#91 Shield of Fear (32 Anniversary Review)

[tomswift2002]

Published: July 1988
Publisher: Minstrel Books (1988-199?)
Author: Unknown as of November 2020

Plot: Big-city cops ... Big-city crime ... Big city heat ...

The Hardy Boys battle corruption on the mean streets of Philadelphia

Police Commissioner Crawford of Philadelphia has asked Frank and Joe to go undercover at the police academy. Crawford's grandson Larry, a cadet in the academy, has gotten into trouble, and the commissioner thinks it's a set-up job tied to New Jersey crime boss Jack Brannigan.

Brannigan wants to muscle in on Philly territory, and he knows thta if he can get his hooks into Crawford he'll be on top of the world. The Hardys head for Atlantic City to meet Brannigan on his own turf. They're determined to turn the policeman's shield of fear back into a badge of honor.

Review:  I'm just starting this one.  It's been about 7 years since I last read it, and it had been 10 since I had read it before that.  And every time that I think of this book, I think that it's a Casefile or might've been a Casefile early in the proposal stage, but was then switched over to the Original Series for whatever reason.  It's interesting how S&S seemed to be giving the Mystery Stories that thriller-edge during this era, while still seperating them from the Casefiles. 

Also, just of interest, but Shield of Fear starts the last 100 Hardy Boys Mystery Stories as the series ends with #190. 

Also, Skywarp, where did you get the cover for the Encyclopedia for this book?  It looks like there is a lot more purple at the top, since it doesn't have the "All-New! First Time Published" byline that's attached to the cover for the first printing.  But from what I've seen on other 1985-1995 books, when that was byline was removed, it showed more the picture, not the color.

[MacGyver]

I have not read this book in many years. As always, I look forward to reading the review.

[tomswift2002]

I finished this book a few days ago. 

So the Hardy's are in Philadelphia to help their dad figure out why the Police Commissioner's grandson is getting into trouble at the police academy.  But at the same time, Fenton Hardy is working on a case where he's trying to put away a big time crime lord who is not afraid to do anything, even order the execution of Fenton Hardy. 

Now then, it's interesting how Fenton Hardy drives a brown, four-door sedan.  So we know now what Fenton drives, we know that Laura drives a run down station wagon that is nearly ready for the junk yard, and Frank & Joe have the van.  Still no idea where their second yellow convertible went to, and no idea what type of car Aunt Gertrude drives. 

Overall, this book felt like it belonged in the Casefiles rather than the Mystery Stories.  The crooks were committing attempted murder in this book by rigging Fenton's car to run off the road and explode. And there was even a lot of gun violence in this book, which was closer to the gun violence that was going on in the Casefiles of this era.  I almost wonder if S&S was having trouble in 1988 getting stories for the Mystery Stories or if something was causing the stories that were under contract to be pushed back, so they were maybe changing stories intended for the Casefiles to fit into the Original continuity.  Because Shield of Fear, even though it has a reading level of 5.1, but the Casefiles had reading levels of 7.0 and up, Shield of Fear reads like a Casefile story---even the title is very Casefiles-esque.

Anyway, Shield of Fear is a really good book, and is a page turner!

Rating: 10/10