The Madman of Black Bear Mountain is the twelfth book in the Hardy Boys Adventures by Franklin W. Dixon. The Hardy Boys was originally created by the author Edward Stratemeyer while the new books are written by ghostwriters under the pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon. The original series was first released in 1927, but this book was published 2016 by Aladdin. I listened to the audiobook on this short mystery novel, narrated by Tim Gregory.
Frank and Joe joins a conservation group called the geckoes, going on a journey to Black Bear Mountain to study the nature with a famous scientist called Max. Frank, Joe, their teacher Jim, the rich Randall, and two girls that Frank and Joe are interested in, encounter Max who turns out to be a woman, along with an angry bear and a crazy hermit running around with an axe. What could possibly go wrong when they get stuck on the insane mountain.
Most of the characters aren’t really distinct, the only one with a personality seem to be the teacher Jim who is a fumbling fool, mostly there to be the comedic relief, acting like a child compared to the actual children. The girls are just copies of the boys, and are barely in the book, other than being the boys new love interest, and Randall is the typical rich kid really.
The mystery was pretty nonexistence, this was an adventure. Kids getting stuck in the mountain, with a bunch of excitement with Russians mob and a stolen jewel. I cannot really remember more than a few scenes with Frank and Joe actually trying to solve what was suppose to be a mystery. Similarly, to the book before this one, the mystery was fairly unnecessary and it would have been better if it just was an adventure instead of trying to be a mystery.
I liked the book, it was exciting and I liked the cowardly teacher getting stuck in traps and walking into trees when running away from bears. It is a book I might read, or in this case, listen to again just for fun though I cannot say it is a masterpiece. The boys falling in love with a new girl each book is really getting old, and the constant trying on pushing Frank and Joe and solving a mystery only to then forget it and having them accidently run into the answer is a bit overused.
The culprit follows similar pattern as most of these books, in that the culprit is barely in it until they discover who the culprit is. I appreciate that the author at least tried to hint at the culprit even if it’s only once. The book itself was a quick, exciting adventure with some funny moments. A good way to waste three hours away fast and is what I like though I cannot say it is the best I have ever read, not even in this book series. With all that in mind, I would give this one a rating of 6 out of 10, maybe even a 7 if I am in a good mood. It is one of the books I would recommend from this series for it is rather entertaining.
With Kind Regards
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