High Survival (31st Anniversary Review)

[tomswift2002]

Published: August 1991
Publisher: Archway Paperbacks (1991-1996)
Author: Unknown as of December 2022

Plot: NANCY DREW and a small group of adventurers hike into the Wyoming wilderness to sharpen their survival skills. But the higher they climb into the remote and rugged Rockies, the more perilous the risks become. Nancy suspects that the mounting dangers are more than mere accidents of nature -- and that the adventurers are headed for the most deadly survival test of all.

MEANWHILE...

FRANK AND JOE HARDY, responding to Nancy's call for help, confirm her worst suspicions. The mountain is the focus of a million-dollar criminal enterprise, and a gangland mob has cut the expedition off from the outside world. An accomplice inside the group is leading them on a true trek to terror, and it's up to the three intrepid sleuths to blaze a trail to safety.

[tomswift2002]

Review: I've only read High Survival a few times and I remember that it was never one of my favorite SuperMystery'88 books.

Now then neither author known, however in Chapter 1 there is a reference to the events of Mystery Train, so High Survival might have been written by the same author.

[tomswift2002]

It's interesting, however in High Survival it takes Frank and Joe nearly a quarter of the book to show up.  They are briefly mentioned in Chapter 1 as missing the cut off for signing up for the hike, but then they don't actually appear until Chapter 5 (there's 22 chapters in the book).  Then they split up from Nancy and George for half the book. 

Meanwhile, and this is unusual for George, but she's got a crush on one of the guys in their group during the book!  In the main Nancy Drew Files series she has had a couple of crushes and romance's, but they are few and far between.  Usually it's Bess who has the crushes and romance's, but Bess is only mentioned in this book.  Anyway it's funny seeing George making slip ups with the guy because she has a crush on him.

[tomswift2002]

In the end, it turns that the Hardy's, Nancy and George are facing off against an organized mob that is tracking down a bookie and a heavy gambler, who just happens to be the guy who organized the trek.

Unfortunately, while the majority of the mob was captured, the big boss was never identified or captured.  I don't know if the author was maybe saving the boss for a sequel SuperMystery'88 or even a book in either the Casefiles or Files series.  I don't remember any Casefile referring back to High Survival.  Maybe in the Files...

Otherwise, the story was not that memorable of a story.

Rating: 6.5/10