#60 Deadfall (33rd Anniversary Review)

[MacGyver]

I wouldn't recommend them.  They are 2nd grade readers masquerading as 6th grade readers.  And S&S setup a major story arc in book 1, similar to the Assassins in the  Casefiles, but dropped it immediately.

Thanks for the warning. Honestly, I will probably eventually read the first one or two and then probably wind up selling the whole set like I did with the UB books. Do The Hardy Boys curse and/or take God's Name in vain in these books like they did at times in the UB books?

[tomswift2002]

Thanks for the warning. Honestly, I will probably eventually read the first one or two and then probably wind up selling the whole set like I did with the UB books. Do The Hardy Boys curse and/or take God's Name in vain in these books like they did at times in the UB books?

I don't really recall because the books are pretty forgettable.  If you look at the different reviews I made over the years i might've mentioned something about that. 

But the Adventures are not as memorable as the "Casefiles" or the Mystery Stories, like for years with Deadfall I kept remembering the role that pancakes played in the book!  😂

[Bigfootman]

Thanks for the warning. Honestly, I will probably eventually read the first one or two and then probably wind up selling the whole set like I did with the UB books. Do The Hardy Boys curse and/or take God's Name in vain in these books like they did at times in the UB books?

I vaguely remember hearing that one of the Adventures or Diaries books did, but I can't be certain. The only two books in the Adventures series I read were "The Madman of Blackbear Mountain" (Which I found to be enjoyable, though extremely cartoonish), and "The Disappearance" (Which was so garbage I couldn't finish it and slipped to the end. The book goes from a boring missing persons case to Frank and Joe having trouble catching an old lady tossing fruit at them.) Id honestly recommend not bothering with the series.

[MacGyver]

Thanks for the run-down on the Adventures series. It's a shame that The Hardy Boys books seem to have fallen so far in quality over the years since the end of the original Mystery Stories series. (I'm speaking of The Hardy Boys #1-190 here.)
In fact, if I were to select my core Hardy Boys series that I like the most- it would be The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories #1-190 (with #1-38 being the revised text versions) and The Hardy Boys Casefiles. (Included in that latter one would be other book series set in that universe, like The Hardy Boys and Tom Swift Ulthra Thrillers and the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys Supermystery series. I know The Nancy Drew Files and Tom Swift IV series would be set in that universe too but I'm not collecting and reading those too. It's just too much for me to keep up with if I were to start a huge Nancy Drew collection too and honestly, I just don't care too much for Tom Swift. But I have read some of both.)
    I have some other books in my collection but I have wound up getting rid of some over the years. (Like the aforementioned Undercover Brothers series, which I sold as a set of mostly unread, brand new books a while back. I also had a set of the original text books [not original printings or anything though], which I also sold after reading a few- and particularly when I discovered racist slurs. I'm not saying that to attack anyone who enjoys them; I just decided that for me, I'd rather stick to the revised text books I grew up reading.)

[Bigfootman]

which I also sold after reading a few- and particularly when I discovered racist slurs. I'm not saying that to attack anyone who enjoys them; I just decided that for me, I'd rather stick to the revised text books I grew up reading.)

I can't blame you, I found that an issue with a lot of older stuff. I love the original King Kong movie, but I can't help but cringe when the Skull Island Natives pop up and are in white guys in blackface.

[MacGyver]

I can't blame you, I found that an issue with a lot of older stuff. I love the original King Kong movie, but I can't help but cringe when the Skull Island Natives pop up and are in white guys in blackface.

Yeah- stuff like that is definitely cringeworthy because it reveals attitudes of the time that viewed some groups of human beings as inferior in some way. Of course, this is not true because every human being is equally valuable, infinitely important, and eternally loved- and worthy of love and respect because all humans are made in the image of God. And I hate to see anyone demeaned.  
    So yeah- I can read older books and watch older movies and such and view them as a product of their time- but that doesn't mean I like such things or approve of them. And in the case of the original text books, I decided I can do without them.

[MysteryFan89]

Thanks for the run-down on the Adventures series. It's a shame that The Hardy Boys books seem to have fallen so far in quality over the years since the end of the original Mystery Stories series. (I'm speaking of The Hardy Boys #1-190 here.)
In fact, if I were to select my core Hardy Boys series that I like the most- it would be The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories #1-190 (with #1-38 being the revised text versions) and The Hardy Boys Casefiles. (Included in that latter one would be other book series set in that universe, like The Hardy Boys and Tom Swift Ulthra Thrillers and the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys Supermystery series. I know The Nancy Drew Files and Tom Swift IV series would be set in that universe too but I'm not collecting and reading those too. It's just too much for me to keep up with if I were to start a huge Nancy Drew collection too and honestly, I just don't care too much for Tom Swift. But I have read some of both.)
    I have some other books in my collection but I have wound up getting rid of some over the years. (Like the aforementioned Undercover Brothers series, which I sold as a set of mostly unread, brand new books a while back. I also had a set of the original text books [not original printings or anything though], which I also sold after reading a few- and particularly when I discovered racist slurs. I'm not saying that to attack anyone who enjoys them; I just decided that for me, I'd rather stick to the revised text books I grew up reading.)

How did the racist stuff even get allowed to be published, that's what I'm wondering. No censorship back than, I guess. 

[tomswift2002]

How did the racist stuff even get allowed to be published, that's what I'm wondering. No censorship back than, I guess.

The books were edited back then, however, just like Disney had in their 1932 Silly Symphony cartoon Santa's Workshop featuring a black doll shouting "Mammie", in immitation of Al Jolson (who was Jewish) from the 1926 talking short A Plantation Act and 1927 film The Jazz Singer, they were using jokes and other things that were okay and acceptable back then, but now people get upset over how the world looked at different people and cultures back then. 

But also in the 1950s and 1960s, the American culture looked at women differently than we do now.  We are talking the era of Leave it To Beaver & The Andy Griffith Show where a man was expected to go to work everyday and make a living that would comfortable provide for a wife and kids who stayed at home.  And the books reflect that---and our society now seems to think that when women want to get married and be that Traditional Wife they must have been brainwashed or something. 

Anyway this thread is getting away from Deadfall.

https://www.newsweek.com/meet-women-quit-jobs-become-trade-wives-1797122



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Plantation_Act

[MacGyver]

How did the racist stuff even get allowed to be published, that's what I'm wondering. No censorship back than, I guess.

Unfortunately, it's reflective of how a lot of North American society thought at the time. When I read one of the original text books and saw Frank using the "N"- word, I was done. The context was him using a phrase with that word in it as a metaphor, though he could have easily used a different phrase that wasn't derogatory. It's one thing to read that word in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, knowing that Mark Twain was having characters using common language of his time and actually speaking against racism (considering that Huck helps Jim escape slavery). It's quite different when one of the main heroes of the book is thoughtlessly using it. I got rid of the books after I saw that. I'll stick with the revised text books I grew up reading.