July 2011 Book Club Discussion--Beyond the Law (Casefile #55)

[hardygirl847]

Hey everyone,

Long time no "chat". AlwaysaJoeFan asked me to start the discussion this month. So...here ya go...please review Beyond the Law.

Ready....set...GO!

[MacGyver]

Beyond the Law is certainly one of my favorites of The Hardy Boys Casefiles. I'm pretty sure I've reread this one at least once.
I like that this one delves more into one of the supporting character's lives and we get to learn some about Chief Ezra Collig's history. It's a storyline that rocks Bayport and shakes up the Hardy universe as a stalwart character is suddenly called into question. That's good when the series has something that is shaking the norms. And it is of course resolved well too. I also liked reading some about police history in the book- it fit well. Frank and Joe are both there standing beside Chief Collig and supporting him when he's on the run. It's an interesting situation that suddenly puts them working closely together and trusting each other a lot more- when they usually have more of a strained relationship since Collig generally views them as kids muscling in on real police work who need to leave it to the professionals. It should also be noted that this book concludes an unofficial trilogy story arc in the Casefiles. (#8 See No Evil, #16 Line of Fire and this one #55 Beyond the Law all deal with corruption in Bayport's government and leadership.)
Definitely a great read and totally worth getting busted for reading during class in school as a kid- lol. (Got the book taken away but I got it back at the end of the year...yeah- um, sorry kids- remember that's the bad example for you to learn from. )

[tomswift2002]

Beyond the Law is a great story.  Plus the cover was pretty well done with Frank being thrown from the exploding car.

But Beyond The Law has a couple of interesting distinctions:  it was the last book of the unofficial Bayport Corruption storyline, plus it was also included in the Hardy Boys Casefiles Collector's Edition #3, the last omnibus in the US and Canada, and it was the only omnibus appearance of the story anywhere in the world.

Here's the UK version of the book:

http://www.hardyboys.co.uk/gallery/c055.php

[MacGyver]

Though I do tend to think the Armada paperback version of the original 58 Hardy Boys stories are a bit more exciting than some of the Grossett & Dunlap covers, I will say that I definitely like Simon & Schuster's cover art for The Hardy Boys Casefiles more than the UK versions. (But that could just be because I grew up with the American versions and never really found the British ones until I saw them on the Internet years later...)

[hardygirl847]

This actually wasn't one of my faves. I like all of the Casefiles but some are better than others. I disliked this one for some of reasons you listed as positives, Mac. I don't really need a whole book about the chief. He's not Frank or Joe. Plus, the danger and adventure was lackluster compared to most of the other stories. I probably have weird ways to critique the books, but I'm looking for Frank and Joe in some kind of adventure/danger involving a mystery. Other books that feature Chet or Callie or even Phil, Tony, or Biff (which aren't many)....seem to be better than this one.

The cliffhangers didn't leave me hanging. Plus, politics isn't my thing.

On the other hand, I liked that the Chief needed the Hardys for once...and almost admitted to it. That was probably the best part.

Also, the strong feelings some of the pizza customers had seemed a little overkill to me. I don't even know who the chief is in my town and I don't think I'd feel  THAT strongly about some scandal. Keep in mind... I rarely watch or read the news (too depressing) but still...Teenagers having such a strong dislike for him seems a bit unrealistic. I didn't think Bayport was that small of a town. If it was, then it still seemed to be a bit much, IMO.

Now the Hardys and Callie (and friends) supporting the Chief makes sense to me because they've dealt with him on numerous occasions. So they have more of a reason to have strong feelings about the situation.

Overall, I also like reading about Frank and Joe. I realize that there are more characters than just the boys but it's just not the same when they're not the center of attention. I just didn't think it was one I would read over and over again.

Just personal preference is all.

[tomswift2002]

Also, the strong feelings some of the pizza customers had seemed a little overkill to me. I don't even know who the chief is in my town and I don't think I'd feel  THAT strongly about some scandal. Keep in mind... I rarely watch or read the news (too depressing) but still...Teenagers having such a strong dislike for him seems a bit unrealistic. I didn't think Bayport was that small of a town. If it was, then it still seemed to be a bit much, IMO.

Well, you have to realize that people can get to know their chief of police if he is on TV quite a bit talking about the crime rate in the city and what's being done.

But at the same time I think the feelings of the pizza customers were well deserved in the story, since when you think, this book is the end book of an unofficial trilogy, where in the other books the Hardy's had taken down everyone in municipal government, except for Chief Collig.  And I would think that people, considering the events of those books, would still trust the Chief because there was no evidence that he was involved, but at the same time they would also be distrusting of the Chief, because they would probably have doubts as to whether he was actually innocent of not knowing what was going on, so the citizens would snap as soon as some piece of wrongdoing was brought up against Collig before it could be investigated.

[MacGyver]

I probably have weird ways to critique the books, but I'm looking for Frank and Joe in some kind of adventure/danger involving a mystery.

Wow- no sarcasm there, huh?
I'm pretty sure Frank and Joe were in danger throughout the mystery of who framed Chief Collig, but it's okay if it's not your favorite. I enjoy seeing supporting characters in there alongside Frank and Joe (since it's not like you have virtually any other books in this series that goes that in depth into Collig's life.) Frank and Joe are still there at the center of it since they took on this case voluntarily and Collig realized that they were probably the only ones who would be able to and willing to help him. I liked the forced partnership- and then Collig's crack at the end cracks me up.
        Teenagers may not care that much about politics or about the local police chief but if you live in a small enough town, you probably would know more about such situations- probably because the chief of police might be the father of someone you know at school and such. Even today in bigger towns, with things like Twitter and Facebook, etc. to quickly spread news and rumors, I can see kids talking about it just because people seem to love a juicy scandal- just like they do with celebrities- in this case, a local celebrity.

[P. Walker]

Beyond the Law is certainly one of my favorites of The Hardy Boys Casefiles. I'm pretty sure I've reread this one at least once.
I like that this one delves more into one of the supporting character's lives and we get to learn some about Chief Ezra Collig's history. It's a storyline that rocks Bayport and shakes up the Hardy universe as a stalwart character is suddenly called into question. That's good when the series has something that is shaking the norms. And it is of course resolved well too. I also liked reading some about police history in the book- it fit well. Frank and Joe are both there standing beside Chief Collig and supporting him when he's on the run. It's an interesting situation that suddenly puts them working closely together and trusting each other a lot more- when they usually have more of a strained relationship since Collig generally views them as kids muscling in on real police work who need to leave it to the professionals. It should also be noted that this book concludes an unofficial trilogy story arc in the Casefiles. (#8 See No Evil, #16 Line of Fire and this one #55 Beyond the Law all deal with corruption in Bayport's government and leadership.)
Definitely a great read and totally worth getting busted for reading during class in school as a kid- lol. (Got the book taken away but I got it back at the end of the year...yeah- um, sorry kids- remember that's the bad example for you to learn from. )

i cannot tell you how many times that happened to me in middle school when i first started reading the HB books   And the sad part is, i'd do it all over again too.

[AlwaysAJoefan]

Well, if I tried to sneak a book in class, I can guarantee that I'd get busted. Ah, the joys of homeschooling!

[P. Walker]

Getting back on track though, Beyond the Law was always one of my favorites as well. Really good plotline, really good writing, and interesting to see a Collig-centric book. And I always loved the cover as well. There was also a great cast of characters that we never got to see again, as far as I know. I would've loved to have seen DeCampo, and Lawrence again.

[MacGyver]

Getting back on track though

Hey- what's with all this "getting back on track" stuff? I don't think we believe in that as a forum community at large...lol
j/k.