... The cover art was Rudi Nappi's best or 2nd best in my opinion, perhaps only surpassed by the 1962 revision of The Secret of The Old Mill. The dark clouds, the ghost, the fort, and the brothers make this one of my favorite cover arts in the original series. The story however - yes - does not live up to the beautiful cover. Still I find this book gets a bum rap for that very thing. It is like the cover cursed the book. There is a rather good subplot dealing with Chet & artwork. The volume is rather violent in nature or one might say dangerous. Knocked out - locked in a sinking drum in the middle of a lake, a sea monster - this volume is packed with action. The criminals are not revealed until the end - a feature I liked. The manner of their capture was well written. The main plot though was a little on the "dumb" side. All & all, I felt it was a pretty good addition to the series. RATED C+

Frank, Joe and Chet are called upon by Chet's uncle, an instructor at Millwood Art School, to find two valuable oil paintings stolen from the collection of the school's sponsor, Jefferson Davenport. The paintings, of nearby Fort Senandaga, were painted by an ancestor of Davenport's and one of the paintings in the series is supposed to contain a clue to the hiding place of a valuable chain of gold. The book was average, it had an okay plot and a moderate amount of action. I expected better from the interesting sounding title, but it wasn't bad. I recommend reading it, but I don't think that too many fans will get very excited over it.

The Hardy boys encounter a lot of mysteries during their lifetime. They often help their father, Fenton Hardy with many of his cases. His mother Laura HArdy and their Aunt Gertude always worry about Frank and Joe's cases. Frank, eighteen has dark brown hair and is one year older than the blonde headed Joe hardy who is seventeen.
In this mystery they all called upon by their chum Chet Morton to go to his uncles art studio to find out about some mysterious happenings at a French fort. While they are there they are asked to find out about hidden treasure and have to look all over to find some clues to the hidden treasure. Will they find it before a gang does? You won't know until you read the book!!!

Published in 1957 - I recall many years ago I was given my first Hardy Boys book. A revision of "The Melted Coins" written in 1970. I thought - boring title - boring book. I glanced at the back cover and after scouring the title wondered why I wasn't given The Ghost at Skeleton Rock. Surely that volume dealing with ghosts would be scary and a great read. When I finally read this volume I was greatly let down. Perhaps the best titled book in the canon - it does not live up to fascinating title. The brothers don't arrive at Skeleton Rock until the final two chapters basically and the ghost winds up being some air stuffed windbag. There was no suspense. The Hardys certainly weren't afraid. I yawned through the whole thing myself. This was the first volume cut from 200+ pages to roughly 180 pages. The cover art was definately not among Rudi Nappi's best. The brothers in this one seem more like FBI undercover agents than amateur teenage detectives. As I said - a very big disapointment. RATED C-

This review concerns the original 1957 edition and the revised 1966 edition. The original and revised editions are essentially identical, the plot and the events are the same and the only differences are in the phrasing of a few sentences. Frank and Joe become involved in Mr. Hardy's top secret case when he sends them a note to look for "Hugo Purple Turban" which turns out to be a ventriloquist's dummy that has diamonds hidden in it's eyes. Eventually, Mr. Hardy asks Frank, Joe, Chet and Tony to go to Puerto Rico to assist him, but when they arrive, Mr. Hardy is missing. Personally, I think that the author tried too hard to make this book action packed and exciting, but alot of it is too coincidental and doesn't make sense. First of all, when Frank and Joe are first trying to find "Hugo Purple Turban", they go to see a fortuneteller named Hugo that Aunt Gertrude told them about and this man just happens to be a part of the gang they are after. Second, of all the shops in the U.S. that would carry ventriloquist's dummies "Hugo Purple Turban" just happens to get sent to a shop in Bayport. My biggest problem with this book is its title. The ghost and even Skeleton Rock play a very small part in this book and could easily have been eliminated without altering the story. The ghost isn't even mentioned until chapter 18. Some fans may love this book, but I didn't and any fan who reads this book expecting a story about a ghost is going to be sadly disappointed.

THE GHOST AT SKELETON ROCK was the best book I ever read since THE MYSTERY OF CABIN ISLAND, because it started out with an interesting storyline, and then the action started immeadiately, where it seemed to lead up to the conclusion wonderfully. At the end, it was really breath-taking, and I was really happy at the ending.

