Published: 1982
Publisher: Wanderer (1982-1988), Minstrel Books (1988 - 199?)
Author: Lawrence Swinburne
Other Hardy Boys by Author: #76 Game Plan For Disaster]/i]
Plot: The Hardy's are working security at a magician's tournament to make sure everything goes smoothly, but a ghost is apparently causing trouble at the old Bayport Opera House as well. Plus Fenton Hardy is on a very top secret assignment for the US government.
Review; I remember reading this one back around 1994, and I remember reading it over other Hardy's because of the cover art (which was the Wanderer cover art). Otherwise, it was a very lackluster book, and even now, I was finding that the author didn't really seem to know how to write a Hardy Boys. Again, like The Voodoo Plot, this book seemed to have something off, and it really didn't feel like a Hardy Boys.
One interesting thing though, is that the Hardy's help to save the life of the US President. But again we have the syndrome of the Hardy's knew the bad guy from the start of the book, and in this case the bad guy's crime was way---way----way out there. Kidnapping the US president, while he was undergoing surgery, and then demanding a ransom. It was really stretching common sense. And the bad guy wasn't even interesting. If the author had made the bad guy someone that could hold that old "Master of the Universe" vibe, then, yeah it would've worked, but it didn't.
Rating: 3 out of 10
I seem to recall liking The Billion Dollar Ransom as a kid due to it involving magic. (I've long been intrigued by magic shows.) I also recall that the book starts in mid-conversation with the line, "...And I'm afraid it will end in disaster".
The plot about kidnapping the President of the United States of America may be a bit outlandish but it's certainly one of the biggest cases The Hardy Boys have ever had.
I also think it's funny that a later Hardy Boys book has another large amount of money in the title with The Million Dollar Nightmare.
And right after "The Million Dollar Nightmare", was "Tricks of the Trade" which had the Hardy's at another magicians conference.
Yep! Tricks of the Trade was another favourite for me as a kid because of the magic connection. :) 8)