I got this from Amazon yesterday and finished it late last night. It was pleasantly good. Although the brothers did kind of bicker about each other, they were otherwise nice to each other. Joe complained about Frank always protecting him and Frank complained how he had to but the writers did show brotherly concern.
Frank and Joe go undercover as two teenage deliquents, they are brothers who hacked into a ebay like company stealing 2cents for each sell earning $10,000 a year. They are interviews by a Dr. Beirly who makes the brothers uncomfortable with his questions. They meet with several other teens who are at the detention center. Several spooky things happen....Joe feels a cold spot....one detaniee, Harlan tells of feeling as he were strapped in to a bed....a seance gone wrong. There is also a few refrences to UB#7 Operation: Survival. Both Frank and Joe think about that detention center comparing it to Undercliff. I did guess who the culprit was fairly early on but the book was well written and didn't mind finsihing it to the end.
My thoughts on this book are pretty much the same as Lola's, a enjoyable read but maybe not quite up to the standards set by the first two UB Super Mystery/Special Editions.
I think this might have been written by the same person who wrote Mission #7, aside from the references to that book, the writing is similar at times.
Anyone else read it yet, if so what do ya think?
I preordered mine from Chapters a few months ago. I still haven't received an email saying that the book has been shipped.
The eBook version of this book is now available for immediate download of SimonSays.com (http://www.simonsays.com/content/book.cfm?tab=3&pid=637206&er=9781416982890), for $3.89 US.
Spoilers:
Did any one else dislike the ending? I wouldn't mind them getting a glimpse of a ghost but them seeing for such a long time was a bit overdone. Not very mysteries even.
Quote from: tomswift2002 on August 07, 2008, 06:04:19 PM
I preordered mine from Chapters a few months ago. I still haven't received an email saying that the book has been shipped.
Is it just me or does it seem like I manage to get pretty much all the new books before anyone else on the forum?
Quote from: SDLagent on August 12, 2008, 06:55:48 PM
Is it just me or does it seem like I manage to get pretty much all the new books before anyone else on the forum?
Well, I live about forty-five minutes from the book store where I usually buy them from, and even they don't always have them! >:( I have a pretty crappy setup here! ::)
I live about ten minutes away from the bookstore I go to, but it's more the store (or the store's supplier) then me - they usually have the HB books in right around the same time as Amazon! So I'm pretty happy with it.
Do you have the HB books on order? That might help too.
Quote from: SDLagent on August 13, 2008, 12:56:33 AM
I live about ten minutes away from the bookstore I go to, but it's more the store (or the store's supplier) then me - they usually have the HB books in right around the same time as Amazon! So I'm pretty happy with it.
You suck! ;D :D
Quote from: SDLagent on August 13, 2008, 12:56:33 AM
Do you have the HB books on order? That might help too.
Do you mean have the store order them in ???
I did that like twice or so, but I don't do that very much. See, I have another book store about a half-hour from me. They used to get the UBs in when they came out new, but, they stopped doing that. So I had them order them in once or twice, but instead of going through all that trouble, I usually just wait until I go to the book store thats forty five minutes from me and get them there.
I've read Haunted and liked it. It was one of the best UBs in my oppinion. ;D Not really that scarry though. 8)
Spoliers:
I thought the ending was OK but it should have been more mysterious and leaft you wondering if it was a Gost. But thats just my oppinion.
Quote from: 003Robin457 on August 20, 2008, 03:12:15 PM
I've read Haunted and liked it. It was one of the best UBs in my oppinion. ;D Not really that scarry though. 8)
Spoliers:
I thought the ending was OK but it should have been more mysterious and leaft you wondering if it was a Gost. But thats just my oppinion.
As I said before, I didn't like the ending much, so I agree with you there.
Doesn't seem very many people have read ''Haunted''...
Quote from: SDLagent on August 21, 2008, 09:33:03 PM
Doesn't seem very many people have read ''Haunted''...
Just picked it up today, so I'll be reading it soon! 8)
I only finished it simi-recently when it came out I had just started another book and did not have much reading time as well. :( :'( :(
Was it a good one?
Okay, but not is good as the first two UB Super Mystery/Special Edtions.
Quote from: SDLagent on August 21, 2008, 09:33:03 PM
Doesn't seem very many people have read ''Haunted''...
It's still sitting in my "Too Read" pile.
