The Disappearance (Hardy Boys Adventures #18) by Franklin W. Dixon

Title: The Disappearance

Series: Hardy Boys Adventures

Author: Franklin W. Dixon (pen name)

Release Date: February 19, 2019

Publisher: Aladdin

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★★★☆☆

Synopsis:

It’s a case of hidden identities for brother detectives Frank and Joe in the in the eighteenth book in the thrilling Hardy Boys Adventures series.

The Hardy brothers and Frank’s new girlfriend, Jones, are attending a local comic book convention on the shore. They meet up with Jones’s friend Harper, a fellow comics super fan, on the boardwalk outside the convention. The four of them spend hours running from booth to booth and end the perfect day with pizza at Harper’s short-term rental apartment.

Things don’t stay so perfect, though. On the way home, Jones realizes she switched phones with Harper by accident and she is getting some really scary texts. When they show up at the apartment the next day, they find it totally destroyed and Harper is missing.

Frank and Joe start digging into their new friend’s life, hoping to find out where she might have gone, but the more they find out about her, the more mysterious she becomes. Can Frank and Joe find this secretive character? Or has she disappeared forever?

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My Review:

It's been a while since I've last picked up a Hardy Boys Adventures.

With its intriguing, catching cover, ever since its release, I've been wanting to pick up The Disappearance for a long time.

In this installment of the Hardy Boys Adventures series, the Hardys' friend, Harper, goes missing. The mystery was fishy. Before she disappeared, Harper was acting strange at the comic book convention. Looking around her like she was afraid of someone. We notice that about her right away as soon as we meet her. As someone who loves geeking out, I enjoyed the description of the comic book convention. Then the next day, when the Hardys returned to her apartment to return her phone, she was missing and her apartment was ransacked!

Harper was a mysterious character. After she disappeared, the Hardys find out fishy things about her. Who was she?

The Disappearance intrigued me until the end.

While I enjoyed The Disappearance, I've only got a few comments.

• Isn't Joe 17? Earlier in the book, it mentioned that he was around 16.

• Being into things like comics doesn't suit Frank. Isn't it more of a Joe thing? (I'm not sure if the author read the Hardy Boys before)

• I didn't like Jones, Frank's girlfriend. I felt like she was in the way of the Hardys, and I hated that there were a few times when Frank acted okay with the fact that she can be a replacement for Joe in the sleuthing. Frank annoyed me in that! That was not Frank!

• The cover didn't match the story. The cover may be intriguing and exciting, but it didn't happen in the story.

  
  

  Overall, while I enjoyed The Disappearance, it wasn't the best Hardy Boys I've ever read.