Deathgame

The Hardy Boys Casefiles #7

by Franklin W. Dixon

Survival is never child's play.

Where is Biff Hooper? The Hardy's friend secretly went off to a survival game camp in Georgia -- and never came back. But before leaving he did tell Joe. So when Orville Brand, the camp director, claims Biff was never there, the Hardy boys suspect foul play.

Under cover of darkness Frank and Joe break into the camp grounds. To their amazement they find the Ultimo Survival Camp is actually a training site for an elite corps of attack troops, led by a shadowy strongman named Hammerlock. Suddenly the brothers are trapped in a real-life struggle for survival against the toughest enemy they've ever had to face....

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Young Adult, Childrens, Detective

160 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Franklin W. Dixon is the pen name used by a variety of different authors who were part of a team that wrote The Hardy Boys novels for the Stratemeyer Syndicate (now owned by Simon & Schuster). Dixon was also the writer attributed for the Ted Scott Flying Stories series, published by Grosset & Dunlap.
Canadian author Leslie McFarlane is believed to have written the first sixteen Hardy Boys books, but worked to a detailed plot and character outline for each story. The outlines are believed to have originated with Edward Stratemeyer, with later books outlined by his daughters Edna C. Squier and Harriet Stratemeyer Adams. Edward and Harriet also edited all books in the series through the mid-1960s. Other writers of the original books include MacFarlane's wife Amy, John Button, Andrew E. Svenson, and Adams herself; most of the outlines were done by Adams and Svenson. A number of other writers and editors were recruited to revise the outlines and update the texts in line with a more modern sensibility, starting in the late 1950s.
The principal author for the Ted Scott books was John W. Duffield.

Reviews

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another entry in the Hardy Boys series.

When a friend of the Hardys, an aficionado of survival paintball type games, goes to a camp catering to such folks, he disappears. The Hardys investigate, and discover that it's a front for recruiting mercenaries. Then they wind up on the wrong side of the most dangerous game.

Not bad, but not really Hardy-esque.

[☮ morgan ☮ · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Most people don't almost get themselves killed twice in one day"

Ok, I was really not expecting this at all. I knew that this was a separate series than the original Hardy Boys books, but this one really felt like an action hero/ horror movie.

[Wes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its "The Most Dangerous Game" before I knew that existed. Without a doubt its derivative but it was still a very competent thriller and actually gave some good information on survival tactics should you ever find yourself hunted by a mildly psychotic, heavily armed mercenary.

[Ethan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I it is a good adventure.

[Anish Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

one hell of an epic thriller

[Div · Rating 4 out of 5]

far far better than Nancy Drew! loving these books so much.

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! I picked it up at a second-hand book store and read it very quickly! This book is super exciting and suspenseful!

[Seema M. Fazil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ohhh, I really loved this Hardy Boys book I don't know any other way to express it.
Even though there were some parts that were quite slow and boring, what I enjoyed most about this Hardy Boys book was the brotherly love between our favorite brothers, Frank and Joe. God, it was so amazing, it made me smile. I also enjoyed the humor added between them.

He was still brooding about Frank. If Joe survived this thing and Frank didn't, how would he explain it to their parents? He imagined his mother fighting back tears. Joe's own eyes began to sting and fill. He quickly blinked back the tears before the others could see them

Frank got to his feet, rubbing his knuckles where Brand had battered them. Joe ran over to him.
"Miss me?" Frank asked with a grin.
Frank was the color of mud, from head to toe.
Joe looked him over in disbelief. "You look like a walking lump of oatmeal."
"That's a nice way to talk to someone who just saved your life."
Joe hugged him fiercely. "I don't care if I do get crud all over me!"

There is one thing I didn't like about this book, though. Due to his injury, Biff keeps being forgotten. For instance, near the ending of the book, (SPOILER!!) when Frank, Joe, Lauren, and Terry were celebrating their victory for beating the bad guys, I thought, what about Biff? After all, he kind of helped out by signaling for them that the colonel was coming when their trap was set for him.
One more thing. Biff's fat? I've always imagined him to be slim for some reason. When Frank mentioned to him, "You've got to stop eating all those burgers, Biff!" I was like, what?!