Good book, But I think the Murder House Trilogy is better, though I would really like to see the end of the trilogy, why do they put it to come out september 30th, and put the books cover on the site for preorder, does that not mean that they already wrote it. Why not put it out now?
They have books written way in advence so if they are running behind then they dont have to worry since comething else is already comming out to keep fans happy.
Yeah, and even if they don't I think they still have the main premise and cover art down so that's all that matters when they're announcing it.
Of course, this summer, S&S has been very illogical and confusing. Who in their right mind would schedule a completely different book to be released in the middle of a 3-part trilogy? They probably knew that the 3 trilogy books were individual stories, but still that doesn't make any sense with Haunted. Plus, Haunted is listed as the 24th book in the regular series, essentially part 3 of the trilogy. So, are we going to see the 3rd part of the trilogy as a Super Mystery?
Yes, a very confusing summer, first we find out there will be a trilogy...after reading the first two books in this "trilogy" we learn it is not a trilogy just three books which have "Book X in the Murder House Trilogy'' printed on the cover. To make matters worse a total stand alone Ghost Story of some sort is published right in the middle of the trilogy and we are uncertain if this book is #24 in one series or #3 in another or maybe it doesn't belong to a series at all? Maybe this is a trilogy in four parts.
...with the Hardy's jetting off to do a TV special on Ghosts? Maybe Most Haunted from England asked them to join them on their searches.
...and what's the second trilogy called ''Double Trouble'' or ''Double Danger''?
I think its Double Danger, Double Troble would be so cheesey though! :D
There are many authors who go as Franklin W. Dixon Right? So, haunted could have a different author then the Murder House Trilogy, so one author came out with Haunted while we were waiting for the end of the murder house trilogy. Though, I still dont get the release date. Its probably because we were all left in suspense after House Arrest and were aching for a new hardy boys book to read, and haunted just shows up to keep us until murder house!
Somehow I doubt that, considering that the series is already gasping for life. Plus, it seems like the two Murder House books that are out now were written by two completely different authors from a lame story outline that has been used to death in the series.
I don't think anyone else was "aching" for a new book in the series. I think that we are all "aching" for the series to come to its miserable end.
See I am waiting for the next book, I may like a different type of reading then you!!!
Even most UB fans don't like Murder House!
Quote from: SDLagent on August 30, 2008, 03:36:13 PM
Even most UB fans don't like Murder House!
Since it just three non-sensical stories strung together in a rhyme! (Paraphrase of a line Odo said in the Deep Space Nine episode
For The Uniform)
i read haunte and i liked it but it was not scary i would give it a
8/10
Haunted Rules! 9/10! 8)
Haunted SUCKED!
Rating: -2.5 out 10
OK OK WE GET IT TOM!
Realy, you don't even need to talk any more. We will just assume you hate all UBs.
Yeah. Especially Wanted.
Quote from: NZone on November 24, 2008, 08:39:45 PM
OK OK WE GET IT TOM!
You know Nzone to make Tom mad you should join ATAC.
News flash: ATAC isn't real, as it is a work of fiction from the novel series, Hardy Boys Undercover Brothers.
I mean the ATAC fans.
Hey, that was uncalled for!
I just got done reading it and i thought it was pretty good. Didn't dislike the ending but didn't thrill me either. 8/10
Quote from: whitetigers on December 05, 2008, 08:46:59 PM
I just got done reading it and i thought it was pretty good. Didn't dislike the ending but didn't thrill me either. 8/10
I've decided you are cool, 8) as for Tom and SDL I'm still thinking.
Why bring me into this? Plus, you should have made up your mind on me, by now!
Quote from: whitetigers on December 05, 2008, 08:46:59 PM
I just got done reading it and i thought it was pretty good. Didn't dislike the ending but didn't thrill me either. 8/10
Hey, I like you! :D ATACer or Networker?
I never liked the Network so i guess that puts me as ATACer...somewhat. :D
Go ATAC, go ATAC.....
That doesn't mean she likes UB better then Casefiles, though.
Quote from: SDLagent on December 07, 2008, 01:15:30 AM
That doesn't mean she likes UB better then Casefiles, though.
You're right, Spenc. I do like the casefiles better than the UBs. Only cause the cases are more action packed. Not because i like the Network. I like ATAC because they are less violent but the boys need to grow up a little more in them. They are pretty much not the Frank and Joe we grew up with. And I don't like the first person storylines. 3rd person is alot better to read. Besides, I've run across a few times where it said Frank was talking and it was actually Joe, and vise versa. Gets confusing.
