102 Terminal Shock (31st Anniversary Review

[tomswift2002]

Published: June 1990
Publisher: Minstrel Books (1990-1997?)
Author: Christopher Lampton
Other Hardy Boys books by Author: Mystery Stories #95, 98*, 99*https://www.hardyboyscasefiles.com/forums/index.php?topic=3076.0, 100, 106, 109, 110, 116, 120, 162, Casefiles #64*, 65, 66*, Time Bomb* (*possible authorship)

Plot: #102 - Terminal Shock
#101 #103
Frank and Joe put the byte on a case of computer chaos!

Programmed for Destruction

Frank is about to go on-line to talk with his computer-whiz pal Jim Lerner when a message flashes across his screen: HELP!! I THINK I'M DYING!! The Hardy boys rush to Jim's house, where they find him unconscious -- the victim of a life-threatening poison!

Frank and Joe suspect that Jim stumbled onto an international smuggling ring, but the key to the case is locked away in his floppy disks. They have only one week to break the program's code -- and to find the vital antidote to the poison! If they fail, this is one computer virus that could led to terminal shock.

[Bigfootman]

I will say, this sounds a whole lot more like a Casefile plotline than a digest. Also, you never posted your review.

[tomswift2002]

Review:  So I first read Terminal Shock back in 1996-97.  Even back then the computer technology mentioned in this book was feeling outdated. 

Of course my favorite line from the book has to be "that 386 must really scream!"  And that's the line that really dated the book.  The 386 chip was the chip that moved personal computers from the 16-bit era to the 32-bit era between 1985 (it's introduction) and 1987.  This was the first chip that could handle 640x480 VGA graphics, whereas before you were dealing with lower resolutions like CGA.  So people were able to play graphically intensive games like "Wolfenstein 3-D".  The final operating system to support the 386 chip was NetBSD 4.0 (a Linux-based system) in December 2007.

[tomswift2002]

But this book is also interesting for its cover art as it reveals the resolution of the story.  And even now, unless you are using a font based on the old dot matrix printers, it is not seen as much, since home printers back then had that computer look.  But most printers and word processors now have fonts that were once thought of as belonging to book publishers only as they were expensive to produce.

But this book also introduced the concept of computer chip smuggling and was kind of a throwback to Danger On Vampire Trail where the author needed to, in that book, explain to readers what credit cards were in 1971 and how credit cards could be used for fraud and theft, and how criminals could print up bogus credit cards.  But in Terminal Shock it's computer chip theft and smuggling. 

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

[MacGyver]

Nice review! I honestly don't remember much about Terminal Shock but as one who grew up fascinated by computers, I like this book for that reason. I remember when that 386 graphics chip was a big thing. :-)

[tomswift2002]

Well the author also used a lot of early-90's computer lingo in the book that has fallen off nowadays like BBS.  And the author, early on, even had Joe involved in a joke about electronic mail (e-mail) and physical mail.