25th Anniversary Review: #91 Shield Of Fear

[tomswift2002]

Shield Of Fear
Hardy Boys #91
Published: July 1988
Ghostwriter: Unknown

Plot:  The Hardy Boys head to the town of brotherly love---Philadelphia---at the request of Fenton Hardy.  Seems a gangster from Atlantic City is trying to move into Philadelphia and has already attempted to get members of the Philadelphia police force to look the other way, however the Philadelphia police Commissioner wants to send the guy packing to jail.  Meanwhile the Commissioner's grandson seems to be racking up demerit points at the Police Academy do to low grades and fights that other cadets have started.  The Commissioner asks Frank and Joe to go undercover as police cadets to find out what is going on with his grandson, while making it look like he is not using his position to make sure his grandson graduates.  Plus a mysterious car accident leaves Fenton Hardy out of commission with broken ribs!  Worst Fenton has told the boys to stay off his case due to the highly dangerous gangster.  How the boys solve both cases is up to you to find out!

Review:

I read this book over ten years ago when I got it in on inter-library loan, and just recently I found a copy in a used book store.  I'm only on the 4th chapter so far, but considering what has occurred in the world of the Hardy Boys since 2000 with the cancellation of the Original series, the relaunch of the series under the Undercover Brothers banner and subsequent cancellation to the Adventures series, it's surprising to find a book from 1988 where, within the first four chapters the boys are asked no less than 3 times whether they are old enough to be police cadets (the age for police training is stated in the book as being 19 years old).  Fenton Hardy states this, the Commissioner states this,  plus their training Sergeant states this fact.  Of course, the Commissioner also suggests that Joe wears glasses to make him look older, while Frank just needs to put on a sterner face.    And yet I don't recall any other Original series or Casefile book where their age came up so often.

But speaking of the Casefiles, this story kind of reminds me of Spies And Lies from the Nancy Drew And Hardy Boys SuperMystery'88 series.  Spies and Lies was released in 1992, so it was clearly written after this book, although whether the Casefiles take place after the Original series, it is surprising the S&L made no mention of the events of this book; that might've been an editorial decision, or both books might've been written by two different authors and the S&L author had no knowledge that this type of story had already been done.

But so far the action in Shield of Fear hasn't let up.  In the Original series 90's the books seem to have been going through an experimental stage where they are similar to the Casefiles in terms of plot and action, but they were not as violent.  The books seemed to be following the test case books of 84 and 85, but without the Casefiles feel to them.  You almost have to wonder whether Simon & Schuster were retrying to the experiment. 

[tomswift2002]

Just finished this book.  10 out of 10.  It started off a little slow during the first 5 chapters, but then it just kicked into high gear and I couldn't stop reading. 

One thing I've got to question is how the Philadelphia police were able to get criminals arrested in Atlantic City, New Jersey, back to Philadelphia so quickly?

And if you love the short story HB and the Monopoly references, you'll love this book.  At the same time, while the book was written as a Digest, you can tell that the author was having difficulty holding this book back from becoming a Casefile.  The action was very close to what would be in a Casefiles book.

[MacGyver]

It's been a while since I've read Shield of Fear but I remember enjoying it pretty well. I like the idea of The Hardy Boys working to clear the cop's name and help restore his confidence. Also, the title reminds me of the description of the armor of God in Ephesians 4:10-20. In verse 16, we are instructed to take up the shield of faith, with which we can extinguish all the fiery darts of the evil one. And faith is really the antithesis of fear because while fear cowers like a coward, faith goes forth boldly like a victor with full reliance on Christ. And as 2 Timothy 1:7 tells us, God hasn't given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind.