#85 Casefiles Pilot #2 The Skyfire Puzzle (35th Anniversary)

[tomswift2002]

Published: 1985
Publisher: Wanderer Books (1985-1989), Minstrel Books (1989-199?) no digital edition
Author: Neal Barret
Other Hardy Boys by author: #79 Sky Sabotage (possible), #83 The Swamp Monster

Plot: Part 2 of 2 of the Sky Sabotage/Skyfire Puzzle duology. 

(1985 Wanderer Books back cover write-up)

The gloomy, mysterious marshes of Okefenokee Swamp and the high-tech splendor of America's space center at NASA provide the setting for this action-packed thriller of international---and universal!---intrigue.

Using their new supervan, complete with a computer hookup to police headquarters and a sophisticated new tracking device, Frank and Joe Hardy travel to Florida for one of their most exciting, and important, cases ever!

Someone has been sabotaging the plans for the next space shuttle mission at NASA---costing millions of dollars in equipment and delays, putting lives in imminent danger, and threatening to cancel an important mission in space.  And top-secret information has been leaked to an Eastern Bloc nation, undermining United States security and prospects for world peace.

Risking everything in a daring escapade in space, the boys must trap the culprits before the shuttle is destroyed and the crew is killed.  Is there time?  Or will murder strike the boys in deep space?

Review:

So people are curious as to why The Skyfire Puzzle is a sequel to Sky Sabotage, and it's simple:  the Hardy's return to NASA to help the security chief, whom they met in Sky Sabotage, figure out who is again sabotaging satellites destined for Earth orbit.  Also Sky Sabotage is referenced on page 21. 

Of course this book opens with both Fenton Hardy and Chet Morton nearly being killed!  That's a way to change the status quo of the series!  Try to kill off 2 characters at once, while this isn't the first time that Fenton Hardy has been nearly killed (although it's the second time where he's been on a boat, since he was nearly killed in The Blackwing Puzzle while meeting Frank and Joe in the middle of Barmet Bay). 

[tomswift2002]

WOW!  Is this book ever action-packed!  So Fenton has been nearly murdered 3 times in this book!  Frank, Joe and Chet have nearly been turned into Swiss cheese 3or 4 times as well, and the SuperVan is really something!

With the SuperVan, it must be one of those extended models, since it holds 2 dirt bikes, radar, radio equipment, at least one bench for passengers (that includes the driver's seat and front passenger seat), computer that is connected to the FBI, CIA, Interpol via wireless transmission (satellite? don't know), a drone that looks like a biplane with a video camera in it and a ton of other stuff.  Plus for the bikes Frank and Joe also have weapons belts that they put on, plus helmets.  With the belts they have sun (flash) grenades on them at least! 

But story wise, it doesn't delve into those things a lot.  Although, with the dirt bikes, I think that was inspired by the 77 TV series, as a few of the episodes had the Hardy's getting bikes out of their van. 

But with the technology, this is how the Undercover Brothers should've been written!  Not with whiners who don't know what to do when they don't have their tech, but like the Hardy's in Skyfire were the use the tech when needed.

Some of the Supervan's characteristics made it into the Casefiles, since the boys did have a computer and modem in it, but I recall that they needed to connect to a pay phone or other phone, so no satellite or microwave transmission setup.  They also had motorcycles in the Casefiles van a few times, but the bikes didn't have weapon belts.  And the Casefiles van was black, whereas the SuperVan in a dark blue.

[MacGyver]

Wow! Great review thus far! I definitely would love to revisit the Super Van concept in these Digest books. What a cool vehicle! 

[tomswift2002]

Yeah, the SuperVan, Frank was even able to  access it's on-board computer from 310 miles (nearly 500 KM) in space. 

I also forgot but the van also has a pretty powerful spotlight that the front passenger can operate. 

I finished the book this morning.  What BLAST! (😂😂😂😂 the Hardy's blast-off into space)!  And while the Challenger explosion was not the cause, the Hardy's were able to go because of the recent "Teacher's In Space" program—-in the book it is explained that their replacing a few others who couldn't make it.

It was a great story to close out the Stratemeyer era of the Hardy Boys, and Frank and Joe and Chet made it to space before Nancy did (I don't know, has Nancy ever been in space, I don't know, I do know she hasn't been to Antarctica which the Hardy Boys have reached as well!), but Tom Swift beat them to it.  Of course, unlike Tom Swift: Planet of Nightmares from a year earlier that included a plug for Chaos on Earth, The Skyfire Puzzle does not contain a plug for the unreleased Casefiles Pilot #3 that would've been released as #86, and in 1985, it would be 2 years before a different #86 would be released. 

Also the level of violence was very high.  These books (Desert Phantom/Skyfire) have reading levels between 7.1 and 7.8 on the Minstrel books), whereas the other books around it range between a 5.5
3 (Swamp) and 6.8 (Blackwing).

Rating: 9.5/10

[Pookells]

Just read this book for the first time ever. This might be one of the best digests that I've read! Non-stop action and I love how much Chet is involved.