Customer Reviews

The Mystery of the Desert Giant (Hardy Boys, Book 40)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a big fan of this series, but this particular book left me a little cold. For much of the book the Hardy Boys wander around in search of the crooks, and when they finally encounter the crooks, the action is over quickly. Even when there is action, such as when a boat rented by the Hardys is bombed, the inept crooks miss!

Then there is the Desert Giant. The author attempted to use the Desert Giant, which is a character that Native Americans created hundreds of years ago, as a rendezvous location for crooks and the point where an industrialist disappeared. The Desert Giant only appears in the story two or three times, and turns out not to be all that important except as a location.

For me the best part of this story was the crime itself. This 1961 story describes a crime that had to be new at that time. I will leave the crime for readers to discover. I also thought that the criminals used an interesting method of committing their crime that also seems to have been somewhat unique for the early 1960s.

If you are a big fan of the Hardy Boys, then you will want this book for your collection. If you have yet to discover the Hardy Boys series, then I recommend the first ten books in the series rather than this particular volume.

The publisher recommends the Hardy Boys series for ages 9 to 12 because the series is relatively tame for the previous target audience of ages 10 to 14. This particular book is a good fit for the new age range. Though the Hardy Boys series contains archaic information, as reading material for an increasingly younger audience they are good. 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 is such a exciting mystery what is supposed to be there friend soon turn in to an enemy very very thrilling

This mystery takes the brothers west into the desert in search of the missing Willard Grafton. This volume has remained one of my favorite higher volumes. The brothers have a great amount of interaction with the criminals, especially Caeser and Ringer. I especially liked the middle of the book when they are lost in the desert and hop aboard first an old antique motorized car of sorts and a freight car after that. This book flows along effortlessly while keeping the reader interested with very little suspense. RATED B+

Frank, Joe and Chet fly off to the California desertland to search for a man who disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Did he leave by his own choice or was he kidnapped? Also, Mr. Hardy investigates a group of criminals who are counterfeiting government checks. I thought that this book had a very good plot, it was fairly well-written, the events moved along quite well and there was quite a bit of interaction between the Hardys and the criminals during the course of the book. However, I found that the book could have used a bit more action and that, while I did enjoy the book, it never completely grabbed my interest to the point where I didn't want to put it down. I would recommend reading this book, but while most fans would probably like it, few probably would say that they absolutely loved it.

This book takes you on another adventure of Frank and Joe Hardy,sons of the famous Fenton Hardy.Ill tell you I was at the edge of my seat while reading it!