Firebird Rocket (Hardy Boys No. 57)

Rating:
Summary: Below Average
Review: FRank, Joe and Chet travel to Australia to search for a missing scientist, kidnapped by a gang that is trying to prevent the launch of the Firebird Rocket. This book was not one of the better books of the series. The mystery is average, but lacks any original thought. The first 100 pages of the book are somewhat boring and rarely entice the reader to continue. After that, the book gets better and is fairly interesting until the end. If you can make it through the first half of the book, the second half is worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Decent considering The Era
Review: Like all volumes after The Mystery of Spiral Bridge, in plain English they were "bad". However this volume is worth reading and did manage to hold my interest. The brothers travel down under and like so many books during this era incorporated way too much educational material about the place they were visiting. Hello - This is a Mystery series - not an atlas! Horrible artwork. No surprise there. Overall the book ranks between horrible and average. It did contain a little suspense in a few places. That is more than I can say about some of the other higher volumes. RATED C-

Rating:
Summary: Very simple plot, nothing more than we are used to
Review: The Firebird Rocket is not very exciting. There are no overly exciting action sequences, no twisters, just one main thing--the Hardys are directed to Australia where they DO NOT go to very extensive means to search for Doctor Jenson.

Also, it just happens that Mike Moran, another person they are looking for, pops out of the dark just when Doctor Jenson does! This is very rare and not likely to happen, for we are given no hints that the two are connected.

But everything else, including the trapping of the criminals, the surprise of Professor Young being on the enemy's side, and the ruthless attempts on the brothers' lives, is okay. (I don't mean I want the Hardys to die, however, as the previous sentence may try to reveal.)

So go ahead and read this book, but don't expect too much.