So all said, this was a great book, and I think you should read it, too. Enjoy!

This is the worst piece of English literature that I have everhad the misfortune of reading. The author pulls on your heartstringswith promises of happy endings and perfect promises, but in the end hedashes all of your hopes away with several fatal blows. I would not have finished reading this "book" if it had not been for all of the precious time I had invested into reading it. I wanted to incinerate the book when I began the final chapter, not only because I knew the ending, but primarily because the ending was concocted of wound stinging salt. I do not enjoy being utterly depressed by mere men such as Thomas Hardy. Once again, I'll reiterate; I loathe this.

Anthony (extremely annoyed) Cross

Tess of the D'Ubervilles is a classic by Thomas Hardy. It is a "hard read" because of the way authors wrote in Hardy's day. Tess of the D'Ubervilles by Terence Wright is one of those critical works that tear into a classic and give you the author's opinion on the work and that analyzes the work. It seems to be a fairly easy read for such a work. Which means if you want a good critical work because your "Teach" has assigned Tess by Hardy to you, this might be what you are looking for.

I read this book back in 8th grade and I love it so much! It saddens me how people criticize such an amazingly wonderful classic. It had a great storyline. Thomas Hardy was a great author and poet, and I think this was one of his greatest works!

The Secret Agent on Flight 101 is the worst of the original 58 Hardy Boys stories.
It was written to cash in on the secret agent craze of the mid-60s and finds Frank and Joe joining forces with SKOOL to fight the evil minions of UGLI.
There's plenty of frenzied, pointless action and inane dialog which do virtually nothing to further the rather thin plot.
Most Hardy Boys enthusiasts find this title laughably bad and you might just be able to enjoy it on a camp level.

Most Hardy Boys enthuisiasts will tell you that this was their least favorite book in the series. And that the book is "disjointed" in it's writing. I do not quite agree. This is one of the worst in the series, but certainly not "THE" worst! I find it a book relatively easy to follow with a decent amount of action to it. The ending I found poorly written. There was a fair amount of interaction with the criminals. RATED C-

This must be the best book Franklin W. Dixon has ever written. Mr. Hardy is kidnapped by UGLI agent Hexton and the boys find themeselves working with Dell who works for SKOOL. They go to a lighthouse to find that the world famous slueth has escaped leaving no trace to his whereabouts. Chet, Joe, and Frank inavade the magician's castle and later unmask the secret agent on Flight 101. This book was great bacause my favorite kind of mysteries have complex plots.

Mr. Hardy asks Frank And Joe to help him with his case concerning a gang that is stealing mercury. He asks them to call a shipping company in New York; however, a mistake with the area code causes them to reach the Pentagon, instead, just at the precise moment that a robbery occurs. These events lead Frank and Joe to Baltimore, where they attempt to track down the gang. The premise for this book is rather ridiculous considering that the area code for New York is 212 and that for Washington D.C. is 202. The 0 and the 1 are nowhere near each other on either a touch tone phone nor a rotary dial phone, so I don't see how a mistake like that could happen if you know the number you are calling. If your willing to accept this and just read the book, it's not that bad. The mystery is fairly well paced and there is quite a bit of action. The ending is somewhat silly, but mostly the book isn't that disappointing.

Not sure what to say regarding this book. The scene with the accidental phone number mixup always sounded a bit far fetched to me. The cover art was poor, but yet the book was a decent read. The brothers seemed to limit their travelling somewhat in this one. Worth reading but far from the series elite. Give it a weak 3 star rating. RATED C

I really enjoyed reading this book because the story makes you think about what is happening to the boys and figure out what is really happening. As you read the book, you discover many clues that you have to use to act like a detective and try to solve the mystery. You also have to figure out what the criminals are doing and planning. You really have to learn to think like a detective to slove the mystery.

This review concerns the original 1953 edition and the revised 1969 edition , which follows a plot similar to the original edition except it is shorter. When a phony leather goods salesman steals the key to Mr. Hardy's filing cabinet, Frank, Joe and Chet track a clue to an indian village and end up helping the indians find the lost deed to their land to prove their ownership. This book isn't bad, but it's not one of the really good ones either. The first half of the book is a little dull, but the last half is pretty good and it isn't until this point that the indian mystery comes into the story. If you don't mind the first part of the book you should enjoy the last part.

