27th May 2023

For nostalgia reasons, I’m revisiting the Enid Blyton series that I read as a kid, and have now arrived at this entry.

Three Cheers is a great Seven story, seeing them randomly find a mystery and need to investigate it. It shows a level of social consciousness that’s not often present, and paints a picture (maybe unintentionally) of the class divide of the era.

However as a modern reader there’s a hugely clear level of sexism within the seven - the boys must do almost everything, and only one of the girls gets anything to really do as part of the plot, most of the time just being told to stay at home or otherwise being excluded. Weirdly though this doesn’t extend to the protagonist character Susie, who although the boys act towards with sexism, refuses to partake herself and demonstrates a lot of agency. It’s an odd contrast between the characters and I’m not really sure what it’s meant to be saying to the reader.

Overall though a very simple, quick tale, without any risk or danger.

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1st August 2022

In what I remember as one of my favourite Hardy Boys adventures, the brothers are hired to run a mystery weekend at a nearby hotel, only to find themselves investigating a real crime too.

It’s a relatively simple story, told over just 16 chapters and in surprisingly large type in my copy. But simple is good, and it remains a very enjoyable and different adventure, with almost none of the problematic elements that were still evident in the novels of this era.

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26th June 2022

A surprisingly interesting mid-80s Hardy Boys adventure.

The brothers are hired to investigate sabotage at a company making computerised cars, with some surprisingly prescient examples of voice interfaces.

It’s a bit wild for the time period, but holds up pretty well and probably could be translated to a modern setting with minimal tweaks.

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4th June 2022

The third book of this mid-eighties new era of Hardy Boys feels like it’s toned things back down a bit. The techno aspects are still there, but supplement the plot rather than steal focus.

There’s still an increased focus on violence, especially a lot of guns, which is uncomfortable.

However there are positive changes too. There are a lot more female characters, including making more of the established women and bringing in women as functional guest characters where previously there would have been just another man. There’s a really notable shift in the narration’s attitude towards Chet too, moving away from body-shaming language entirely.

I also like the relaxed dialogue we’re seeing. The characters feel more like real people in their interactions, and for the first time we see a hint that Fenton and Laura’s relationship is more than just worrying about their children.

The plot of this one is fairly good I think, though not really a solvable mystery, just more of an interesting adventure.

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2nd June 2022

Finally a Bayport-based mystery again, and that allows us to see the whole of the Hardy Boys gang, including the random decision in this novel to relabel their aunt as “Gertie”.

It’s 1984, and the fascinations of the era continue to dominate - technology and ghosts in this case.

It’s a fairly solid mystery, but there’s almost too much going on, with at my count five different strands which don’t entirely flow together.

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1st June 2022

It’s 1983 and the Hardy brothers are off on their travels again, this time to Florida to do the Space Centre and Theme Parks. Oh and solve crimes.

I’m not sure there’s a huge amount of mystery solving going on, mostly the plot seems to involve following people around, then waiting for them to give themselves away. I’m not even sure the plot actually makes sense.

The body shaming of their friend Chet continues, although it seems like the authors have become less imaginative, just using the same word over and over to describe him. This novel does however see a more meaningful role for a female character than I remember up to this point, which is a small amount of progress, but only small.

What really stands out though is that there’s a step up in brutality. The baddies have a lot of murderous intent towards the Hardys, but also the Hardys themselves are almost joyful in torturing two of their own prisoners, which doesn’t sit well as a modern reader.

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31st October 2021

In this holidays the seven have to find a new meeting place when Peter and Janet’s father recklessly approves the refurbishment of their usual shed at exactly the time they most want to use it.

As a child, I only ever had this story as an audio book, and I remember it being one of the scarier of the series. As an adult reading it, it does seem less scary, possibly because I’m more in control of the flow of the narrative.

It’s a good little adventure, with some classic moments.

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