Night of the Werewolf

The Hardy Boys #59

by Franklin W. Dixon

A ferocious, wolf-like creature appears during the night of the full moon in a small Adirondack town, attacking livestock and scaring many of the residents. A young man with a history of werewolves in his family line is suspect. Joe barely escapes a horrible death as the young detectives solve this exciting and hair-raising mystery.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Childrens, Young Adult, Adventure, Classics, Werewolves

181 pages, Paperback

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

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Different than usual for this series...but still great.

[Hazel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is this our first supernatural themed hardy boys? I doubt it but it kind of feels like it is.

[Tommy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book ever...period

[Satash V · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hardy boys and werewolves in same book. Can there be anything better?
Oh wait, Franklin pulled a total Scooby-Doo. Even better!!!!

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

SPOILERS! This has one of the most complex/convoluted plots of any HB book and deserves 5 stars just for its wanton audacity. Verily I say unto thee: you have to read it to believe it.

It turns out that the mystery is actually three mysteries, so I would like to challenge future readers to study the explanation of each mystery, unraveled below, then read the book to see how the author actually pulls this crap off.

Mystery #1: Karel Tabor’s assistant Xavier wants Karel’s job as head honcho architect, but Karel’s fresh-out-of-college son John is so awesome that John will most likely get the job when Karel retires. This is bad news for Xavier, but he’s already a bad guy since he has caused engineering disasters at three of Karel’s projects in order to defame Karel and cause his early retirement. Xavier, therefore, has a plan to defame John: causing him to go crazy and make him think he’s suffering from his family’s werewolf curse; using a nurse at John’s sanitarium the plant micro speakers in John’s room from which Xavier can speak to John, thereby making John think he’s hearing voices; and, having the nurse hypnotize John so that he will go into a trance whenever he hear’s a wolf howl, thereupon walking zombie-like to a secret cabin in the woods. While John is thus hidden, Xavier perpetrates incidents around town that he makes sure are blamed on a werewolf. Xavier even dresses up his Doberman Pinscher in a suit of glow-in-the-dark animal fur and makes sure people see it. He plants rumors in local media about the Tabor curse, and even dresses up as a wolfman himself and scurries around the woods near a Tabor family cookout.

But two complications arise for Xavier. First, his boss Karel figures out that Xavier is the cause of the three engineering accidents and forces Xavier to confess his crimes on an audio tape. Karel locks the tape in a safe and swears not to reveal Xavier’s crimes in return for his promise to reform himself. Xavier then hires an ex-con, Bubbles Upton, son of a rival architectural firm magnate, to break into the safe and steal the recordings. Xavier helps Bubbles by hiding the safe’s combination (and a map of where it is) inside a lunchbox conveniently placed on the 25th floor of an under-construction Manhattan skyscraper, which Bubbles will have to retrieve by scaling along a grappling hook’s rope thrown from the window of an adjacent building (Bubbles will eventually open the safe with explosives).

The second complication to Xavier‘s plan is when Karel hires the Hardy boys to figure out what’s wrong with his son John. Xavier then goes to Bayport, follows the Hardy Boys to a restaurant, secretly steals Frank’s jacket so that Xavier‘s ersatz werewolf (the Doberman) can find and attack the boy. And, for good measure, Xavier shoots a silver bullet into the side of the Hardy’s house.

Did you get all that?

Mystery #2: Gustav Tabor is an elderly, distant, Czechoslovakian relative of Karel and John Tabor who wants to will his vast fortune to a worthy family member. Gustav’s only European heir is a Frenchman, Paul Clermont, who is unworthy of Gustav. So, Gustav hires an American private eye, Elmo Yancey, to investigate whether John is worthy to receive his millions. Clermont, knowing of the Tabor werewolf curse, comes to the U.S., learns of the werewolf scare centered around John and that John was once in a sanitarium. Clermont secretly informs Yancey about the sanitarium info so he will investigate and report it back to Gustav. Meanwhile, he finagles the sale of a taxidermied wolf, removes the skin and sews straps onto it, as if it can be worn. Clermont then hides it in John’s cabin and tips off the sheriff that he can arrest John for the werewolf troubles by finding evidence in the cabin.

