Customer Reviews

Shore Road Mystery

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This review concerns the 1928 edition. A string of auto thefts along the Shore Road has baffled the Bayport police force. When a school friend of the Hardy's and his father are accused, Frank and Joe decide to track down the thieves. A well-written book, like all of the low-numbered original editions; this book has an interesting plot, plenty of excitement and a little bit of humor. As well, unlike in the three previous volumes of the series, the criminals did not simply give up upon being cornered which kept the ending from being anticlimatic. All in all, a great book.

This review concerns the revised 1964 edition. Jack Dodd, a schoolmate of the Hardy's, asks Frank and Joe to solve a family mystery involving a treasure hidden during Pilgrim times. However, after Jack and his father are accused of stealing cars along the Shore Road, they disappear. Did the Dodds go onto hiding so that they could search for the treasure? Did they run away because they are guilty? Or were they kidnapped to make it look as if they ran away? Frank, Joe and Chet work to find the answer and solve the mysteries. This book was quite good; it has a realistic plot, plenty of action and was generally enjoyable. Nonetheless, I prefer the original edition to the revised. The original edition was better written as to the flow of the book and the language used. The Pilgrim mystery, which was not a part of the original, felt tacked on and was not woven into the story very well in my opinion. Both editions are worth reading and since they are only similar in their basic plot and only slightly similar in their endings, I think that most fans could read one and then not feel bored reading the second one later. However, if you're only going to read one, I'd say to go with the original.

Thank you, thank you Applewood books, for bringing back the ORIGINAL- The Shore Road Mystery-Anyone who says The Hardy Boys are for boys only, or for just the 9-12 year old group, don't know what they are missing. This is a good, clean, fun, mystery story, to be read on those dark and stormy nights..As a youngster I had to sneak them from my big brother when he wasn't looking- I think he knew it..For he gave me the whole set for my 11th birthday...Wish now I had kept them! I'm now in my 50s and I STILL enjoy them..'course now, I'm sharing with grandchildren..Well, it is a good excuse for reading them again (grin)

A string of car robberies have piqued the Hardy Boy's interest. It appears as though the car thieves regularly elude the police even when the police are hot on their trail. When the Hardy Boys put their minds to the mystery what they discover is that the car crooks are even cleverer than they could ever have suspected.

We follow the Hardy Boys as they try to prove that the Dodds, who car thieves framed and then disappeared, had nothing to do with the thefts. Eventually the Hardy Boys discover that the car thieves have plans far more nefarious than simply stealing cars.

While searching for the car thieves the boys also learn that there is a Dodd family mystery involving missing treasure. The boys also wonder what the mysterious spider-man has to do with the mystery. And why does a certain farmer always seem to be plowing his fields without lights in the middle of the night? As the story nears its conclusion the boys will use a car as a Trojan horse to attempt to trap the thieves. What will happen when the thieves discover the boys? There are many mysteries for the boys to solve. The boys learn that their father has an important mystery of his own, but in the end it turns out that their father's mystery and theirs may be related.

This mystery is one of the most intriguing Hardy Boys mysteries. The author managed to change a simple car theft story into a puzzle for the Hardy Boys. The author also mixed in additional story elements to be sure that it would be relatively difficult for the Hardy Boys to solve the mystery.

As a side note, this mystery has a cave as a key element. It appears that the author was in a cave mood, because caves appeared in each of the previous four stories, and continue to appear in the next stories. Just goes to show how versatile caves can be.

Though the Hardy Boys series is written in a relatively archaic fashion, 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.

The Shore Road Mystery re-write wasn't nearly as good as the original, wherein Frank and Joe bought a used fancy car, fixed it up, and hid in the trunk. Their Trojan Horse technique carried them right into the lair of the auto thieves; after numerous exciting brushes with danger, they were able to escape and bring back the police.

