Adventure

loved these series when I was younger! ( )

I started out with Nancy Drew before realizing most of the girls in my class were reading ND while most of the boys were reading The Hardy Boys. Pssh! I crossed the divide and read BOTH!

I nearly went crazy trying to find all the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books. The public and school libraries had patchy collections; combined it was frustratingly close to complete. I started to keep a list. Then I learned there were spin-off series, the equally infinite Files/Casefiles and I think there was a Nancy Drew Summer Love series or some crap like that.

I remember this particular book because this is where I stopped reading them. Instead of the charmingly light fluff mystery or cheesy Scooby-Doo-like suspense, they killed Iola! This was almost 20 years ago, but I ended the book feeling like the Hardy boys had started off on a quest for vengeance, that now that they've used guns and were fighting terrorists they would no longer be the nice boys-next-door who were entertaining, useful, and generically good-looking, leaving you at your door with a tame peck on the cheek. The newly serious HBoyz were out for blood. The bubble burst and I realized all the hundreds of books had the same storyline. Ah, the newly awakened feeling of betrayal. Bye-bye, Ms. Drew, Mr. Hardy, Mr. Hardy. Thanks for keeping me reading.

The cover of this edition is not what I remember...I think there was a jeep with a gun mounted on the back. One Hardy boy was at the wheel, the other was at the gun, both were squinting with the speed of the driving. Huh. ( )