Well, that's just a misprint. :P ::)
Maybe, but i still get confused when i'm reading away and think, who is talking? Then i have to back track to the beginning of the chapter to see who it is. It gets annoying after awhile. But don't get me wrong. i do like the books. After all they are the Hardys. :) ;)
Haunted is the worst UB ever! I read it, haven't got even gotten to the end, and it already stinks!
opps, error.
I will use this error post to say that I don't like atac because:
-The hardys are slaves to ATAC and almost neaver get a break. In the casefiles, the Hardy's get to solve cases on their own
-The hardy's have turned into brats, and it's hard to like them. On the two cases without ATAC, they whined about gadgets. COME ON, WHY CAN THE HARDY'S SOLVE A CASE ON THEIR OWN WITHOUT WHINING!
-In most books, a suspect always gets murdered, that is boring. Because when you know someone who's a suspect is going get murdered most of the time, you don't won't to read anymore, because who know what's going to happen.
You also forgot to mention that in the Undercover Brothers series there is no such thing as a criminal gang of many people. There are only criminal gangs of one in the series...even in the trilogies, only one criminal does all the crimes in one book.
Wasen't there a gang in Martial Law? And who can forget WARD? And GN #16 looks like a very possible gang book.
Quote from: 003Robin457 on December 28, 2008, 10:12:40 PM
Wasen't there a gang in Martial Law? And who can forget WARD? And GN #16 looks like a very possible gang book.
No, there was no gang in
Martial Law. And when I posted that about the gangs, I was refering to the regular novels, not the graphics.
Yeah, the UBs are awefully different, but i wouldn't want them to end either. So i hope they don't cancel the series. Its the only ones keeping the boys alive.
Quote from: whitetigers on December 29, 2008, 10:00:08 AM
Yeah, the UBs are awefully different, but i wouldn't want them to end either. So i hope they don't cancel the series. Its the only ones keeping the boys alive.
Uh, there are the Graphic Novels which are doing a lot better stories with the boys than the regular novels.
Quote from: Santa Claus on December 30, 2008, 03:12:11 PM
Uh, there are the Graphic Novels which are doing a lot better stories with the boys than the regular novels.
I wish they would only keep the GNs
Quote from: Santa Claus on December 29, 2008, 06:09:18 AM
No, there was no gang in Martial Law. And when I posted that about the gangs, I was refering to the regular novels, not the graphics.
There was a gang Tom. Reread the book.
Yeah, a huge gang...of three people!
Who says it has to be a huge gang? And there was more members than the ones that the Hardys tangled with.
Can you even call three people a gang?
How about:
1 -Criminal
2 -Partners
3+ -Gang
I finally read Haunted and I thought it was alright. It was interesting enough and the style of writing was good IMO, even if I didn't really like the plot with "ghosts" and the "detention center" (or whatever it is).
I think whoever wrote it took the idea and ran with it pretty well, actually.
Quote from: tomswift2002 on December 28, 2008, 04:23:23 PM
You also forgot to mention that in the Undercover Brothers series there is no such thing as a criminal gang of many people. There are only criminal gangs of one in the series...even in the trilogies, only one criminal does all the crimes in one book.
DD#2 Had a Gang.
What's interesting is that the UBs try to keep everything modern...
(Now this is NOT a criticism, just an observation because I haven't thought it through myself if I care about the addition of "gangs" to the UBs plots).
...but in this day of age when gangs are a huge problem, it's curious they don't really include them.
Could a reason be because it would mean more violence and then the books wouldn't be as kid-friendly?
Quote from: Blondie on February 07, 2009, 06:35:55 PM
What's interesting is that the UBs try to keep everything modern...
(Now this is NOT a criticism, just an observation because I haven't thought it through myself if I care about the addition of "gangs" to the UBs plots).
...but in this day of age when gangs are a huge problem, it's curious they don't really include them.
Could a reason be because it would mean more violence and then the books wouldn't be as kid-friendly?
If it was suppoed to be completly kid freindly, they wouldn't so much murders.
Yeah, I think most crimes committed by teenagers are illegal parking, holding up corner stores, gang beatings, spray-painting all over town.
Definitely not murdering just to win a hot-dog eating contest!!!!????
Yeah, good points.
The thing with the hot-dog eating contest - as hilarious/ridiculous as that sounds - it was murder for money, not exactly for winning hot-dog eating. Lol.