I think this book was nice, especially for the action parts like getting klidnapped, the train incidient, and the cliff part. Those are mostly the only things I like about this book. But it's still a classic, no matter how many stars it has. That's a fact.

Published in 1953, this was a swift paced adventure that took place primarily in the wilderness near an Indian reservation. The crooks were known early on in the book to the Hardys and there was a great amount of interaction. All & all I really enjoyed this book. The frontispiece ranks among my favorite, the cover was well drawn, the plot and mystery kept the reader turning from page to page. There actually was a good mystery here as the Hardys were in a race with the criminals to learn the location of the Crisscross Shadow. RATED B+

This book is fun to look at. Dozens of photos, large and small, pay tribute to the most popular series characters in English-language fiction. As a child I used to stand in front of rows of these books in bookstores, poring over the covers, for hours at a time. The covers have a talismanic quality this book neatly captures. Interior line drawings (including the "frontispiece" illustrations in each book) also appear throughout this large-format book. Unfortunately none of the Drew/Hardy pictures are labelled, so unless you know the originals you can't pair them to the book. The potted history of the Stratemeyer syndicate is clearly if breezily presented, with excerpts from letters indicating the tensions behind the scenes between publishers and Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, who assumed control of the empire after her father died in 1930, just as the Drew series was about to start (three years after the Hardy series had taken off). The authors document almost nothing, though, so you can't easily use the book for research purposes. Still, these authors condescend to the series characters far less than most academic writers have -- it's nice to read complimentary things about the power of the books on kids who have literally read them to pieces over the decades. The main problem with this book is that it goes far afield to encompass a general social history of the last century. We get inset mini-essays on adolescence, "model dads" (from FDR to MLK), juvenile delinquents, "Seventeen" magazine, the influence of TV, etc. The inset coverage is superficial, reading like canned newsmagazine features. Anyone who picks up the book to read about Drew/Hardy is unlikely to care about this material. Fortunately, there is still plenty about Drew/Hardy, with generous quotes from both the original books and updated rewrites of the Grosset and Dunlap series. The authors treat each series as one long book, looking for trends in plots and characterizations -- Nancy is "locked in closets, attics, gymnasiums, cisterns, caves, and submarines," they note. They're also good on the media and pop culture variations of the characters, from Disney TV adaptations to board games. The paperback watering-down of the characters in the 1980s gets softer treatment than it deserves, since this book's publisher (Simon and Schuster) owns the Stratemeyer Syndicate now and published them. The book is worth seeing, as long as readers knowit lacks full focus on Drew/Hardy, and often doesn't reveal its sources.

GREAT info for the Nancy Drew lover. This would get 5 stars for the inclusion of photos from the books alone. The writing could have been more detailed and written a bit better. I DID like that the authors included information from the period during which the NDs were written -- the '30s through today -- and how teens were changing over the years. Nancy Drew changed and grew along with today's teens, although die-hard fans wish the syndicate hadn't changed a WORD.

I was a little disappointed with the reading of the book, but had just finished "The Nancy Drew Scrapbook" which is AWESOME, so that might be why I was expecting more from this book. I LOVED all the photos, tho, lots of nostalgia!

This beautifully packaged, colourful, but thin paperback unearths the long history of the Stratemeyer Syndicate's greatest heroes, the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. Blown-up covers from both series liven up the book, triggering memories of adrenaline surging through the veins of teenagers everywhere.

The material on how the books changed over the years -- especially the evolution of racial stereotypes of "Negroes," Jews, and Italians -- is truly fascinating. I never realized that the books I read in the seventies had been homogenized by a factory of authors. I now want to read the original books, if I can find them (eBay here I come!).

I could do without most of the overlong and annoying sidebars. Again and again they fill us in on how teens have changed over the last century, but seldom are the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew even mentioned in them!

I give this book an "A" for the terrific images and accurate and enlightening history, but overall, marred by some poor editorial decisions, the book deserves a "B." Still, this is required reading for those interested in pop culture and the literature of our youth. Now I'm off to solve the Secret of the Caves . . .