Mystery #3: Dark Eagle was an Iroquois Indian who fought on the side of the UK during the Revolutionary War. For his service, he was taken to London where he met King George III and received a tomahawk made of silver and encrusted with jewels. The tomahawk later went missing, but it turns out it’s somewhere underneath Dark Eagle’s porch. His descendant, Hank Eagle, works for Karel Tabor and becomes concerned when a mystery man starts asking whether he has found the tomahawk yet. As I recall, having just finished this book, the mystery man looking for the tomahawk comes to nothing and he never appears again. But I could be wrong since there is so much happening in this book and I just missed it.

Also, Chet builds a boat.

[yana · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was only seven or eight years ago when I couldn't wait to get through the entirety of teen section of the local library, and half of its section was lined with row after row of hardbound books - either in yellow or blue. Of course they were Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. The fifteen year old me did manage to read all those volumes from the Nancy Drew stack but never made it through the Hardy Boys shelf then. Luckily for me, found this copy among my mom's pile of books so I casually started reading through this - because why the hell not? But after watching tons of shows like The Mentalist and getting through more intrinsically constructed mystery novels, Joe & Frank’s adventures now seem quite lackluster to the adult me. Nonetheless, I don't regret reading this. I'm sure my teen self would've found this worthwhile since the story is shrouded with seemingly supernatural elements acting against the boys as they rush against time to unveil the true perpetrator.

[Clyde Tosalini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shaggy, Scoob and the gang are scared of the werewolf, then at the end they catch it and pull its disguise off and solve the mystery. Chet and Alena seemed to have eaten a lot of Scooby Snacks.

Wait, let me start again. Something is missing in this post-original-series story written by veteran Hardy Boys ghostwriter James Lawrence (who apparently worked from his own outline). Kind of a two-dimensional, flat story, not detailed enough to draw the reader into the "cozy"-type adventures of the original 58.

As usual, characters that have to work for a living, namely Tony Prito, make a guest appearance and then are forgotten, while the millionaire Hardy boys go jetting and driving all over creation, zig-zagging back and forth from New York City to the backwoods (money is no object).

Major spoiler: their case ends up being the same one their father is working on. (Oops, I forgot to format that as a spoiler.)

[Stacey Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Karel Tabors daughter Alena contacts the boys telling them a crazy story that every 7th generation her family has had a member become a werewolf and she's thinking this generation it may be her brother John. The boys don't believe in werewolves but their father had done some work for the architect Karel Tabor before they had just been frightened outside a diner in Bayport with their girlfriends by a glowing wolf so the coincidence was interesting. Plus their father Fenton had done work with Alenas architect father before. So the boys and Chet head to the Adirondack's to help the family. John Tabor does seem to be acting strange and is out at all hours of the night when wolf howls are heard then in the morning he has no recollection of where he'd been. This is a mystery for sure and the boys dive in to find clues and solve it.

[Patty_pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frank e Joe Hardy sono alle prese con la leggenda dei lupi mannari. Una famiglia, ogni sette generazioni, subisce il fascino della leggenda e uno dei suoi componenti si trasformerebbe in un licantropo durante le notti di luna piena. I nostri eroi vengono aggrediti da una bestia enorme e luccicante e si salvano a stento dalle sue grinfie. Le loro indagini si accavallano a quelle del padre, il quale sta indagando su una serie di sabotaggi industriali. Verranno a scoprire che sono strettamente collegate. Dopo tanti pericoli, ipnosi e salvataggi all'ultimo secondo, manco a dirlo, i due ragazzi risolveranno il mistero e l'amico Chet troverà una ammiratrice!
Tre stelline da nostalgia dei tempi passati.

[Gerd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe I'm to old for the Hardy Boys, or maybe it's really just not Dixon's greatest.
The story meanders along for most part making the story feel longer than it really is, there are some twists and turns but nothing feels really connected to each other.
Unfortunately there's also very little werewolf in "Night of the Werewolf" - it's just a not very important side-part of the story although it figures into the showdown, which finally lifts up the writing some again, at least enough to make it a three stars after all.

