Chapters.ca has listings for a Hardcover and Paperback Edition of the
Hardy Boys Adventures #18 The Vanishing Room, which is slated for release on February 19, 2019.
Here's the write-up for the plot:
QuoteIt's a case of hidden identities for brother detectives Frank and Joe in the in the eighteenth book in the thrilling Hardy Boys Adventures series.
Ever since the Bayport Times article about their past cases came out, Frank and Joe have been getting calls for help in solving everything from lost keys to lost treasure. The boys can barely stand to answer their phones anymore. But when Principal Gerther calls, they pick up.
Turns out, Principal Gerther's cousin, Agatha, has noticed a string of strange disappearances in her apartment building. One person after another is entering the apartment next door...and they never come back out. Agatha would know, she never leaves her apartment!
Frank and Joe make some inquiries and realize each and every person that has stayed in apartment B3 has never returned home. What's worse—most of them have left a trail of debt or angry partners behind them. There are almost too many suspects to count!
Are these two teenage detectives up for the job? Or is The Hardy Boys reputation about to be tarnished?
And here's the cover art: https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/the-vanishing-room/9781534414891-item.html?ikwid=Frnaklin+W.+Dixon&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=3
http://hardyboys.wikia.com/wiki/The_Vanishing_Room
Here's the Hardy Boys Wiki Entry on the book.
And the title has changed to "The Disappearance" .... ???
(https://dynamic.indigoimages.ca/books/1534414894.jpg?altimages=false&scaleup=true&maxheight=1500&width=380&quality=85&sale=11&lang=en)
And the whole story has apparently changed:
Quote
It's a case of hidden identities for brother detectives Frank and Joe in the in the eighteenth book in the thrilling Hardy Boys Adventures series.
The Hardy brothers and Frank's new girlfriend, Jones, are attending a local comic book convention on the shore. They meet up with Jones's friend Harper, a fellow comics super fan, on the boardwalk outside the convention. The four of them spend hours running from booth to booth and end the perfect day with pizza at Harper's short-term rental apartment.
Things don't stay so perfect, though. On the way home, Jones realizes she switched phones with Harper by accident and she is getting some really scary texts. When they show up at the apartment the next day, they find it totally destroyed and Harper is missing.
Frank and Joe start digging into their new friend's life, hoping to find out where she might have gone, but the more they find out about her, the more mysterious she becomes. Can Frank and Joe find this secretive character? Or has she disappeared forever?
So Frank apparently has a new girlfriend in this one by the name of Jones! What happened to Callie (of course, she's been missing for the past 13 year (last book that I recall seeing her in was
Ocean of Osyria, and the Hardy Boys Wiki has her only
Undercover Brothers appearance being in #5
Rocky Road), she hasn't been seen at all in the
Adventures series.
Maybe the powers-that-be thought The Vanishing Room sounded too close to The Disappearing Floor?
(Though I don't see that they would probably really care.)
Well, when you look at the cover art, it's the same cover art as The Vanishing Room, so who knows. Unless they are just going to keep the cover and not bother working it into the story.
Very curious! Maybe the original story wasn't working well in the editing stage and they had to ditch it?
I kept the original cover, if anyone wants it:
https://s22.postimg.cc/xzeeb1u9b/Vanishing-_Room.jpg (https://s22.postimg.cc/xzeeb1u9b/Vanishing-_Room.jpg)
I wish "Attack Of The Bayport Beast" had been rewritten
You should post the original cover art to The Hardy Boys Wiki for preservation and historical record. :) 8)
Quote from: MacGyver on September 05, 2018, 08:08:04 PM
You should post the original cover art to The Hardy Boys Wiki for preservation and historical record. :) 8)
The original is there. It's just the revised that needs to be posted. If you want to go ahead.
Oh, okay. If I have time, I may do that.
The paperback version of The Disappearance is now shipping. Chapters.ca sent me an email yesterday telling me that the book had shipped. No word yet on the Hardcover, however, considering the late release of the hardcover of the previous HBA, this one might be delayed as well.
Just got the Hard cover version today.
I can't remember if the boys' ages have been mentioned in previous books, but in this one, Joe is around sixteen-years old.
I'm reading it now. I could do without the profanity in this book, and I'm finding the book is just creepy. I know the Hardy's have encountered jelous boyfriends in the past, but the author has just made this book very creepy.
He's not merely jealous boyfriend, this guy is bordering abusive/stalker-ish, IMO.
I'm sorry to hear the trend of allowing profanity in The Hardy Boys books continues. I don't think Edward Stratemeyer or Harriett Adams would have ever approved of that. :(
This is one main reason why I've (sadly) pretty much given up on newer Hardy Boys books and why I sold my entire set of Undercover Brothers books and will probably do the same with the Adventures books eventually when it comes to the end of its run. (Which I get the feeling may be soon.)
They don't drop f-bombs, but in "The Disappearance" there must've been at least 20 OMG's.
Another interesting thing I noticed, but the figure in the window seems to be a woman late in life. If you notice the figure seems to have that "granny" hairstyle, and yet in the book there is no old lady in what appears to be a hotel., and (as of Chapter 11) the Hardy's are never on a ledge.
I'll have more of my thoughts on this in a Blog post (yes it's still being worked on), but this book is terrible. I thought the plot sounded interesting, so I gave the series another chance. I've never had to skim and skip chapters of a Hardy Boys book to finish it, not even with books like "Poison Paradise" and "Rocky Road". Also, while "The Mad Man of Black Bear Mountain" managed to deal with the fact that the Hardys aren't allowed punches just fine, this book has an old lady hold off Frank and Joe by throwing fruit. I'm hesitating on calling it the worst Hardy Boys book I've ever read (Been a while since I've read "Survival of the Fittest", so can't compare), but it's definitely close.Not going to give this book a rating since I skipped a few chapters out of boredom, but if I hadn't, it would definitely be a one out of ten.