This review concerns the revised 1965 edition. Frank and Joe help the U.S. government foil a plot by a small South American island dictatorship to steal a top-secret spy camera. Anybody who read the summary to this book would think that the book was going to be really good, but; unfortunately, the summary was probably the most exciting part of the book. The plot sounds good on paper; however, I thought that the book lacked action and excitement and many of the events that sounded so good in the summary do not end up to be much at all. The revised edition is better than the original, which was a complete snore, but it isn't a good book either.

This review is for the Applewood 1930's text reprint. This story is probably not for the young, it should be read with the understanding that it was written in the 1930's. It is a decent mystery, but if you are offended by Charlie Chan movies you will want to read the revised re-written version from Grosset & Dunlap.

This is the first Hardy Boys book that I ever read. It was very enjoyable to read. Some parts of the book are more exciting than others. Like when they Hardy Boys went to South America to look for a spy.
I would recommend this book to kids my age and older that likes adventure and mystery.
This book was good enough to make me want to check out the rest of the series.

Yoder's book provides a clear and useful account of a great many subjects dealing with SW listening that can be exceptionally useful for beginners without being at all patronizing. Nowhere else, for instance, have I seen as understandable a description of SSB (which I had never quite understood before), and the beginner or even devoted non-fanatical listener can learn about a large number of both essential and delightfully arcane topics (utility, number and pirate stations spring immediately to mind) that are either completely uncovered in the major guides or treated so cursorily that they are useless. On the other hand, much of Yoder's volume is devoted to a country-by-country survey of SW listening, and it is here that his guide is severely inadequate for nearly all users, for he fails to provide the detailed information about frequencies and programming that is essential for any SW listener. Much better is the superb Passport to World Band Radio and (if you can stomach it) the World Radio and TV Handbook (WRTH), both of which are far more up-to-date (since they're published annually) and significantly less expensive as well. Still, Yoder's volume contains info on a lot of topics that are either unexplained in the other volumes or explained so cursorily as to be useless. If you think of it as a book for people interested in learning about SW without having a radio nearby, then it has real merit, but if you're looking for a vade mecum to keep next to your radio, this isn't the book you want.

Andy Yoder has done a yeoman's job with this book, but calling it "far and away the #1 bestseller in the field" is beyond hyperbole. Just look at its Amazon ranking and compare it to, say, Passport to World Band Radio or other books in the field.

A solid introduction to short-wave Radios and much more (CB radio, Computers, Amateur radio, etc.). The writing is straight forward and very informative. Solid tips that include a small selection of viable radios to purchase. This book along with "Passport to World Band Radio" should be on every serious short-wave enthusiast's bookshelf. Worthy purchase 4 stars.

"The House On The Point" is a modern rewrite of the classic Hardy Boys adventure, "The House On The Cliff".
Reading it brings to mind the old axiom: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
The original "The House On The Cliff" is one of the best of the Hardy Boys canon and can scarcely be improved on, yet the author tries - vainly.
For no reason at all, he changes the name of some of the major recurring characters in the series and has the Hardy Boys and their friends jive-talking in 40's slang.
The original outline for "The House On The Cliff" is available to any researcher at the NY Public Library. The author should have consulted that instead of attempting to "modernize" this classic story with his rather bizarre ideas.
Your best bet is to stick with the [original version of] "The House On The Cliff".

I have no idea what the author was trying to do here--other than jump on the HB nostalgia bandwagon that began rolling several decades ago when Leslie MacFarlaine wrote his fine book about being the ghostwriter for the HB series ("Ghost of the Hardy Boys"). But I could not get through the first ten pages of "House on the Point." Big deal. The Hardys get a little older. They now dig cars and hot music. Who cares. The original texts are what they are. Take 'em or leave 'em. They do NOT need to be improved, enlightened, brought "up to date" (their old-fashioned charm was what I liked most about them), deconstructed or corrected. Save your money and get one of the Applewood reissues of the original HB texts.

A rewrite of a classic Hardy Boys mystery novel, carefully researched and beautifully written by a devoted fan. Hoff gives personality and flair to the boys - who all too often suffered from factory-style writing. This was a pleasant read; part trip down memory lane, part new adventure.