Review: "Spiked!" (Casefiles #58)

This book took a bit longer to finish then I had planned, so that's there was no post Thursday. I had actually taken a break midway through the second chapter, and said break took longer then I had planned.

I'm not really that into to sports, and I don't know much about Volleyball. So, when the ten page first chapter consisted of a recap of a volleyball game, and Frank and Joe talking about how awesome 2 vs 2 volleyball is, I wasn't very interested in the book.

The first chapter does end with quite a disturbing death scene, as one of the players dies in the middle of a game. It's something that probably would freaked me out as a kid. Of course, the death turns out to be murder, and the way the killer does it is quite clever.

Joe has a one-book girlfriend named Chris, who is basically there so that Joe can have a feud with a volleyball player named George Ritt Jr. George Ritt Jr. is probably one of the most entertaining parts of the book. He's so cartoonish it's hilarious.

For most of the book, he's basically Bluto from Popeye. His father is just as cartoonish, and two spent most of the time yelling at people and starting fights.  However, it does strain suspension of disbelief that George Ritt Jr. is not kicked out of  the volleyball tournament for unsportsmanlike behavior.

The culprits of "Spiked!" were quite obvious, as they spent a lot of time twirling their mustaches and doing evil things in front of Frank and Joe. There was a surprise or two near the end, but for the most part I was able to guess the who and why of the mystery pretty early on.

Despite this, the action was rather good. The villains were quite dangerous, and Frank and Joe had a lot of close calls in this book. The volleyball aspect of the book takes the backstage for the second half of the book. While there are some sabotage attempts during games, most of the action happens away from the court.

Frank and Joe also have some good banter in the this book, and I found myself laughing quite a lot. This plus the cartoonish behavior of some of the suspects makes the book rather fun, although things do get more serious near the end. 

There's one cringe-worthy scene where one of the suspects falsely believes that Frank and Joe are detectives for INS, and attacks Frank with a knife to try to scare him. INS would later become ICE, which you've probably heard about. This scene dates the book by quite a bit, and had this book come out today, would have likely been seen as problematic.

"Spiked!" is an average but fun book, with the mystery element being a bit lacking. If you prefer books where it's a challenge to guess the culprit before Frank and Joe do, this isn't the book for you. If you are just looking for a fun Hardy Boys book, give this one a read.

Rating
6 out of 10