[Monica Willyard Moen · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was a child, I read these mysteries every chance I got, though I was somewhat limited by the books recorded for library’s for blind children back then. Since I couldn’t read the whole series that was in our public library, I ended up reading and rereading my favorites time after time. I somehow missed this one back then, so I decided to read it now. It was still a lot of fun, even if my adult mind could see some of the plot twists coming a mile away.

[Owen Weesies · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book might be old and hard to find but luckily my dad has multiple of these books. in this book, Joe and frank hardy, sons of the famous detective Fenton hardy, investigate a case that has to do with werewolves in the hawk river area terrorizing the citizens. in the area lives the tabors, who have a family history of werewolves, and their son john tabor is held as a suspect! it's the hardy's job to clear his name, as well as find out who's responsible for the happenings on some of Chelsea builders ( Mr. tabors construction company) recent job site where they are restoring a 200 year old mansion called eagles nest, and at the Chelsea builder's office building in NYC where some secret recording tapes were stolen! and some say Mr. tabor might be responsible! can the Hardy's use the clues they have found, and somehow solve both mysteries, before someone gets hurt? read "The Hardy Boys And The Night of The Werewolf" to find out.

[Truly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mungkinkah benar kutukan yang menimpa keluarga Tabor? Disebutkan bahwa keluarga tersebut akan melahirkan seorang serigala siluman setiap keturunan yang ketujuh. Lalu adakah hubungannya dengan sebuah peternakan pelestarian serigala kerbau? Bagaimana dengan makhluk menyerupai serigala yang muncul tiap malam bulan purnama dan membunuh ternak di Adirindack? Silakan baca di sini

[Leeann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this story very much. I love how this is written and i like how the Hardy boys' dad is the one who tells them about said case. I wasn't to sure how I would like this book but its pretty fantastic.

[Ethan Hulbert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeaaahhhh... werewolves? Really? This put me off of the book from the get go and while it wasn't the worst Hardy Boys book, it definitely wasn't a good one.

[Owen Caldwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great mystery for kids.

[Jaden · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book like all ways.

[Joseph Johnson]

Haaaaaaaaaaaa

[LuAnn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kept my interest with a mystery involving architects and werewolves, and the Hardy boys journey back-and-forth from the Adirondacks to New York City.

[John Teske · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wholesome, and dated.

Have to admit, I read the first 1/3 and then skimmed the rest.

Too many books, too little time.

[Amelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Elena Pousada]

Randall Nugra

Si yo estaba en la misma situación que ellos yo no me metería en la cosas. Yo seguiría con mi vida normal porque yo voy a seguir a un lobo que me puede matar. Nadie en su vida seguiría a un lobo que les ataco porque son curioso. Yo le pregunte a mi mama y ella dijo que también seguirá con su vida normal. Yo no sé lo que puede pasar con mi vida si yo le sigo a un animal loco. Yo también tengo miedo de los lobos y del oscuro y si yo escucho sonidos en la noche yo voy a gritar como niña. Los lobos te pueden matar si te mascan en la mano o en la pierna. Una vez un perro me masco y desde ese día los perros grandes me asustan porque no sabes lo que te pueden hacer. Yo también me iría a la casa y me acostaría en mi cama para dormir y para olvidar lo que paso

John Pasato
Pregunta E

Hubo muchos aspectos de este libro que me parecieron absolutamente ridículos, en particular, el hecho de que alguien puede convertirse en un hombre lobo en la noche de luna llena. Esto por sí solo parece imposible, así que me pregunto por qué los residentes de Bayport realmente lo creen. Los residentes de Bayport acusan a John Tabor de ser un hombre lobo, simplemente porque una vieja leyenda dice que los miembros de su familia se convierten en hombres lobo cada 200 años aproximadamente. Por qué la gente de Bayport parece creer en una vieja leyenda y no pensar en lo estúpido que suena, me supera. ¿Cómo podría alguien convertirse en un hombre lobo? Nadie, excepto la familia de John y los Hardy, se dio cuenta de que no había forma de que esto fuera posible. Sabiendo esto, los Hardy comenzaron a buscar quién era el responsable de los diversos disturbios que los residentes de Bayport atribuyen al hombre lobo. Me parece sorprendente que todo el pueblo se haya vuelto contra la familia Tabor por una vieja leyenda que simplemente no tiene ningún sentido. Es físicamente imposible convertirse en un hombre lobo. Los residentes de Bayport deberían haberse dado cuenta de esto mucho antes.

