Customer Reviews

The House on the Cliff (Hardy Boys)

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The first of the revised Hardy Boys stories, "The Tower Treasure," was relatively tame, even though there were a couple of moments of near danger. In the second book in the series the danger is turned up; the bad guys have guns and they are not afraid to use them!

Their father, the famous detective Fenton Hardy, invites the Hardy Boys on a case. This time the Hardy Boys accidentally observe smugglers attacking a man on the ocean. Before the boys can see what happens to the man they hear a cry from an abandoned nearby house, which is perched on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Their search is fruitless, and on returning where they had left an expensive telescope, they discover the eyepieces are missing. The mystery begins.

The smugglers are bringing rare drugs into the country, by means unknown. Fenton Hardy believes the leader of the smugglers to be a tough character named Snattman. Fenton Hardy disappears during the investigation, leaving the boys with an even bigger mystery, and their mother with concerns regarding Fenton's safety.

As happens often with the Hardy Boys, a group of their friends pools their resources to locate the smuggler's hideout along with who the smugglers are. Along the way they discover that their father was kidnapped and held captive by the smugglers, and they may yet murder him!

The exciting conclusion of this book involves the Coast Guard, secret passages, a mysterious cargo ship, and a man named Singh. As the battle between the smugglers, led by Snattman, and the police, the Coast Guard, and Joe, Frank, and Fenton Hardy rages on, everyone is in danger because the smugglers have guns and are not afraid to use them.

While the Hardy Boys have not aged well, as reading material for an increasingly younger audience they are excellent. The stories were once recommended for children ages 10 to 14. As children are exposed to more violence and seem to require greater levels of stimulation, the recommended age range has move to 9 to 12. I think any child capable of reading some of the challenging words in these books will enjoy them, regardless of how tame most of the action may be. Once a child has reached age 12 or so the stories may be of less interest, but given the combination of mystery and action, these books remain good safe choices for parents who want to know what their children are reading.

This concerns the original text edition of House On The Cliff. The revised edition is most familiar, but this one is richer in subplots and character development. This book was originally released back in the late 1920's, and is, arguably, the best Hardy Boys book in the entire series. Admittedly this is my personal opinion, but I have read each and every Hardy Boys title (both original and revised text)in the first 58. This story was revised during the first wave revisions of the Hardy Boys back in the late 1950s. If you've never read the original text version of this story, you're in for a treat.

I read so many of these a few years back, and I am now stocking up my home library with these great imaginary scenes. My children are too young to read, but my nephew likes them just fine. Great for boys AND girls. Start kids off with some fun and clean reading, and they will love reading later on.

This review concerns the revised 1959 edition. Mr. Hardy disappears while investigating a group of smugglers. Frank and Joe suspect that a strange, old house on a cliff has a connection to the mystery and get some of their friends to help them investigate the place. This book is one of the best of the series; it is loaded with action, suspence and mystery. It doesn't take you long to get into the book and the last half of the book was especially good. Although, as good as this book is, the original edition, which is nearly the same, is even better and is the version that I would recommend reading because the writing is more rich and descriptive. While the original may be longer, with a book this good you don't mind that. Whichever version you decide to read, the original or the revised, you will not be disappointed with this book.

this wonderful book was my favorate. have read almost all of the hardy boys and enjoyed this one particulary because it was about a group of gangsters smuggling drugs from a boat there is also this house on the cliff in wich the gangstars are hiding.the hardy boys and there chums are trying to figure out whats happining.they end up saving a gangster ang when there father fenton hardy does not come home they get suspicious. so the hardys end up getting caught but make it out of there with a action scene. im twelve years old and im apart of the world wide ring of hardy boy book collecters we meet in virginia every month.

I started reading these in 6th grade because my dad had like all of them because he was a big fan. Now I am reading them and I have him rereading all of them. Like every night he comes into my room to see If I have bought any new ones recently. All summer I have been reding them looking for cheap prices on the series. I have actually read like 5 this summer beacause EVERY chapter has a cliff hanger. Today I finished the secret agent on flight 101 and the ceativity yet down to earth way Mr.Dixon wrote these books is amazing. I recamend these to all ages even reading them to some kids...they will love the suspence.

I credit Franklin Dixon's Hardy Boys series with sparking my interest in literature, which led ultimately to the publication of my own suspense novel thirty years later. I started reading these books when I was seven, and eventually collected thirty or forty of them, reading them all two or three times. I recently found several in an old box in the basement, including "House on The Cliff" and "Secret of the Old Mill." When I read one to my ten-year-old daughter, I discovered that time had not tarnished their quality nor distorted my fond memory of them. Now my daughter wants to read another.

