#162 The End Of The Trail

[tomswift2002]

The End Of The Trail
Published July 2000

Plot:  Frank, Joe, Chet, Phil and Biff are hiking on the Appalachian Trail when Biff decides to climb a tree and break his leg by breaking a branch.  When the group take Biff to nearby Morgan's Creek, the townsfolk aren't that friendly and seem intent on having the friends stay.  Is it because the group saw two guys drop a bag in the middle of a street that opened to show a large amount of cash? 

Review:  I'm not done this book yet, but I last read it back in the fall of 2000, so it has been about 11 years.  Of course, I remember that back in 2000 when "The End Of The Trail" was announced,  a number of fans were wondering if this was the "final nail in the coffin" for the Hardy Boys.  There had been rumours flying around saying that Simon & Schuster was planning on killing off the series due to low sales with no other Hardy Boys series to replace the long running Original series.  So when The End Of The Trail was announced as the title for Hardy Boys #162, it was a pretty ominous title; especially considering that the Casefiles series and it's spin-off series had been killed off just 2 years prior.  Plus with the title of the next book being endlessly delayed, the question on every Hardy Boys fans mind during the summer of 2000 was "Is Simon & Schuster finally doing what criminals have failed to do in 73 years?  Kill the Hardy Boys?"

But, as it turned out,  this was not The End Of The Trail for Frank and Joe.  The Original series would continue for another 5 years, at which point a new series started.  But, The End of The Trail showed how the Hardy Boys were enjoying the New Millenium and the year 2000.

Of course, considering that the book was only written 11 years ago, when you compare it to the books in the Hardy Boys Undercover Brothers series, you can tell that the world has changed quite drastically.  Where cell phones were not a very common thing for people to have and use, and in The End Of The Trail, the Hardy's party had only one cell phone (which Biff destroyed when he fell out of the tree), in the UB's everyone would have a cell phone, so one of the plot points about a "storm" cutting off the the village of Morgan's Creek's main phone line would probably not be good enough to cause the Hardy's to get stuck in Morgan's Creek with no outside help.

[MacGyver]

Good review- and an interesting point on how changing technology can change potential plot lines... I like to see The Hardy Boys as aware of and familiar with new and upcoming technology, but by no means solely dependent on it. They can do with or without, as the situation calls for it and as the availability goes.

[tomswift2002]

Well, I just finished the book this afternoon.  I would have to give it a Rating of 7 out of 10.  While the story did feel like a retread of Breakdown In Axeblade, but with more of the boys friends and no internal combustion vehicle being the reason for getting the boys stuck, there were a couple of things that were recycled, but the author did such a good job that I didn't even care.