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The Hardy Boys: Hunting for Hidden Gold, by Franklin W. Dixon, is volume #5 in the original

The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories published in 1927. In this book, the brothers, Frank and Joe

Hardy, encounter timber wolves, a Rocky Mountain blizzard, and a mine cave-in during their

search for the members of a robbery gang. In the old Montana mining camp of Lucky Lode, the

detectives try to figure out a series of strange events. These include a piano-playing ghost who

haunts a dance hall, eerie blue lights that flash from a hilltop cemetery at night, strange men

meeting at Shadow the Bear, and someone who disappears through a curtain of ice. Somehow

these events are related to the men who kidnapped the boys in Chicago and sabotaged their

client’s helicopter.

The Hardy brothers get caught in one of their father's cases in Montana and end up risking their

lives and their father's life. Fenton Hardy is on the trail of a gang of thieves, but before they

leave, Frank and Joe also hear about some gold that’s been lost in the area for years. With

danger attacking even before they land in Montana, the brothers have to figure out who the

mole is town in, where the gang is hiding, and possibly find time for a treasure hunt. They get

caught up in the mist of Big Al and his gang who want the Hardy boys and their father out of the

way, so they do not mess up their plans. Joe and Frank's case about finding missing gold ends

up connecting a lot with their father's case on trying to catch the gang.

One of my favorite characters is Dodge, or really Dawson. Dawson was with Black Pepper,

before he was Big Al, and Mike Onslow. They found a bunch of gold, but when they tried to run

off with the gold, the plane crashed, and no one could find it. After this happens, Dawson gets

hit and the head and can't remember who he is. He somehow gets the alias Dodge and that's

what he's known as for the next 25 years. After that, he gets in a fight with one of Big Al’s

associates and gets knocked on the head with a flashlight, and then his memory comes back as

Dawson, but he can't remember his life as Dodge. I like Dodge and Dawson because he stays

calm through all this and he shows his emotional side when he realizes how long it's been since

he was Dawson.

My other favorite character in the book is the antagonist, Big Al, because he is smart and clever.

In the previous books, the other antagonists did not seem very intelligent and commonly made a

few mistakes that led to their downfall. In this book, however, Big Al rarely makes mistakes, and

the Hardy boys finding the gang was mostly due to the mistakes of Big Al’s associates rather

than the mistakes of Big Al. I thought this made the story more interesting as there was an

adversary that the Hardy boys barley overcame.

The only thing I did not like about the book was that the plot is slightly confusing. I usually read

Hardy Boys books and have no problem, but I was kind of lost in the plot. I loved the overall plot

concept, and at least the parts I could connect.

I would recommend this book and give it a 10 out of 10. The action starts almost immediately

and never really lets up. There is even one part of the plot that the Hardy’s for once could not

figure out right away, which is a nice change.

Check out The Hardy Boys: Hunting for Hidden Gold from the Newport Beach Public Library.