But couldn't they just steal money instead? That's more likely/realistic ::)
I've read Haunted, like, a million times, and its pretty good. I especially liked the seance! That, like, freaked me out!
I haven't read it in a while, but one of the parts made me say "I totally shouldn't have read this at night!" :D
Oh, but that's the fun part-- reading it at night!
Yeah its usually worth staying up late to get that added scare. Sometimes during the day your like this is stupid but at night it is scary.
Sometimes when I'm bored, I'll get a scary book out and read 'till 2:00 and freak myself out. :D
Yeah, that puts you to sleep...unless you're too scared to move after that ;)
That might be the point... :D
Quote from: JoeHardyRocks on May 25, 2009, 07:29:30 PM
Sometimes when I'm bored, I'll get a scary book out and read 'till 2:00 and freak myself out. :D
Of course
Haunted would not do that to me. Maybe the story about Room 13 in
The Hardy Boys Ghost Stories, but definitely not
Haunted.
I'm just a kid! :P
Anything dealing with the supernatural never scares me. It might freak me out for a while, but I remind myself that it's not real.
So Phycotic Killers then?
I read a couple books called "In the Stone Circle" and "The Vanishing Isles" And those scared me alot!
Quote from: HB@1718 on May 28, 2009, 04:56:40 PM
Anything dealing with the supernatural never scares me. It might freak me out for a while, but I remind myself that it's not real.
Exactly what
I do!
Yeah. Ever notice in movies, books and stuff where they have "seances"-- they never work? Even on reality TV?
They've been trying for ages to connect with "the other side" but it's never happened!
Haunted was not scary at all, unless a lot of talking terrifies you. I could not finnish the book, because I was so annoyed when they called a Frank chapter a Joe chapter! How could the editor not notice that!? It took forever for something interesting to happen. By then I had lost all interest in the book. I will finnish it sometime soon, but somethings telling me I will not like the ending, and the book will get an even lower rating.
Rating
3 (for now)
Quote from: Dinosaur Dan on October 03, 2009, 04:41:41 PM
Haunted was not scary at all, unless a lot of talking terrifies you.
Aren't most UB's like that?
I don't even get why S&S continue to do stupid stories that have no real mystery. It seriously puzzles me how great the original HBs were and how flat the UBs are in comparison. Do the same publishers even write them?
Haunted gets
82%
Terrific
Dinosaur Dan, you should post in the "Book Scores" topic sometime!
Quote from: Hardy Man on October 04, 2009, 04:57:39 PM
Do the same publishers even write them?
From 1927-1984 the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and Tom Swift were all owned and published by the Stratemeyer Syndicate, and from 1927-1979 the series were distributed by Grosset & Dunlap.
But then in 1979, because Grosset & Dunlap had not done anything to celebrate the Bobbsey Twins 75th anniversary, the Syndicate decided to switch the rights to Simon & Schuster, which lead to a court battle over who owned the books. In the end the judge said that the books were owned by the Stratemeyer Syndicate, but the judge allowed G&D to continue printing the books that they had already printed.
Then in 1984, 2 years after Harriet (Stratemeyer) Adams passed away (Edward Stratemeyer's daughter) the junior partners in the Syndicate sold the Syndicate to Simon & Schuster therefore allowing Simon & Schuster to continue the Originals/Digests, and allowing them to launch the highly-successful Hardy Boys Casefiles (which also turned out to be , through the "Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys SuperMystery"'88 series, in the same universe as the "Nancy Drew Files", and via the "Hardy Boys and Tom Swift Ultra Thrillers" in the same universe as the "Tom Swift" (Archway) series), Frank and Joe Hardy/The Hardy Boys Are: The Clues Brothers and "The Hardy Boys Undercover Brothers".
I actually think that this was an okay book. I like the fact that an allusion was made to the book Operation Survival, proving that perhaps the publishers are not just tasteless, colorless writers and can actually tie the plot of more than one book together.
That was a nice reference, but a one-off reference to a past book, doesn't save a rather lame story.
I have to say that you're 100% correct on that one.... The story was rather pointless. I think that the whole Special Ghost Stories crud was just a ploy for advertising. It actually worked on me. I was pretty interested. Then I made it to page one....
If you want some Hardy Boys Ghost Stories then I would suggest that you read The Hardy Boys Ghost Stories that's still in print (a record for S&S, the book first appeared in 1984 under the Wanderer imprint) than this story that really wasn't a ghost story.