# 3 Cult of Crime

[P. Walker]

PLOT: the Hardy brothers head to the Adirondack mountains to rescue an old friend from a cult leader named the Rajah.

Smaller in scope, in my opinion than both Dead on Target and Evil Inc, Cult of Crime is still packed with plenty of suspense, shoot-outs and fisticuffs. Those of you who love to have their HB stories with action-filled chapters need to read this one. There?s no more globe-trotting in store for the Hardys in this installment, instead they stay in New York, and head to the mountains to rescue an old friend, Holly Strand, from a cult leader, named the Rajah.
Its been 20 years or close to that, since I?ve read this particular book--as a matter of fact it had just arrived in the mail today from a seller on Amazon--and so once again, I felt like a little kid reading it for the very first time and wondering what was going to happen next. When I originally read it, neither the Heavens Gate incident nor the Branch Davidian massacre had happened, so the only real-world connection I had in regards to cults was  the Jim Jones story.
The writing seemed a bit more tighter than the previous two, and the only time the story seems to lag is while their on the train heading back to Bayport. And speaking of that train scene, that has to be the most ridiculous part in the whole book: while Joe is fighting one of the bums, the guy just stops fighting, sits down, and starts crying! That scene really took me out of what was happening. I actually stopped, put the book down, and burst out laughing! That was really horrible. Anyway, the last few chapters are really great, suspense wise. I thought that they could?ve given us more scenes in regards to the riot, but that?s just me being nit-picky. I liked the character of Holly and wish we could?ve seen more of her, if only just to flesh out her character more and I would love to see her meet up with Callie. The ending, and I mean like the last page, is one of the best endings I?ve ever read in a young-adult novel, much less an HB book. Period. It doesn?t have the usual ?Hollywood? ending, where everything is wrapped up gracefully, with smiles and laughter. Its realistic and sad as well.

[MacGyver]

This one is a favorite for me too and I agree about the ending- I thought that scene was very well done. Of course, I also like the opening and how it draws you into the immediate happenings of the story right away and then goes back in to explain what's going on. And I also like how Cult of Crime gives some explanations as to why the Rajah is doing what he's doing in the book and what Frank and Joe find out about him- so there is some mystery going on and not solely a rescue mission for Holly. But yes- all around intense book that does have some comedic scenes and that's good because an intense action-packed book like this needs a few scenes of humor to lighten the mood every now and then.

[tomswift2002]

On the Top Ten Casefiles forum I've got Cult Of Crime at #26 out of 121 (some books are listed at the same number because I couldn't decide which was better or worse, so it ended up being 121 instead of 127). 

The book is alright, but I really don't enjoy the opening to it, with Frank just wandering around New York.  When I read the book as a kid I remember that that opening was more or less turning me away from reading the book, rather than getting me into it.  But by the time that it gets to Chapter 12 or that, then the book really kicks up and you are along for one fun ride.  Plus, I love how the author had the Network and Gray Man make a brief cameo appearance, but it was just so that the Hardy's could ask that their van be picked up, but otherwise, aside from a brief mention about them being involved in the previous two cases, this is a non-Network case, and it really helped to define the role of the Network in the series: the Network would be in some books, but in others we would still get the same level of action as in the Network stories, but without the Network.

http://www.hardyboyscasefiles.com/forums/index.php?topic=817.0

[JoeHardyRocks]

I always try to look for this book online... but they're all like 35$

[MacGyver]

Seriously? I'm sure you can find it cheaper than that....
Try at Amazon.com
There are some used copies there for 1 cent.   (Of course, you have to pay the $3.99 for shipping and all- but still, 4 bucks isn't too bad.)

[JoeHardyRocks]

Woah woah woah, WHAT?? I seriously just looked at that yesterday and there were seriously NONE! There must be something wrong with my computer... Again.

[MacGyver]

Amazon may list it initially in the search results as having no copies, but if you go to the page listing for the book itself, it will give you the different options and versions it has for sale (i.e. hardback, paperback, library binding, etc.) and you can usually find plenty of copies from there.

[SkyWarp]

And remember there were different ISBN numbers of several of the books.  If you use the ISBN number links on the Books page in the encyclopedia it will take you to Amazon. 

http://www.hardyboyscasefiles.com/series/casefiles.php?book_no=003

And for those that live in Canada, there are sometimes links to amazon.ca too.

[JoeHardyRocks]

Okay, thanks!

[MacGyver]

I just realized you also have the varying prices the books had through the rereleases. That's a pretty cool feature- very nice. It must have taken quite a bit of work to put together.

[SkyWarp]

I just realized you also have the varying prices the books had through the rereleases. That's a pretty cool feature- very nice. It must have taken quite a bit of work to put together.

Well, compared to re-reading and documenting all the stuff in the books, it was very easy.   I actually did a lot of the pricing stuff while I was getting a reading the books when they first came out.  Taking that and transferring it from my old paper files to the database for the web wasn't all that hard either.  But then I love to work with data like that. 

[MacGyver]

Ah- then I can see you've been a fan for a while now. Cool- I've also grown up with The Hardy Boys and I remember when The Casefiles were brand new.

[tomswift2002]

I remember getting Viking's Revenge when it first came out in the summer of 97 and thinking hat that was pretty cool, since upto then I had been reading the Casefiles that had been released years earlier (I only read my first Hardy Boys book in March 1994, which was The Tower Treasure (flashlight edition)).

[MacGyver]

That's cool- I read my first Hardy Boys book I believe somewhere around the late '80s- maybe 1987? or 1989? I'm not sure- I just recall reading The Mystery of the Chinese Junk first when I borrowed it from the library and then getting into the series and reading all the others from there... and I'm still reading all The Hardy Boys books in the various series- lol.

[tomswift2002]

When the Casefiles came out in 87 I was only 3, so I wasn't exactly into reading at that age.