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hantheam 's review for:

Operation Titanic by Carolyn Keene
2.25
adventurous mysterious fast-paced
Strong character development: No
Diverse cast of characters: No

I was delighted to uncover this book while spring cleaning. Evidently, I had bought it for 25¢, some15 years ago. 

The paperback boasts:
  • Not just a mystery, but a "SUPERMYSTERY" 
  • A cross-over event between iconic sleuths
  • A publishing date one year after James Cameron's Titanic  broke box office records. (You gotta appreciate the hustle.)

I may have over-hyped this one for myself, I'll admit, but in my defense the cover art alone, is doing a lot of heavy lifting. 

Operation Titanic could have been a wild and cheesy, romp if it leaned into its inherent goofiness. As it stands, it is a staggeringly dry piece of pulp-fiction with a shoddy conclusion. The Hardy boys get the rough and tumble action, while Nancy flits with billionaires.  Not a soul boards a passenger ship until the last 30 pages of the book. 

Its hard not to see the lost potential this premise could have had. Unfortunately it will be easily forgotten.