Footprints Review

 So Footprints Under The Window. 

Is one of those stories that got a modern as well as a classic edition, and for once, both stories run along the same lines. Sort of.

Revised edition.

The story revolves around refugees taken from a fictional island nation off of French Guiana, ending up in Bayport and targeting a local  tech start up called Micro-Eye, to nick the plans of an advanced satellite camera. Or such.

I always imagined that French Guiana was one of those countries that had been renamed along the lines of Belize, but, no it's still French Guiana. The island chain off the coast, The Huellas (way ass aka footprints islands) are a sort of micro Cuba, a dictatorship run by Juan Posada that the boys visit over the course of their investigation.   

There is involvement from a local tycoon called Orrin North, who predictably turns out to be the main culprit. Along with Posadas right hand man Bedoya, they end up getting trapped in a rusted hulk of a ship before being sprung out by their father.

Notes.

There are a few common points about this, refugees from a foreign nation, a Laundry company being involved and Orrin North as the main criminal. It still stands up as a story, even if there is some high tech nonsense tacked on for the modern era.

Part of the plot involves a keyhole limpet used as a dead drop for messages, not found in this part of the coast. It also gives a range of where the Hardy's actually live. Wikipedia says its found from New Jersey to Brazil and looking on a few maps its sort of cuts across Chesapeake bay with Maryland as its limit. Which means Bayport can be found around New Jersey or at the most New York State. Looking at a map there are a ton of small islands on the East Coast in that vicinity so that area makes sense.

Original Edition.

The original edition revolves around the disappearance of a former pillar of the Chinese community and someone doping the fuck out of Aunt Gertrude as she travels via a steamer back to Bayport. Also the launderette that the Hardys used being a front for smuggling Chinese nationals into Bayport with cooperation from Orrin North.

A word of warning, this is an old book and if you aren't comfortable with every fresh off the boat Chinese basically being a whopping stereotype, then this is not for you, hell even an unwoke bastard like me finds it hard going trying to work out what they're saying half of the time.

There are two stereotypes here for you, an evil Fu Manchu type that runs the laundry now (Called Louie Fong) and various hapless immigrants who seem to have trouble with their L's and R's (is that even a thing in Chinese,).

Although if you want a modern thing, they dress up some poor dude they rescue as a girl to smuggle back to their home as a safe house. So convincing is it that Callie and Iola get jealous and Chet Morton tries to hit on her / him. 

Notes.

There are no vacation trips out of the country in the old Hardy Boys books. Nor are any of Fentons staff like Jack Wayne or Sam Radley encountered either. I wonder if they are products of the revised edits.

This seems to be the last of the books where the boys use their bikes, the roadster they drive round in is a heavily restored car bought during the Shore Road mystery.

The big fight at the docks, amongst the Chinese reminds me of something, maybe an old news story, but still seems modern. I can imagine them running a boot sale stall now, peddling bent DVDs instead of a laundry service.

Anyway when complete you can download both books here and here.