The re-write wasn't nearly as tense. It's possible that was purposeful. At the end of the original, Fenton Hardy muted his pride for his sons' accomplishment with the admonition that their tactic had simply been too dangerous, and they could have been seriously injured or worse.

But that's what made the book good. Kids enjoy stories of that nature because nothing like that ever happens to teens in real life. Really, how many teams of teen-brother detectives do you think are operating in the USA just now, solving crimes and mysteries every other week (while owning cars, motorcycles, ice boats, airplanes, you name it)? This is fiction, it's escapism, it's fun and it's supposed to be.

I finished this book in 5 hours and I usually take two days. It was amazing how they were always on the go and that you have to go along with them for the ride. It starts out that there have been car thefts on Shore Road and the Hardy Boys decide to solve the case. Then their friend Jack Dodd has a Pilgrim Mystery for them to solve. Then the Dodds are accused of stealing the cars. They get out from bail. Then they disappear. The Hardy Boys suspect they've been kidnapped. Then with the help of their friend Chet they set out to solve the Mystery! Very Good suspeneseful book that has you screaming for more!

This is yet another example of how revising the original degrades quality. This book was substantially "updated" in 1964 from the depression-era original, and much is lost in in the process.

In the original, a ring of car thieves is stealing cars (I guess they are pretty much doing what you'd expect a ring of car thieves to do, all right). They ply their illict trade along Shore Road which, in 1931, is a barely-improved, dark, lonely, winding cliff road rising and switchbacking above the crashing turbulence of Bayport Bay.

Why anyone in their right mind would park there is anybody's guess.

But, park there they do. So the boys devise an outstanding ruse (devising ruses is a great way to sharpen your pronunciation of s sounds, too). They by an old junk car which is very ornate but which has a really crummy engine. They then "pimp the ride" by hammering out dents, painting it, polishing it, and getting really spiffy spoked wheels and wide whitewall tires.

Then they hide in the boot in the back, park it along Shore Road, and wait to get stolen. And they do.

Well, that was in 1930. In 1964 they pick up a touch-tone phone, call the police and report a stolen '64 Ford Falcon. They tell the police that the blue exhaust is a dead giveaway.

Now, honestly, which is more exciting??

This is not a comprehensive review of "The Shore Road" mystery, but rather some comments about the Kindle Edition.

I will say that "The Shore Road Mystery" is fairly typical of the Hardy Boys novels. Not among the best, in my opinion, but certainly not the worst; 3.5 stars. The books in this series are adventure romps. Not too serious, but a lot of fun. A good gateway series for young readers (and old nostalgia junkies).

The Kindle Edition:
This is my third Hardy Boys book on Kindle.

The Kindle Edition gets my approval for including the line-drawings from the hardcovers. However, the cover illustration is not included. The 'cover' of the Kindle Edition is the title page of the hardcover. Perhaps the colors in the cover make it too difficult to render on Kindle.

I give demerits for the number and type of typos in the books. This Kindle Edition, as well as "The Missing Chums", has far too many typos that were introduced during the conversion to electronic format. A common example is that the text "Joe!" from the hardcover is rendered as "Joel" in the Kindle. It seems obvious to me that the publisher ran the book through a scanner, did an Optical Character Recognition, then maybe some quick cleanup editing and called it 'good'. I estimate I saw 40 - 50 typos of this nature in the text.

This Kindle Edition could have been 5-star if the publisher had included the cover illustration somehow, and if the proofreading had been done right. The publisher needs to invest more effort into the Kindle Edition if they insist on charging the same price as the hardcover.

After I finished The Shore Road Mystery, I did'nt think it was actually that great, even after I spent about the whole year wishing so hard i would be able to read this book. The name was always so intruiging, but I don't think it is so suspenseful.

My grandson loves to read and had never read any of the Hardy Boys books. His dad and I were talking about them, and that peaked Parker's interest. I bought the first 10 for him as a Christmas present, and he devoured them. I will be ordering the next 10 soon.