Figure in Hiding (Original Hardy Boys Mystery Stories Series #16) Book

In this installment, Frank and Joe Hardy receive a cryptic warning from an informant and are set on the trail of a mysterious medical facility.

When I was a kid my grandparents regularly gifted me Hardy Boys books for my birthday and/or Chanukkah (and this second-hand copy I've just read has an inscription to a boy from his grandmother as well!) I had quite a few of them, but I only read a couple. It may have been because I was more interested in fantastic fiction at the time, or maybe I was "saving" them (even early bibliophiles have to make sure they will always have plenty of books to read.) Or it might have been, as I've (re-?)discovered, that the books simply didn't have enough depth to hold my interest.

The Hardy Boys (and Nancy Drew) books were an assembly-line creation, always the exact same length, which doesn't leave much room for embellishment or you know, character development. It's all action, all the time and the characters, including the Hardys, might as well be just props to move the plot along. We know the brothers like baseball, and their friend Chet might have an eating disorder (and they are kind of mean to him!) but there's not much else and it's hard to feel for them as real people. The book does have a quaint sort of charm, but was too bare-bones to be immersive in any way.

The back cover recommends the series for ages 10-14 but I'd move that bracket down a bit. By the time I was 12 or so I was reading regular books (that were not written specifically for children). I'd say they'd be good for kids who might think reading is boring and need the non-stop action to hook them. Others might find them lacking, as I did.

Addendum: I've just re-read about the history of the Hardy Boys line. I knew that they had been revised over the years to account for changes in social sensibilities, but am also reminded that they were simplified, essentially dumbed-down from the original versions, beginning in 1959 (which would include this 1965 edition.) No doubt I would have enjoyed the original a bit more.