In Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys: The Big Lie, Detective Fenton
Hardy has been murdered, and the Bayport police think Joe and Frank
murdered their father. The boys, high school teens, face session
after session in the police station, interrogated by Chief Collig
and Detective Peterson. It turns out that was the plan, concocted
by their friend Nancy. Someone framed Fenton Hardy and made him
look like a crooked cop before murdering him, and the teens decide
to play a very dangerous game to prove Detective Hardy's innocence
and find the actual murderer. This story is not for children, but
for high school-age readers; everything in the book, from the tough
characters to the somewhat seedy atmosphere in Bayport to the
dark-toned art lends to the strongly noir mystery. Nobody,
including Nancy and the Hardy boys, are quite what they appear;
everyone has secrets here. Older teens who enjoy mysteries and
anyone who thought that the classic Nancy Drew and the Hardy boys
were too good to be true will enjoy this story.
-VOYA
BOOKLIST -- While some of us old fogeys will lament the darkening
of these stalwart, all-American kid detectives, teens will find
this disillusioned and gritty version of great interest. The sunny
town of Bayport has a dark underbelly. Police detective Fenton
Hardy is dead and disgraced, and his sons Frank and Joe stand
accused of his murder. Enter tough-as-nails Nancy, who helps them
infiltrate the Bayport underworld to clear themselves and uncover
the truth about Dad. Del Col creates an interesting friction
between the brothers, but it's Nancy who drives the plot with a
feisty confidence and hard-boiled dialogue that she maintains even
through her own tragic familial revelations. While the three are
all enterprising and brave, for famous detectives, they do
virtually no actual deducting, making the familiar crime elements
somewhat less riveting for it. The visuals, though, stand out for
the international art team's subtly nonstandard sensibilities. The
refined gestures and body language of characters, the somber blues
and seeping noir shadows, and even the unusual integration of the
sound effects create an enjoyably distinct world.- Jesse Karp
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