobi Desert (in a single flight from China, by way of northern Canada?), their plane had gone down there. The scientists have nothing whatsoever to do with the story. But at the denouement, the situation allows for Frank and Joe to ride a small plane to the scene to help arrest Spike, with a handy side trip to rescue the stranded scientists. What heroes these boys are.

According to online sources, the author of this particular book in the series had been under pressure to add more scientific stuff, and apparently the best he could come up with were black market radios (whatever they were). He also reportedly had great trouble finishing the book, and finally turned in a finished draft long after it was due. His difficulty may explain the awkwardness of the tale, its choppy pace, and its poorly connected and incongruous elements. In one of the author's handy innovations, a happy ending is achieved when the H Boys acquire a pair of walkie talkies. For readers under the age of 35, walkie talkies were devices that allowed one to talk to another person while actually walking around -- hence the clever name. They are like a primitive form of cell phone, but one that can't take selfies, contain games, provide directions, show nude photos, or allow young users to keep pace with the trivial details of one another's lives.

Presumably kids of 1945 would have been utterly fascinated by the devices that allowed voice communication over long distances, along with the possibility of being able to ride in an airplane. Their great grandchildren of today will likely be both bored and mystified. As a side issue, it's noteworthy that the Hardy Boys' chum "Chet" is never mentioned without a reminder that he is "fat" (the word and its synonyms are used easily 25 times in a 140 page book, and interspersed with episodes showing that Chet is lazy and loves to eat). Again, the idea is dated, now that such a large percentage of kids are overweight, and making fun of them is no longer a source of good natured sport. That's progress of a sort. ( )

I was really into this story until the author put espionage. I was heart broken that a retreaded plot was in the story line. The author attempted to put nice "big brother" twist in the story line but, sigh. I wanted something out of left field. ( )

I liked this book along with the others in the series. I liked the technology involved with the mystery, also the codes that were sent by radio ( )

Fine condition