#59 Open Season (32nd Anniversary review)

tomswift2002 · July 29, 2024, 04:25:28 PM

Published: January 1992
Publisher: Archway Paperbacks (1992-1997, stand alone title), (1999-2001, part of The Hardy Boys Casefiles Collector's Edition #3), Aladdin Paperbacks (December 2005, hardcover) No Digital
Author: Rick Oliver
Other Hardy Boys by Author: Casefiles #33, 40, 45, 50, 69, 76, (possible) 77, (possible) 78, (possible) 80, 85, 88, 93, 98, 100

Plot: When you follow the call of the wild, danger is always on the prowl!

Manhunters!

Frank and Joe take off on a cross-country skiing trip into the Colorado Rockies and soon find themselves facing the greatest challenge of all: a test of survival! They've befriended a conservationist K.D. Becker, a woman dedicated to saving the endangered mountain lion. But K.D.'s been shot -- and now it's her life that hangs in the balance.

The boys discover that K.D.'s mission to create a wildlife preserve has stirred up passions as old as the frontier itself. Ranchers, hunters, and native Americans all want the land -- and K.D. stood in the way. The hunt is on, and the Hardys are hot on the trail of suspect. But the shooter's not about to give in without a fight, and now Frank and Joe have become fair game!

NZone · July 30, 2024, 01:06:07 PM

This one has a fourth-wall breaking quote.

QuoteFrank shot a look at his brother. "You've been reading too many cheap detective novels."

"They don't come much cheaper than us," Joe replied.

tomswift2002 · July 30, 2024, 04:43:27 PM

Well Joe doesn't use any of the Survival tactics that the Hardy's learned/taught in The Hardy Boys Survival Handbook (1980), since he doesn't remember how to make a rough sled to transport an injured person.

tomswift2002 · August 03, 2024, 08:45:04 PM

I can see why S&S used the cover art to Hardy Boys #152 Danger In The Extreme for the 2005 Aladdin Hardcover reissue of The Hardy Boys Casefiles Collector's Edition #3 that originally appeared in January 1999 with a reddish-orange cover with a magnifying glass on it.

Chapter 4 of Open Season has the Hardy's involved in a snowmobile chase. I guess that's better than what some UK publishers did by using the covers for Casefiles #6 & #9 for omnibus's containing original series stories that do not even have any similar scenes to the artwork.

https://web.archive.org/web/20220528045530/http://www.hardyboys.co.uk/gallery/oother.php

tomswift2002 · August 12, 2024, 08:07:26 PM

In some ways Open Season is reminding me of #31 Without A Trace, as well as, and I can't quite recall which TV Show/movie exactly, a small town sheriff from a 1970's/80's show/movie that really did not care to enforce the law and was more interested in closing the case as quickly as possible. Even a little bit of the sheriff from Breakdown In Axeblade.

Unfortunately, I'm not finding the book to be that great and in some cases it seems like the author is just going from one place to another to just fill up page space.

MacGyver · August 13, 2024, 10:59:54 PM

Quote from: tomswift2002 on August 12, 2024, 08:07:26 PMIn some ways Open Season is reminding me of #31 Without A Trace, as well as, and I can't quite recall which TV Show/movie exactly, a small town sheriff from a 1970's/80's show/movie that really did not care to enforce the law and was more interested in closing the case as quickly as possible. Even a little bit of the sheriff from Breakdown In Axeblade.

Unfortunately, I'm not finding the book to be that great and in some cases it seems like the author is just going from one place to another to just fill up page space.

There are a couple of TV show episodes that fit that plot- usually in cases where the sheriff was crooked as well. Offhand, I can think of the "Jack in the Box" episode of MacGyver that would fit the bill. Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane on The Dukes of Hazzard would be another contender. The warden in the "Unchained" episode of Quantum Leap might be another possibility. Yeah- it's definitely a trope that shows up on TV and movies fairly often.
As to Open Season itself, I haven't read that book in many years and honestly really don't remember anything from it other than the cover art.

tomswift2002 · August 14, 2024, 07:58:26 AM

Quote from: MacGyver on August 13, 2024, 10:59:54 PMThere are a couple of TV show episodes that fit that plot- usually in cases where the sheriff was crooked as well. Offhand, I can think of the "Jack in the Box" episode of MacGyver that would fit the bill. Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane on The Dukes of Hazzard would be another contender. The warden in the "Unchained" episode of Quantum Leap might be another possibility. Yeah- it's definitely a trope that shows up on TV and movies fairly often.
As to Open Season itself, I haven't read that book in many years and honestly really don't remember anything from it other than the cover art.

The way the sheriff is written was reminding me of the actor that played the sheriff in the 1981 Years of The Beast movie.

tomswift2002 · August 31, 2024, 08:16:57 AM

I was reading a few more chapters last night. In a way it's reminding me of Without A Trace and The Crimson Flame from the Mystery Stories., but also there is a heavy environmental theme to the book that I'm finding bogs down the story.

tomswift2002 · August 31, 2024, 11:33:11 AM

So I finishedOpen Season and I'm not really sure what the crime was. Was it hunting endangered cougars? Land rights? I feel like it's the Donald Trump case where the jury did not say what he was convicted on—-rather they just said guilty with no reason. The author floated a lot of theories, but then seemed to run out of room and instead of connecting anything, just kind of went "Well there was a crime, but I've run out of time to explain it".

Rating: 3/10

MacGyver · August 31, 2024, 09:26:25 PM

Quote from: tomswift2002 on August 31, 2024, 11:33:11 AMSo I finishedOpen Season and I'm not really sure what the crime was. Was it hunting endangered cougars? Land rights? I feel like it's the Donald Trump case where the jury did not say what he was convicted on—-rather they just said guilty with no reason. The author floated a lot of theories, but then seemed to run out of room and instead of connecting anything, just kind of went "Well there was a crime, but I've run out of time to explain it".

Rating: 3/10

What Donald Trump case are you talking about?

tomswift2002 · September 01, 2024, 07:53:52 AM

Quote from: MacGyver on August 31, 2024, 09:26:25 PMWhat Donald Trump case are you talking about?

The New York one. If you look at the forms the jury needed to fill out for his conviction there was a section where the jury foreman was to state the reason for the conviction of that charge and how they came to that, and for all 34 charges that section was left blank with no reason why the jurors went that way or how they arrived at the conclusion to convict.

MacGyver · September 01, 2024, 01:12:16 PM

Quote from: tomswift2002 on September 01, 2024, 07:53:52 AMThe New York one. If you look at the forms the jury needed to fill out for his conviction there was a section where the jury foreman was to state the reason for the conviction of that charge and how they came to that, and for all 34 charges that section was left blank with no reason why the jurors went that way or how they arrived at the conclusion to convict.

Okay. I have not heard that. I will have to look into that.

tomswift2002 · September 01, 2024, 04:46:51 PM

Quote from: MacGyver on September 01, 2024, 01:12:16 PMOkay. I have not heard that. I will have to look into that.

As I heard one legal expert on a talk show say, for the jurors it was a Chinese buffet, especially once the judge said that they all did not have to agree on one thing—-they could all have different opinions on if evidence had been presented and convict on that.