Dixon utilizes two key techniques to capture kids' imagination and keep their attention. One is action. Kids get distracted easily. Dixon never gives them the chance. Exciting, dangerous, and mysterious stuff starts happening right away in each book and continues in every chapter. The other is to end each chapter with some unresolved event so suspenseful that kids must keep reading. I can't tell you how many times I stayed up late to keep reading a Hardy Boys mystery.

Every book in the series is as good as the next. Dixon created characters and a formula that worked, and he stuck with them consistently. They teach good old-fashioned values, and are fun and easy to read--the perfect step up from baby books to chapter books. --Christopher Bonn Jonnes, author of Wake Up Dead.

These books are not the most exciting books as the rest but they are pageturneres! One minute Frank and Joe are on a lead and then Joe is kaoed on the floor. Whenever Frank and Joe are in trouble they can always rely on the gang.Chet,Biff ,Tony and Phil. But they also are constantly warned by Aunt Gertrude that the mysteries they solve are too dangerous. But Frank and Joe always see Chet coming around the corner to get a big slice of Aunt Gertrudes famouse pie(s). Joe's favorite date is Iola (Chets sister) and Frank's is Callie. Usually Mrs. Hardy is visiting relatives and Mr. Hardy is away on a case.Near the end of most books Mr. Hardy's case ties in with Frank and Joe's case. If the Hardy's find themselves in 4 places at one time they will call Sam Radely (Mr.Hardy's assistant, also a family friend)to do the job. Frank and Joe have had many vehicals. They had a convertible, two motorcycles, and a slick motorboat called The Slueth. The way all the Hardys got around in the air was by a pilot named Jack Wayne. If you ever want to read a series of books you should read The Hardy Boys. They're fun, exciting and just downwright GOOD!!!!

The Plot: One day shortly before summer vacation, the Boys, along with Chet, Biff and Jerry, are out motorcycling along the Shore Road and decide to investigate the spooky old abandoned Polucca house, high on the cliffs overlooking Barmet Bay. Once inside, they hear a shriek which scares all but Frank and Joe out. The Boys investigate but find nothing. They leave but a storm forces them all back to the house. They hear more shrieks, get locked in and part of the house starts to collapse! They finally get out but have problems with their motorcycles and find their tool kits stolen. They are distracted by a boat chase out on the bay. There are shots from one boat and the other boat explodes!.... Comments: The best story in the canon! A dark, violent tale of smuggling, drugs, kidnapping and murder! None of the other stories can match this one for sheer exciting adventure! I've always thought this tale would make a great Hardy Boys movie. The Boys show plenty of guts and good detective ability in this one. Fenton plays a major role here and he works well with his sons. The gun battle and fight at the climax is the most thrill-packed prose in any Hardy story. If you read only one Hardy Boys book, it should be this one. Rating: Original: A+

Written by Leslie McFarlane from an outline by publisher Edward Stratemeyer, THE HOUSE ON THE CLIFF--the second book in the Hardy Boys series--was first published in 1927. In the late 1950s the earliest novels in the series were re-written to make the characters more consistent and keep the books contemporary; even so, this is 1950s contemporary, and readers will not find computers, cell phones, and the like in the original series. The characters are also very distinctly of their era, with Frank and Joe Hardy, their friends, and their parents reflecting then-popular ideas about good and bad, family relationships, and the like.

In this particular story, detective father Fenton Hardy has asked sons Frank and Joe to visit the "Old Pollit place," an empty house on a cliff that commands a view of the bay, to look for possible smugglers. The Hardy Boys books are written to a specific formula, so certain elements repeat from book to book--but even so, THE HOUSE ON THE CLIFF is one of the more unexpected books in the series. The boys encounter possible smugglers, experience a theft, run afoul of a landslide, and rescue a drowning man--and that's just the first four chapters! The entire book is written at a very fast pace, so it is an enjoyable quick read.

No one would accuse the Hardy Boys books of being great literature. They are distinctly formula in both plot and style. Even so, the books are brightly written and never talk down to their target audience--and older readers who enjoyed them in their childhood will find it a pleasing bit of nostalgia. THE HOUSE ON THE CLIFF is among the best in the series, entertaining, mindless fun.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer