The Vanishing Game

Hardy Boys Adventures #3

by Franklin W. Dixon

A thrilling amusement park ride turns diabolically deadly in this Hardy Brothers adventure—a fresh approach to a classic series.

Joe and Frank Hardy are attending the season’s opening night at Funspot, a local amusement park that’s been declining for years, but that recently got new owners and a facelift. Their friend Daisy’s family has everything riding on Funspot’s If the revamped park is a failure, her family will be broke! At first, an exhilarating new attraction is a huge hit—but when one of the riders disappears into thin air, fun and games turns into spine-tingling danger. Will the Hardy Brothers find the missing rider and restore Funspot’s reputation, or is the amusement park doomed for disaster?

Genres: Mystery, Middle Grade, Audiobook, Fiction, Detective, Young Adult, Childrens

134 pages, Paperback

First published June 4, 2013

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

[Bill Riggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is turning out to be pretty interesting. The author seems to be finding his stride. I really enjoyed the amusement park setting and was not expecting the ending at all. Off to read the next one right now!

[C.J. Milbrandt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frank and Joe are asked to look into a mysterious disappearance at the local theme park. An interesting little mystery with enough red herrings to keep the Hardy Boys guessing. Updated to reflect current trends and technology. Likeable.

[Shreyas · Rating 1 out of 5]

'The Vanishing Game' (Hardy Boys Adventures #3) by Franklin W. Dixon.

“I suppose we could let you borrow the footage,” Greg went on, folding his arms in front of him. Then he cracked a small smile. “The Piperato Brothers of the future.”

I had a sudden vision of Frank and me ten years from now, dressed in bow ties and fedoras, carrying computers the size of a deck of cards. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing.

Rating: 1.0/5.




Review:
I have been an avid fan of the Hardy Boys books ever since I discovered a battered copy of 'The Shore Road Mystery' in my grandfather's attic during my school days. Since then, the Hardy Boys books have undergone many reboots as they were updated to keep up with the modern times and I have loved every single iteration of these books – be it the original texts, the revised texts, the digests, the Casefiles continuity, or the Undercover Brothers continuity.

It was during the pandemic that I decided to give the newest reboot (Hardy Boys Adventures) of the series a try. I read the first two books of the new series and was left utterly disappointed. It's not as if I have grown out of the age of reading these books or am biased against a different interpretation. I still read the different iterations of the Hardy Boys stories and enjoy them a lot, so that's completely out of the question. The Hardy Boys Adventures left me disappointed because it is merely Hardy Boys by name only – it lacks the essence of all that made the earlier versions so good. The first two books suffered from the same issues – poor plotting, no buildup whatsoever, and a hasty conclusion. It left a bitter taste in my mouth, and I decided not to continue reading any more books in this newer iteration.

Three years later, after seeing some good reviews for the recent books in the Hardy Boys Adventures series, I finally dared to pick up the third book of the series. I must confess that this book has not succeeded in changing my views on this newer iteration of the Hardy Boys. It suffers from the same issues as the first two books, but it gets much worse. While there's an underlying mystery, it seems the Hardy Brothers hardly do anything at all to solve it. Most of the sleuthing is done by the Bayport Police, while the Hardys just randomly stumble upon something that unravels the case further (but without active sleuthing skills as demonstrated in the earlier iterations).

There is a part in the story where the Hardy brothers get trapped inside the G-Force ride. In any of the earlier iterations of the Hardy Boys books, the brothers would have thought hard and tried to get out of this predicament on their own. Instead, here we get an MCU-style joke of missing a geometry test, and the Hardys do nothing but shout a lot and get rescued soon. Pfft.

After ousting a potential culprit to the police, the story just skips forward to a few days. Like, literally, it starts with "A few days later". Joe comes out of his class after retaking the geometry test he had missed days ago and then asks Frank what happened with the police's search for the culprit. So, you mean, the two brothers had no time to talk about this over the last few days while at home or commuting to school together? What a load of crap!

While the two brothers never aged in the earlier iterations, there were often references to the previous cases in the same continuity of that iteration, and each iteration maintained an internal consistency. However, this seems to not be the case with the Hardy Boys Adventures. In the first two books, the brothers mentioned that they were not allowed to use mobile phones by their father until they got into college, and hence, they had to solve cases without them. But, in the third book, the Hardy brothers are openly flaunting and using their mobile phones.

The cover art was reminiscent of that of the paperback edition of 'The Mystery of the Whale Tattoo' from the original continuity. However, it is a highly misleading cover art. The scene never actually takes place in the book. It is, in fact, a dream sequence mentioned in passing in the text - and that is just limited to a single sentence.

Most of the Hardy Boys books are standalone stories, except for the trilogies in the Undercover Brothers continuity, but they were marketed as trilogies. This book is shamelessly disguised as a standalone story but ends on a frustrating cliffhanger. It simply negates all the "sleuthing" that happened in this book as it was inconsequential, and it is plainly apparent that the culprits caught towards the end of the book are most likely wrongfully imprisoned. The cliffhanger ending is frustrating enough since the book is only 120 pages long, and it could have been twice as long and accommodated the entire story. Unfortunately, the author and the publishers chose it to be a cash grab attempt to fool the fans who bought this book as a standalone story to make them buy the next book.

Overall, this book was yet another disappointing read. With this book, the Hardy Boys Adventure series has succeeded in achieving a hattrick of 1-star ratings. I was planning on giving up on this series and checking out the books in the earlier Hardy Boys iterations that I haven't read instead... but the cliffhanger seems to have done its job. I'll have to check out the next book and see how this ends. Sigh.

[Fuzaila · Rating 2 out of 5]

I should have read this book long ago. I should have grown up with Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew stories like most others. I should have read this before I discovered The Book Thief, The Count of Monte Cristo and the likes. When, the only literature I knew was Tinkle comics and Goosebumps. Maybe then I would have loved this better.

Frank and Joe , better known as The Hardy Boys, are all excited to ride the phenomenal G-Force, a ride at the amusement park Funspot, for the first time. The park owner Hector is their friend Daisy's father, so they get to be one of the first to ride G-Force.
The ride turns out to be amazing for them, only, a girl goes missing while on it. The Hardy Boys offer to investigate the case and they find out not-so-great details about Daisy's father and Cal, the ride operator. So, how did the girl dissappear mid-ride? Who's behind it? What would be their motive?

I did not like how the story turned out. While reading a mystery or suspense, I like to guess on what would happen, think about how I missed a crucial point that was mentioned in the beginning. But here, the story just goes on, unfolding newer details later on. We don't get any hint in the beginning that would let us speculate or unravel the mystery. That definitely is NOT how I like my mysteries.

In short, this is just the kind of book I am too old to enjoy. Otherwise, the writing was good, the characters likeable and the story, fun. I wish I liked it better though 😌

[Ken W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun book! This book series is what the Hulu tv series should have been! Fun, short mystery adventures! I loved this and can’t wait to read the next one! Five stars!

[HARI NAGABANDI · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Vanishing Game

it is a very good book i recommend it to people who are interested in mystery and suspense.
Thank you

[Derek · Rating 1 out of 5]

As a longtime fan, since about age 6, of the original Hardy Boys stories, this was my first foray into this new series, which features a first person narrative, alternating between Frank and Joe. It was disappointing to see no mention of any of their longtime friends, not even Chet. It was bizarre to see no mention of their parents, only mentions of an "Aunt Trudy" without any appearance by her. Their new friends are a bit too politically correct in my opinion.

The boys and their dates, Daisy and Penelope, were excited to go on a new ride at their local amusement park, an expensive new one designed by a pair of brothers, famous for creating amusement rides around the world. The park was owned by the father of Daisy, Joe's date, who had mortgaged his house to finance this new ride.

Daisy arranged for the foursome to cut through the hundreds of people waiting so they could go on the first ride without waiting in line. About twenty people are let inside this ride, all by one attendant, "an older gruff-looking guy" named Cal. Anyone familiar with the older Hardy Boys books immediately would be suspicious of Cal based on the way he was described. On the first ride, just as it ends, everyone is shocked that the seat restraints holding another friend were cut and the girl who was there had vanished.

As soon as we learn this fact, the book jumps to a time six days later, and we learn that the girl is still missing. The Hardys are asked by Daisy to try to help, on the quiet, and they spend time talking to Daisy's father, Hector, and the operator Cal, and the ride designers, the Piperato Brothers, who shock everyone by appearing to be excited about the publicity due to the missing rider. They produced a video for the Internet calling it "The Death Ride" and seem totally unconcerned about the welfare of the missing teen.

Now it seemed obvious to me before I was 1/4 through the book who the likely suspects are, and while this is not new for Hardy Boy books to not be true mysteries in that regard, the boys' failure to even consider the obvious suspects was something they never used to do.

What troubled me was the lack of more than a tiny bit of detective work. I wanted to see what the boys did right after the girl disappeared. It seemed that the park would have video--set in 2013--that would show if she walked out of the park with or without anyone, for example. This was never mentioned. How could she have been taken out of the ride before it stopped, seems like a likely starting point. The old Hardys would have been going over the interior of the ride compartment to see if there was any other way out instead of the big doors they all entered, since they knew those didn't open. We don't even get to read about the police checking the machine over for such things.

The jumping ahead to a week after, was done later in the same manner. It's like they wanted to skip the central part of the investigation because they knew the key to the whole thing would need to be revealed in what they wrote. So we follow the Hardys talking to other teens, Cal, and the other characters mentioned, finding no answers, no real clues other than a connection between two of them that was hidden.

Unlike the old books, where Frank and Joe would move about from their home to a downtown hotel, to their boat, to another house in a nearby town, to a warehouse, to a restaurant, to a train station--and those places would be typical of the early books where they stayed in or around Bayport the entire story, this book seems to have them visiting very few places other than the amusement park and their school. The later books in the original series saw them traversing the globe, chasing after criminals, getting lots of frequent flier mileage.

Here they keep going on the ride over and over, learning almost nothing useful. We have far too much attention paid to the fact that Joe is "into" Daisy and that she seems to not be returning the interest.

The question of motive seems to never be a concern. The old Hardys would have quickly figured out who stood to gain from the girl's disappearance and focused on the proper suspect(s).

Another problem I had was the one scene where the two boys confront a suspect and as they seem to have caught him in a lie, suddenly we read that "The impact came as fast and hard as a bowling ball..." without learning the impact of what, just that our hero was grabbed and shoved and thrown into darkness, and that suddenly Joe was thrown in with him. The impact of what was never stated and it is really unclear how the boys, suspicious of the one person they were talking to, were suddenly both clobbered and captured by that one person, without putting up any sort of a fight.

Here again we have a much less dramatic ending to the "captured" part of the story. The old books would see the boys cleverly find a way to get out of the room in which they were trapped. Here, they quip about having a test at school that day, yell for help and almost immediately are rescued.

Then the Hardys are told that the police have found the key to what happened inside the ride. The Hardys had nothing to do with the discovery of this evidence, they aren't even around at the time. They aren't involved in any sort of hunt for the culprit as the police seem to do 88% of the detective work in this entire book.

The original stories were usually about 205 pages, the revised versions, written in the 1950s-70s were usually about 180 pages. I note that this entry checks in at 134. The cover art depicts a scene that isn't even close to anything that happened in the story, which is another weak point.

A good Hardy Boy story has the boys cleverly finding clues, chasing crooks, and really discovering the mystery of whatever. They don't have to get into a fight with bad guys, they don't have to have the bad guys attempt to kill them or hold them prisoner, and they don't have to travel across the country or around the world. They normally did some of these things in the older stories, but this book has them doing none of those things. If any young person read The Vanishing Game and liked it, I strongly suggest they get hold of one of the original, or revised, stories from 1927-1979 and see how much more exciting these stories are. To anyone who didn't think much of it, try an older story and see how much more involved the boys are in actually investigating and solving the crime. The difference The Vanishing Game and one of the original stories is much like the difference between sticking your toe into the water in a bathtub, or going swimming in the ocean on a warm summer day.

[Raine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like the Piperino brothers I need a book just about them who are they...why are they like that...where did they get their suits and fedoras...?

[Jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the clunky Mystery of the Phantom Heist I was pleasantly surprised by The Vanishing Game. This reminds me a lot more of what I used to enjoy about The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew as a kid. In this case, the boys actually solve the crime (to a point) and uncover not a sinister plot to seize power or do something nefarious, but a scheme involving the kidnapping of two teenagers for nefarious reasons that actually made sense once you realized what was going on.

The publisher really needs to have a continuity person, though. In Secret of the Red Arrow, Frank states that their father won't allow them to have smartphones until college. In Mystery of the Phantom Heist Frank has a cell phone, which was okay, because it wasn't a smartphone, but in this one, Joe uses his smartphone to take photos and make a video of the ride where the kids disappeared. Um... hello? Also, the cover illustration does not take place in the book. I hate that.

[Jaguar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good. Nice adventure/mystery book. I can't wait till October so I can read the next one.

[Amy (I'd Rather Be Sleeping) · Rating 2 out of 5]

If the last chapter had been handled differently, this would have been a one star read. But, because this is the first of a continuing mystery (seems like it will be a duology) I will be a little less harsh. This is entirely because we don't really get a mystery resolution and, more than that, we do not get a confession.

For me, I don't really believe the mystery has been solved until the culprit admits to their dastardly deeds - a 'and I would have gotten away with it, too, if not for you meddling kids' if you will. Because this book does not have that, this was another bad mark for it - until the last chapter ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. Indicating that the mystery isn't over and I still might get my moment - or the culprit might not be the actual culprit. (Either way.)

Now, other issues I had.

The cover. It has only the most tangential bearing on the mystery herein. It was, in fact, a scene from a dream/nightmare that Frank had. It does not actually happen in the book, nor anything that even vaguely resembles this moment. (How desperate are they for action/adventure moments if the cover has to come from a dream? Judging by the lack of verve in these stories, very.)

The revolving door of girlfriends, crushes, and maybe's. In the first book Joe had a crush on a girl. Okay. In the second book, he is not interested in any. Good. (After all, it was all I could do to put up with Frank's girl trouble in the second book.) In this third book, Joe is dating a totally different girl than the crush in the first book. And, in fact, is dating a girl that hadn't been mentioned previously. Which, admittedly, feels kind of odd considering the fact that so far every single book has taken place in Bayport with at least some scenes in school.

I wish that the boys would either get steady girlfriends - like they had in the original series - or that they would just quit being interested in girls. Because, honestly, this is going to annoy me much more than the ... lackluster mysteries.

Which, this mystery wasn't bad, it's just... I don't know. It's the best so far, if that means anything?

(Also, side note, Frank sounds like such a middle aged man sometimes. It's hilarious.)

*edited to add, because I forgot*
Also, also, also...

The ride? You know, the one that sounds so awesome an all the teens love? I've seen and read things about how things like this (loud music, specific images, (and these do not sound like happy images) and movements (though this one less than the other two)) have been used as torture and/or brainwashing methods. So... And, honestly, this ride does not sound fun or exhilarating in any way. The kids that ride it seem to love it, but there's a lack of any real reason/explanation why, as far as I can tell. ... Other than the fact that they are teenagers.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 3 out of 5]

The biggest news of this novel is that Joe has a girlfriend, Daisy, and her parents have just bought a local amusement park. The success of the park depends heavily on the opening of their star attraction—G-Force. But a great opening day turns to horror when Daisy’s friend Kelly disappears off the G-Force ride without a trace. Frank and Joe immediately agree to help find the missing girl, but things quickly get confusing when Daisy—after asking for their help—starts to get angry with Joe for investigating. When a second person disappears, the tension gets even greater. Daisy’s father is keeping secrets and there is a creepy guy working for the park that seems to be involved.

Overall, it’s a nice little mystery, but the police seem particularly incompetent. Frank and Joe get their hands on video which the police should have found. I also think that the police should have located the trick that allows people to vanish. But, that would have made it harder for Frank and Joe to shine.

Most unusual for this series so far, there’s a cliff hanger ending after the mystery is solved.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok but seriously, the main thing for me was how did the hardy brothers suddenly get smartphones when the past 2 books has been about how they can’t get smartphones until they’re in college and Joe even has to get a tablet instead of a smartphone so they can search stuff up on the go in the last book????????
I thought for sure the those stupid amusement park ride brothers were involved but the ending makes it seem like they were framed. Also, I have to say, compared to Frank, Joe is much more collected when it comes to dating girls and investigating things. He actually thought about how Daisy (at Least her Dad) was involved in the crime without getting butthurt about it like Frank did in the last book with his (kind-of) girl. Still smh for that dumb dumb Frank moment. Ohhh also Olaf seemed waaaay chill in this book compared to the last 2 books. I’m fact, he actually let the hardy bros question the G-force brothers which doesn’t seem like something Olaf would do based on his past behavior.
Anyway, they left us on a cliffhanger so guess I gotta read the next one.

[Chrysanthemum · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was better than the previous two. Although, I will say again that I am slightly disappointed that the scene on the cover only came up in one sentence, and it was hardly needed or relevant to the story. This one did a much better job of making the perpetrator less obvious, and I like how it is going to be continued in the fourth book. Great for those looking for a short, fast paced mystery.

[Delanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

In the last book the Hardy Boys weren't trusted with smartphones and now Frank has one.

Frank downloads a night vision app without a night vision capable camera and it works perfectly.

The cover, like the first 2, is totally false. Frank has a DREAM that he's falling off of a ride. It's only 1 sentence. There are much better things to base the cover off of.

That being said this one was slightly more enjoyable than the last two.

[Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frank and Joe are in another sticky one Frank meets a girl named Daisy her dad Hector just bought an amusement park. He bought a new ride for the park called Funspot. The new ride is called G-Force made by two brothers with the names of Greg and Derek Piperato. One day people get on the ride and a girl goes missing. Later A boy named Luke went missing... will the Hardy's figure this one out...

[Blaire Malkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than the first of these we read... still not my favorite, but there was some real tension about how these disappearances were occurring and I think would remain mysterious until reveal for most kids even if a bit transparent for adults...the ending was a big cliffhanger and my son insisted on starting the next one immediately.

[Craig Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great Hardy Boys adventure. I think I'm liking these newer editions. They're a lot of fun. Frank and Joe seem to have a bit more distinct personalities than the originals, but I still get them a little mixed up. This one is a fun adventure at a fair where people start to go missing. Plenty of mystery and intrigue that makes you want to find out what happened!

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the second year in a row, the twelfth book I read was a Hardy boys book that takes place at a theme park. I did prefer the first, as it had a roller coaster in it, but this one was good too. I did wish that the Hardys friends like Chet Morton would be characters. I also wish they had at the end said to be continued. Although the end was a cliffhanger, I didn’t realize at first that the next book in the series is a continuation of this story.

[Karis Anna-Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this! The tone is fun, there's not too much focus on the romance, and the mystery is pretty great. Frank trying (unsuccessfully) to break the ice between Joe and Daisy by explaining how toilets work is hilarious.

[Day Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the Hardy boys coming up twice within 24h, I decided it was time to give one a read. I love a good teen detective story and this was pretty steady - good mystery, red herrings, interesting side characters (I'd love a Piperino brothers spin off) but perhaps not a memorable story. 3.5⭐

[Jorge Raymund Maravilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story

one of the best books in this series so far.

spoiler alert:
the ending was a cliff hanger...it made me ask more question..

[Alaina Thomson]

:}

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. And such a quick read, too.

[Britney Dillon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know why I keep torturing myself. These books are terrible.

[Rachel Flavin · Rating 5 out of 5]

500 stars according to the 9 year old

[Mothman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit out of my age group, but I still enjoyed it. Wtf happened to Daisy tho

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super fun.

[Michelle Damour · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 12 year old son loves these

[Cindy]

The Vanishing Game