Overall, it was splendid read. Would recommend to a Hardy Boys fan.

[Alli_aye · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Hardy Boys were freaking amazing. Alongside the cool Nancy Drew, I read everything I could. I’m sure it was Candy that told me when we were kids that these series were ghostwritten by a whole bunch of people. I happily repressed this info until I was trying to buy this book online recently and I was perplexed all over again. What a great, timeless way of selling a shit load of books. The fast pace, the teenagers being the cleverest in the room and some cool adventures had me hooked. A main character dies in this particular novel and the death knocked me for six. This series and Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy were my childhood books. I reread HG2G frequently as an adult, but not this series but I remember it fondly

[Bookish Indulgenges with b00k r3vi3ws · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I first read Hardy Boys, I think I was in class 5, I had such a crush on Frank Hardy. I liked the brainy one over the brawny one and that sums up my first impression of Hardy Boys.
In their late teens, Frank and Joe Hardy take after their detective father Fenton Hardy. Frank is the older of the two and has more breakthroughs in the cases because he is the brainy one. Joe is the younger brother who more often than not is useful when things get hot and they need to fight their way out.
Like Nancy Drew, the books in the The Hardy Boys series re written by ghostwriters under the collective pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon. And yes, the earlier books were better than the latter ones.

[Jacqueline · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's The Most Dangerous Game, with the Hardy Boys and Biff.
Biff becomes obsessed with survival games and decides to sneak off to a survival game camp. when he doesn't return home, the Hardy boys have to find out what happened.
But the head of the Camp is using it to train mercenaries and those that fail are sent to a private island to be hunted as game. Soon Frank, Joe, Biff, and three others are fighting for their lives.

[Chrysanthemum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy cow - that was amazing. This book needs to have a 6 star review. It was action packed and made my heart race! It was giving me flashbacks to reading The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell in high school. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed that short story as well as anyone who enjoys a fast paced mystery!

[Hannah Belyea · Rating 3 out of 5]

After their friend Biff goes missing while attending survival camp, Frank and Joe decide to find him, only to learn that there is more peril to this camp than meets the eye! Dixon will have readers glued to the pages with this entry!

[Happy Super Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

very good

[Benjamin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

This was surprisingly well-written and entertaining. Ch.13 was excellent. I’m not the target audience, so my issues with it may be no problem for the age it’s written for. Fun nonetheless.

[Fred · Rating 2 out of 5]

Loved this book when it first came out. It had all the thrill of Rambo, without having to endure the gruesome movie scenes. Almost 40 uears later, it is still entertaining, but solely as eighties entertainment. So much of what I thought was realism proved false, solely for entertainment value.Good for a quick afternoon read.

[Partridge Public]

Dixon, Franklin W.

[Dannuel Delizo · Rating 3 out of 5]

a harmless "war" fought with paint-pellet guns.

[Vijaynarain Rangarajan · Rating 4 out of 5]

First ever Hardy Boys book. Read it when I was 8.

[Kai]

The book The Hardy Boys no.7 Death Game by Franklin w. Dixon was a very interesting story. I really liked it and had a really fun time reading it. It was one book that I actually enjoyed reading and wanted to read. I really liked the book because of the characters and their age and personality. It really made the book fun and intense and has a really cool story and twist there is a lot of mystery and action that makes it very entertaining to read my favorite character is frank because he is brave and smart and really cares about his friends like how he risks his life to save Biff. This book did not really have that many quotes but it was good at descriptions like on page 27 it says “swept the back of his hand across his stinging cheek. A thin smear of dirt and blood ribbed onto his hand. He was already moving, rolling toward the nearest scrub grass-covered hill. Got to get out of here. Grab some cover, he kept repeating himself. A new wave of gunshots smashed into the wooden figures. Bullets ripped through the dirt around him, even though he was clear of the clustered targets.” I liked this because I really picture the scene.