#92 The Shadow Killers (32nd Anniversary Review)

[tomswift2002]

Published: September 1988
Publisher: Minstrel Books (1988-199?) (no digital edition as of November 2020)
Author: Unknown as of November 2020
Reading Level: 6.1

Plot: Frank is taking karate classes at Sensei Watanabe's karate school in Bayport.   However when Frank stays late because he's waiting for Joe, both Frank and Sensei Watanabe are attacked by a bunch of black ninja's---and Sensei Watanabe is left in a coma!  With Joe's help, Frank vows to find the ninja's responsible for the attack.  However, it looks like the attack on Sensei Watanabe was ordered by one of the most dreaded criminal organizations in the world---the Yakuza!

Review:  I remember buying this book at a garage sale in the summer of 1994, along with Casefiles #51 Choke Hold & Mystery Stories #89 The Sky Blue Frame, and back then I really didn't enjoy this book.

Again, just like Shield of Fear it feels like this book could've been a Casefile, and with the Yakuza element in it, it definitely feels like the author was maybe trying to set up an arc for the Hardy's, similar to the Assassin's, but with the Yakuza, but it went nowhere.

It's also interesting, since I seem to recall that the Yakuza were also in Mystery of the Samaurai Sword, but there's been no mention of that book, even though it was still in print in 1988 (it even got new cover art in 1988!), and Fenton and the boys seem unfamiliar with Japanese criminal methods, even though they went up against then in that book. 

[tomswift2002]

And Con Riley is more like the Con Riley of the Casefiles in this book.

[MacGyver]

I remember liking The Shadow Killers because of the ninja element! I feel like the theme of this book was likely inspired by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles craze of that time.

[tomswift2002]

Yeah, they might've been playing off the Teenage Mutant Ninja/Hero Turtles craze at the time, or I think a better series from that time might've been The Karate Kid film franchise (KK1 came out in 1984, KK2 in 1986 & KK3 in 1989). 

Anyway, I finished The Shadow Killers today.  Interesting thing: the scene on the cover does not take place in the book, as the Hardy's are never confronted by a ninja with shurikens in front of a black van. 

An interesting thing about this book is that it is 18 chapters long---I found the author was padding the story a lot and really wasn't advancing the plot.  And, overall, I really found that I just was not interested in the book. 

Although, again, I find that the title, The Shadow Killers sounds more like a Casefiles-type title, rather than a Mystery Stories title, and maybe The Shadow Killers was initially pitched as a Casefile that was then turned into a Mystery Stories book due to a hold in books for the Mystery Stories series.  I don't know, but even the level of violence in the book, while we have seen it in Mystery Stories books before, like in Tic-Tac-Terror, the violence seemed more Casefiles violence.  Even the B-plot with Fenton Hardy investigating arms thefts and arms smuggling seemed more like something that was suited to the Casefiles at this point, rather than the Mystery Stories. 

So, you know, it's interesting how at this point in 1988, Mega-Books and Simon & Schuster seemed to be aiming both the Casefiles & Mystery Stories at the older reader, but still trying to have them as seperate series not aimed at both the same age group.

Also, I found that reading this book in 2020 and comparing the ending of it to the current Hardy Boys Adventures stories that are aimed at the same age group as the Mystery Stories, the Hardy's were allowed in 1988 to do a lot more violent attacks to the crooks.  Sure, in The Shadow Killers, during the final fight, Joe tackles one of the bad guys, but then the author has Frank giving another bad guy a couple of punches to the kidneys!  The end of the book ends with the criminal gang of about 10 people, having a battle royal with the Hardy's and Tikko Shinsura, the niece of Sensei Watanabe, and punches are being thrown, tackles are being employed, karate is being employed and Tikko even throws a couple of shuriken's!  The criminals in The Shadow Killers were not going to wimp out just because they were caught---they were going down fighting.  Whereas in the Hardy Boys Adventures, we maybe get the Hardy's launching one tackle, and then the crooks seem to be wimps and give up and surrender after 1 tackle!  It's ridicuolous how subdued and dumber-down the modern books are compared to the Hardy Boys Mystery Stories from only 32 years ago.  Not to mention the plots.  Sure The Shadow Killers was nowhere near the best Mystery Stories book in terms of plot, but still it had a much better plot than the vast majority of Hardy Boys books printed since the Mystery Stories ended in 2005.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10

[MacGyver]

I would definitely take any of The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories and Casefiles over any of the modern HB books.