#51 Choke Hold (31st Anniversary Review)

[tomswift2002]

Published: May 1991
Publisher: Archway Paperbacks (1991-1997), Collector's Edition #2 (1998-2000)
           Simon & Schuster (UK) (2006-Present)
           No Digital edition as of 2022
Author: Unknown as of June 2022

Plot: Climb into the ring with the big boys -- and you're asking for big trouble!

Professional wrestler Sammy "The Kung Fu King" Rand is in trouble up to his triceps. He's a marked man -- the victim of a series of suspicious ringside accidents. Frank and Joe decide to go undercover to find out who wants to put Sammy down for the count -- for good!

The Hardys will have to make some pretty slick moves and take on some pretty rough customers to pin this case down. When the boys square off against such muscle-masters as Tomahawk, the Constrictor, and Major Disaster, they'd better be ready for the match of their lives!

Review:  This is the third of the three books that I bought at a garage sale back in the summer of 1994 (the other two were the Mystery Stories #89 The Sky Blue Frame & #92 The Shadow Killers).  Back in 1994, I found that this was, out of the 3 books, the middle book.  And now in 2022, its still not the best Hardy Boys Casefiles book.  Now then I was not into wrestling in 1994, and neither am I into wrestling now in 2022.  Of course, even as a kid the cover really made me want to read it, just seeing Joe being lifted over a wrestler's head.

So the Hardy's are investigating a couple of different mysteries in this book and I found that the two mysteries were interconnected very well.  I had totally forgotten that there were different criminals running around.  There was the mystery involving the use of steroids in wrestling (unfortunately, the author didn't make any mention of the Hardy's helping Nancy on a similar case in Dangerous Games like the author of Out of Bounds referenced the Hardy's and Dangerous Games in a similar book that dealt with illegal drug use in sports).  And Sammy "The Kung Fu King" Rand was going to give a speech on the Saturday before his big match to push for the banning of illegal steroids in the Wrestling world, and some of the other wrestlers in his federation and a Doctor were trying to stop him.

Then the Hardy's were trying to figure out who was trying to kill Sammy and it turned out that a rival wrestling league, that was owned by a big TV network (think ESPN-type) were trying to get Sammy out of the way, because Sammy was pulling viewers away from their games and broadcast, and both the league and the TV network were nearly bankrupt. 

Now then Choke Hold is one of 9 Hardy Boys Casefiles to be released in a Collector's Edition here in North America in September 1998.  The 2 other titles in the Collector's Edition #2 were Rock 'N' Revenge & Uncivil War.  It's also interesting, but it did not get an Omnibus release in the UK. 

However, Choke Hold's UK & Commonwealth (except Canada) printing history is rather interesting.  Since, while it was first released in 1994 by Archway UK, with artwork that looked similar to the American artwork, but rather plainer, the book would get new artwork and would appear to by branded as a Hardy Boys Mystery Stories story (although the "Casefiles" series name would appear in small characters on the back of the book, below the Pocket Books logo, otherwise even on the spine it just says "The Hardy Boys").  These were the books that featured the fingerpint and shadows covers.

Now then, this is where it gets really weird, but in 2006, Simon & Schuster UK published, in paperback only, Choke Hold under their Simon & Schuster brand---but as part of the Hardy Boys Undercover Brothers series!  And this edition is STILL IN PRINT 16 YEARS LATER!  So for those that would like to read Choke Hold you can order the Undercover Brothers version from the UK in June 2022!  While the main story pages are just copied from the US Casefiles typesetting, the teaser page is different and the copyright page is full of errors, since it reports that Choke Hold was first published in the UK in 1999 by Pocket Books.  As I mentioned, Choke Hold first appeared in the UK in 1994, and possible earlier if any US editions were imported in. 

As the editors of the Hardy Boys.co.uk site reported in 2006, (http://hardyboys.co.uk/history/append2.php) from an interview they did with Kat Hayes of Simon & Schuster UK in 2006, Choke Hold and the other 3 Casefiles that were published under the Undercover Brothers banner were done because the first 3 true UB books were met with cold responses in the Commonwealth (Choke Hold & Toxic Revenge appeared as UB books in March 2006, while Thrill Ride appeared in April 2006) and S&S UK's big markets for the Hardy's are their Commonwealth markets:

Much of our publishing programme for Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew comes from the demands of our export markets.

But as far as the cover for the UB version, I find it kind of odd that S&S UK picked a picture that looks like it is from a karate dojo, rather than a wrestling picture (although it is mentioned in the book that Sammy was Frank's karate teacher years before the book opens).


Rating: 6.5/10

[MacGyver]

The publishing history bit for the UK is indeed so weird.
I don't remember much about Choke Hold but I did enjoy watching some WCW and WWF as a kid. The wrestling theme was pretty cool and made for a great cover!

[tomswift2002]

I still find it wild that right now in 2022, Choke Hold is the only physical Casefiles book available new in the world!  The rest of the Hybrid Casefiles/UB books are out of print.

[tomswift2002]

Now then I don't think Choke Hold was written by the same author as the SuperMystery'88 book Dangerous Games or Nancy Drew Files #45 Out of Bounds, as while one of Choke Hold's plots was steroid use in sports, there no references to Dangerous Games.