Return to Black Bear Mountain

[Bigfootman]

https://www.amazon.com/Return-Black-Mountain-Hardy-Adventures/dp/1640913092/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=franklin+w+dixon&qid=1560981437&s=books&sr=1-2
https://books.google.ca/books/about/Return_to_Black_Bear_Mountain.html?id=_3HwxAEACAAJ&redir_esc=y
"Brother detectives Frank and Joe return to dangerous Black Bear Mountain to help locate a scientist gone missing from a remote research station."

I honestly got rid of my UBs and Adventures books, around with the Diaries and GD series. Ended up giving them to my little brother, along with the Nancy Drew equivalents of each series. No point in wasting shelf space on series I have no interest in; and my brother would probably get more enjoyment out of them anyways. I did keep the SMs though, as I might read those.

[MacGyver]

I finally read the first Undercover Brothers book when the series ended and I disliked it and hated what was done with it from the first page. I wound up selling that whole set of books. The only good thing from the UB era is the graphic novels, as far as I'm concerned.
I feel like I'll probably wind up doing the same with the Adventures series. The books just aren't the same any more as the Hardy Boys I grew up with.

[Bigfootman]

I finally read the first Undercover Brothers book when the series ended and I disliked it and hated what was done with it from the first page. I wound up selling that whole set of books. The only good thing from the UB era is the graphic novels, as far as I'm concerned.
I feel like I'll probably wind up doing the same with the Adventures series. The books just aren't the same any more as the Hardy Boys I grew up with.

I did like a few of the Undercover Brothers books, like "Murder at the mall", and there's quite a few GDs that I liked. But I'm not willing to read through complete garbage like "Dangerous Plays" and "Rocky Road" to find the other good books in the series. I've only read 1 book in the adventures series, "The Madman of Black Bear Mountain", and I thought it was decent. But nothing about it made me interested in the other books in the series.

My little brother, on the other hand, loves the Adventures and Diaries books. Until I learned of his interest (I had been buying him the little kids HB and ND series until then), I was rooting for the Diaries and Adventures series to be cancelled. Now I'm having second thoughts. The books seem to be selling fine, unlike what I previously thought. (no other signs of the series being in danger have popped up) And if this is the HB and ND that kids these days like, then I'm fine with it. I'll just focus on the older series, and wait for the next reboot.

[MacGyver]

It is good if kids are at least reading something. They can have at it. It's just not for me.

[tomswift2002]

Has anyone read this book yet?  I have it in my "too read" pile, and I've been skipping it for the older Hardy's.

[tomswift2002]

I just finished reading this book today.  It was okay, but again the plot seemed to be a Grade 2 reader plot.  This is a sequel to The Madman of Black Bear Mountain from June 2016, and really, it felt like it was combining the plots of Bound For Danger & Attack of the Bayport Beast.  Also, the Hardy's only rounded up 2 of the 3 crooks in the book, and then, apparently, left the capture of the third crook to be done by the police off stage at the close of the book. 

Also, Frank's girlfriend Jones shows up again in this book (she first appeared in The Disappearance) but apparently her and her family have moved out of Bayport, so Frank and her are not dating anymore.  But, quite frankly, I really didn't give a care for Jones in this book, just like I didn't give a care for her in her first appearance.  Also, it feels like Frank has gained more of Joe's personality from the classic series and Casefiles, while Joe is the Frank of the Adventure series. 

Although an interesting thing is that in this book is that Joe is able to pilot a helicopter just from playing a video game!  Yeah, Joe played a video game and he was able to fly a helicopter!  Sure helicopter school may use a helicopter demo machine to help with learning, but I was surprised to see that Joe learned from a video game!  In the Classic series Frank and Joe are taught by Jack Wayne how to fly a helicopter, but in the Adventures it's just Joe on his own.   

Rating: 4.0/10