Robinson Lora Hilario

Si yo estuviera en la situación en la que los Hardy estuvieron por tanto tiempo, sinceramente yo reaccionaría muy distinto a ellos. Para empezar en el principio del libro ellos fueron atacados por un lobo gigante de pelaje luminoso y se enfrentaron a él, aparte de eso lo fueron a buscar después que huyera de ellos, si ese hubiera sido yo no me hubiera enfrentado a él ni en broma y menos pensaría perseguirlo por un bosque oscuro sin ayuda policial. Otro situación fue después de haberse involucrado con el caso del hombre lobo, alguien disparó a su casa con una bala de plata y le puso una bomba en un lugar donde ellos fueron a investigar sobre el caso, si ese hubiese sido yo no me hubiera involucrado más en saber sobre el hombre lobo porque no solo me tuviera que enfrentar a una criatura considerablemente más fuerte que yo, pero también me tuviera que enfrentar a una o más personas que lo están de su lado. En conclusión yo ni cerca hubiese llegado a la mitad de lo que los Hardy investigaron todo ese tiempo.

[Michael Bafford · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was pre-teen I read all the Hardy Boys mysteries I could get hold of. Eventually I moved onward and upward - Nancy Drew. It's been many years now since dark haired suave Frank and light haired volatile Joe led me through the pages of a harrowing adventure. And it's been many years since the Franklin W. Dixon of those days gave way to newer unknown writers.

The background and the social interaction are the same; father Fenton and mother keeping house with cantankerous Aunt Gertrude. Roly-Poly Chet their fat friend who stands for the comedy and big muscular Biff who is good in a brawl.

The story is new. This is from 1979, so not that new. Walkie-talkies and ham radios for communication for example. There is a bad-taste of bullying when the boys deal with Chet. Girls -and women are confined to the home or social activities. And in this volume the boys meet native Americans and while being pretty politically correct themselves others reinforce predjudice and the stereotype Indian. Thias is deplorable and as an adult I condemn the book for this. As a young boy I would hardly notice. There is action on nearly every page, mysteries appear, tighten and are resolved. Red herrings lead also to new adventures, there is a cliff-hanger at the end of every chapter, and in the bad guys are caught and the good guys exonerated. What more could a boy want.

[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.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the Hardy Boys, they are an obsession of mine (what should be a guilty pleasure, if I felt any book shame). They are mostly just silly fun. This one though didn't quite have the usual fun. It also made me want to seriously over analyze the Hardy Boys. No seriously, I feel like you could do a history of race relations in this country using only the Hardy Boys novels throughout the generations.
Okay, I'm done now.

[G.R. Stahl · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried to like this book. I tried to put myself in a 10-year-old kid's shoes while I read it. But no matter what I did, I simply found it dull and uninspired. Next time I go back to my childhood book shelf, I'm gonna grab The Black Stallion, Chronicles of Narnia or one of the Newbery winners I remember so fondly--like Where the Red Fern Grows, Bridge to Terabithia or Summer of the Swans.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

#59 in the series, which despite being around for years, I am new to and loving it. Each book is so detailed, but possible that it keeps me interested. My goal in 2014 is to read the entire series, plus Nancy Drew, so its definitely worth reading and one thing I feel is important to mention, despite how old the book is, the story was timely and up to date sort of speak.

[Lynn Hartter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I decided to read paperback editions of the Hardy Boys for new brain candy before my semester starts in October. Almost as good as a classic Hardy, but not quite there. . . but much better than the latter hard-back series. . .

[Vintagebooklvr · Rating 3 out of 5]

What do werewolves and building failures have in common--the Hardy Boys of course! I think this is written better than many of the later paperbacks. There seems to be more development of the plot and the story is more focused. Sweet to see Chet like a girl and she likes him back.

[Nivekian · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book made me vow to never read another Hardy Boys adventure.