#99 Dungeon of Doom

[tomswift2002]

Published: December 1989
Publisher: Minstrel Books (1989-1995?)
Author:  Christopher Lampton?  Dean Wesley Smith & Kristine Kathryn Rusch?

Plot: The Hardys have been invited to take part in an action-packed game of Wizards and Warriors. When one of the players turns up missing, Frank and Joe set out to find him in the Dungeon of Doom, an abandoned mine just outside of town. But the Dungeon of Doom has become an abyss of danger and deceit!

Review: I first read this book on inter-library loan in 2002.  I've since acquired my own copy.  Re-reading it, I noticed that it actually takes and has held since 1989 the title of "Shortest Amount of Time That A Hardy Boys Book Takes", as it only takes about 9 hours, whereas the next shortest is Casefiles #80 Dead of Night which takes place over a 22-hour period. 

Unfortunately, the story is rather forgettable.  I've never been interested in role-playing games/cosplay.  But even the bad guys were uninteresting.  Also, the author at the end had Chet suggest that he's going to take up spelunking.  I guess Chet forgot that 60 volumes earlier in The Mystery of the Chinese Junk he did learn spelunking. 

Now then I have an issue with saying that Chris Lampton was the author.  The writing in this book does not feel like Lampton's other Hardy Boys.  And in 2002, I had just read Enterprise: By The Book by Dean Wesley Smith$ Kristine Kathryn Rusch.  The "B" plot of that book had a very similar plot with an RPG.  Also the writing style seemed to be similar to Smith & Rusch.  So I don't think Chris Lampton wrote Dungeon of Doom.

Rating:  5/10

[MacGyver]

It's interesting to see how The Hardy Boys books oftentimes tackle trends of the times. I am not a big RPG fan either but I can appreciate some aspects of these types of games. I love J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books, for instance, as well as the movies based on them. I also love The Chronicles of Narnia books by C.S. Lewis, which also have similar elements. It all depends on how the magic involved is portrayed. The plot of this book reminds me a bit of the movie Mazes & Monsters, though that one goes in a different direction psychologically at the end. There are a number of TV show episodes and movies and books that have stories centered around Dungeons & Dragons and similar games, especially in the early 1980s when it first started getting really popular. (There are episodes of The Greatest American Hero, Quantum Leap and The New Scooby and Scrappy Doo Show that all reference RPGs as the central part of the plot. There are numerous other more recent examples, like Stranger Things.)
    So it's not surprising to see The Hardy Boys do a story with it. I think it's pretty interesting as a plot device. The traps of "The Haunted House" in the pilot of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries combined with the medieval aspect of Dracula's castle in "The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Meet Dracula" two-parter make for a close television equivalent.
   But I will admit, it's been years since I read this book and I really don't remember anything of the plot.