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Rating: 
Summary: pretty good book
Review: Hardy Boy books are God-awful! Read them as a kid, but I don't know why. The characters are thinly drawn. The cut-and-paste story lines are not true-to-life. If you've read one Hardy Boy book, you've read them all. Chet Morton--their foolhardy, STOUT sleuth in waiting--portrays porky adolescence in a disturbing fashion. The Hardy Boy series portrays a world steeped in conservative values which does, I admit, offend my more bohemian sensibilities. The banter is humourless and predictable. The characters are stereotyped and leave no lasting impression. We learn very little about them apart from the cut-and-paste descriptions which seem to span the series. Believe me. I read the entire series as a child. The heroic qualities found in both Frank and Joe--their athleticism, and their scholastic aptitude--are so stupendous that it sends mixed messages to young impressionable readers. I'm not even sure if the "author," Franklin W. Dixon, is not just the pen name for the publishing company who manufactures this heap of cow dung. Why doesn't the author occasionally plug his books on Larry King? Ironically, fleshing out the author presents the same complications posed by fleshing out the characters in these books. If I could convince just one Hardy Boy fan to turn to Agatha Christie and other more modern mystery writers--ones who tax both the mind and the soul--my work, I believe, is done.
Rating:
Summary: pretty good book
Review: Personally, I enjoyed this book. It was pretty exciting. There are many exciting things that happen, like a car chase, a smoke screen, a dying man, mysterious robberies, a hidden tunnel, an errie ghost, a disappearing floor, a plane crash, a sabotaged boat, and a strange message. All in all it was a pretty good book.
Rating:
Summary: Tough To Rate
Review: Published in 1940, the original "Disappearing Floor" is without a doubt the "worst written" book among the original 58. Anyone who has read this book will agree. It is totally disjointed, one chapter does not quite follow the other in places, crooks appear and are never mentioned again. One is renamed and unbelievable things occur - such as Mr. Hardy's sudden appearance in a cave in the woods with the Hardys. What are the odds??? In this regard - the book was horrible. Having said that - As a child I could not put this book down. It drew me from page to page and it was among my favorites. It has always crossed my mind that these books are geared primarily toward children and youth and perhaps therin lies some genious at work. While an adult can pick the book to shreds, it fascinates it's intended target audience. Anyone who has read the volume will tell you how horrible it is in one breath and then tell you they loved it in the next. I am no different. It is full of imagination, creativity and brings to the table all the elements associated with a Hardy Boys book: Ghosts, Haunted House and a graveyard. No other book among the first 58 can make this claim! So it is horrible in one respect and brilliant in another. I rate it a weak 4 star. RATED BREVISION: The 1964 - Don't even compare it to the original. In places it was better - in places it was worse. Strangely it made more sense - but lacked the "punch" of the original. A good book certainly worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Tough To Rate
Review: Published in 1940, the original "Disappearing Floor" is without a doubt the "worst written" book among the original 58. Anyone who has read this book will agree. It is totally disjointed, one chapter does not quite follow the other in places, crooks appear and are never mentioned again. One is renamed and unbelievable things occur - such as Mr. Hardy's sudden appearance in a cave in the woods with the Hardys. What are the odds??? In this regard - the book was horrible. Having said that - As a child I could not put this book down. It drew me from page to page and it was among my favorites. It has always crossed my mind that these books are geared primarily toward children and youth and perhaps therin lies some genious at work. While an adult can pick the book to shreds, it fascinates it's intended target audience. Anyone who has read the volume will tell you how horrible it is in one breath and then tell you they loved it in the next. I am no different. It is full of imagination, creativity and brings to the table all the elements associated with a Hardy Boys book: Ghosts, Haunted House and a graveyard. No other book among the first 58 can make this claim! So it is horrible in one respect and brilliant in another. I rate it a weak 4 star. RATED B REVISION: The 1964 - Don't even compare it to the original. In places it was better - in places it was worse. Strangely it made more sense - but lacked the "punch" of the original. A good book certainly worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: At Least This Edition Made Sense
Review: This review concerns the revised 1964 edition. Mr. Hardy gets Frank and Joe to help him track down a gang of jewel thieves. The trail leads Frank and Joe to the old Perth mansion on the outskirts of Bayport and into another mystery: what caused the death of Clarence Perth, who died in the mansion shortly after inheriting it from his uncle. This book wasn't bad, but with its appealing title and spooky mansion, I expected it to be better than what it was; although, most often, the books with the very appealing sounding titles don't live up to my expectations. This book is average; the mystery is interesting enough, there is a moderate amount of action and at least this edition wasn't confusing, unlike the original edition which was hard to follow at times. Some fans, like myself, might feel that this book wasn't as good as they had expected, but I don't think that any Hardy Boys fans would be bored reading the book.
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