A review by emileereadsbooks
The Message in the Hollow Oak by Carolyn Keene

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

 
This book is evidence that the Stratemeyer Syndicate had little interest in research or plausible facts. Nancy is recruited to help solve a case professional detectives could not crack. She goes off to Illinois and stays with a group doing an archaeological dig. This is where the story loses credibility. The lackadaisical manner in which this dig is conducted was so distracting to me from the rest of the story. They let amateurs with no experience dig and they somehow uncover and string together a whole adult skeleton in a day. While the rest of the plot of the mystery is mostly plausible, but the attitude of the dig and the lack of respect they had for the indigenous culture they were seemingly supposed to be learning about lowered my enjoyment of this story.