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Rating: 
Summary: one of the best of the Hardy Boys
Review: "The Mystery of Cabin Island" is the 8th book in the Hardy Boys Mystery Series. After successfully solving "The Shore Road Mystery" (book 6), Old Mr. Jefferson allows Frank and Joe to use the cabin on Cabin Island for a vacation during the winter. The brothers jump at the chance and invite their friends Chet Morton and Biff Hooper along as well. Mr. Jefferson isn't completely altruistic, however. He gives the Hardys a mystery to solve, though one he hopes will be completely devoid of danger and excitement: his grandson is missing as well as his collection of rare medals.
When the brothers travel on their ice boat to Cabin Island they are chased off by a stranger, one who later turns out to be trying to buy the island from Mr Jefferson. Might he be also searching for the medals and where is Mr Jefferson's grandson?
This really is one of the better Hardy Boys stories. The biggest positive here is just that the book keeps focus very well into the main mystery and the chapters move along at a fast pace. While there is a formula at work here, the author does a good job and telling a good story that is interesting with a decent puzzle midway through.
This review is of the 1966 Revised Edition.
-Joe Sherry
Rating: 
Summary: The Mystery of Cabin Island
Review: It's Christmas time in Bayport and the Boys and their chums are enjoying themselves iceboating out on Barmet Bay. They decide to explore lonely s Cabin Island but are chased away by a surly stranger (Hanliegh). On the way back, they nearly come to ruin in an accident with another iceboat manned by Tad Carson and Ike Nash, a pair of obnoxious bullies. Heading home from this near disaster, they find a message from Elroy Jefferson (who's car they recovered in The Shore Road Mystery). They head over to Jefferson's posh digs to collect a reward and obtain permission to camp out on Jefferson's Cabin Island retreat over the Christmas school holiday. The Boys along with Chet and Biff head out to the island on their iceboats and have an unpleasant encounter with Ike and Tad, who are in cahoots with Hanliegh. They chase Hanliegh off the island and settle in for some rousing winter adventures. Soon, they find their supplies stolen and head to the nearest town to get more from elderly storekeeper, Amos Grice, and, incidentally, discover from him that Jefferson had a valuable stamp collection stolen many years ago. Back at the island, they have more adventures, discover a notebook dropped by Hanliegh indicating that the stolen stamps are hidden in the chimney of the cabin. They make a search and, surprise, find nothing. Later, during a howling blizzard, they are forced to rescue Hanliegh who has come to grief in an iceboat accident. The storm increases in intensity, finally blowing down the chimney of the old cabin. Searching through the rubble, the Boys discover the stamp collection which miraculously has escaped any damage whatsoever despite being walled into a chimney over a huge fireplace for more than twenty years. They return the stamps to Jefferson and pick up yet another reward and Jefferson's offer to let them use his Cabin Island retreat any time they want. Comments: This tale appears on almost everyone's list of favorite Hardy Boys stories and with good reason. The story is well written and paced and the prose is charmingly evocative and descriptive. One can almost picture oneself ice-boating and camping along with the Boys and their chums. The mystery is, as usual, solved pretty much by dumb luck (aided by the infamous foul weather that seems to plague Bayport) but this doesn't take away from the excitement and mystery presented here. The action is not too far removed from that which a teenage detective could accomplish. The villians are bad but not too bad and the mystery not too difficult to solve. As in a few other of the earlier stories, the Boys arm themselves in this book (this time with rifles) and, although they threaten to use them, no shootings take place (except for a hapless fox who meets his demise in a totally extraneous sequence.) Apparently the accident with the iceboat shook up Frank more than he cared to admit because the suggestion to go camping had to be made twice to him! When the suggestion was made the second time, Frank acts like he never heard of such a thing before - oh well! I'm glad to note that, for once, the Boys' chums got a share of the reward but sadly there was no lip-smacking feast to cap off the Boys triumph in this case! The revised version of this story by Andrew Svenson sticks close to the plot of the original and although the charm of McFarlane's prose is completely lost, it still ranks among the best of the revisions.
Rating:
Summary: Great Story, But Gives Rise To Concerns For Chet
Review: The original edition of this book was a great teen mystery story involving a holiday outing and a stolen stamp collection. However this (and several other of the Hardy series) give rise to concern for Chet Morton's health. Repeatedly described as "plump," Chet had great affection for "good food and plenty of it." Chet avoided exercise (unlike boxer Biff Hooper), and this and his propensity to consume were the formula for serious health problems. During the era in which this story was set (and this is also true of the 1956 edition, which wasn't as good as the original), health consciousness was not robust in the Barmet Bay and other areas. Fat and sugar consumption were high, with liberal use of butter and rich fatty sauces. The meals Chet (who appointed himself cook, on the Cabin Island holiday outing) prepared were loaded with cholesterol, as it appears the Hardys and their friends only ate for taste, pleasure and convenience -- not for health. It's sad to contemplate how Chet ended up in later life, given the atrocious eating and dietary habits he exhibited throughout the Hardy series. Let's hope he woke up before it was too late, and he had advanced into irreparable heart disease from his eating. And Iola too.
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps The Best Written Of The Books
Review: This review concerns the original 1929 edition. While spending the Christmas holiday on Cabin Island with their chums, Chet and Biff, Frank and Joe Hardy stumble upon a mystery surrounding the disappearance of a valuable stamp collection. The mystery related in this book, though interesting, is average. It is the writing that makes this book a joy to read. The scenes are so well described that one could almost picture oneself there at that time and the language used hasn't been dumbed down like in many of the recent volumes. The action is well-paced and it didn't feel as though the mystery was solved too quickly. This was a great book, definately worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: One Of The Better Revisions
Review: This review concerns the revised 1966 edition. Frank, Joe, Chet and Biff receive permission from Elroy Jefferson to spend their Christmas holiday at his cabin on Cabin Island. Mr. Jefferson also asks for the boys' help in finding his missing grandson. While staying at the cabin, the boys find clues which lead them to believe that a valuable medal collection, stolen from Mr. Jefferson two years ago, is located somewhere on the island. However, before they can find the medals, they must deal with an unscrupulous criminal intent on finding the collection himself and a strange ghost inhabiting the island. This is probably one of the better revisions (I'd give it 3 1/2 stars, if they gave half star ratings); the story closely follows that of the original volume and, while the excellent writing of the original is gone, the book still wasn't written badly. The mystery isn't bad; although, the whole ghost part wasn't very interesting and could have been easily left out. I would recommend reading the original, if possible, but the revision wasn't bad either.
Rating:
Summary: The best Hardy Boys story ever written
Review: This revised version of the original story sticks close to the original plot and is the very best of all the revised stories. The Hardy Boys and their friends are spending the Christmas holidays camping out on lonely Cabin Island. How they find a lost treasure is an exciting mystery that has thrilled several generations of young readers for more than 70 years.
Rating:
Summary: Very well written
Review: While this was not my favorite Hardy Boys book of the original 58 titles written between 1927-1979 and excluding the 38 revisions, I feel that this book might very well have been the best written. My favorites were The Secret of Wildcat Swamp and Hunting For Hidden Gold, but Cabin Island was a very well written book. The plot was complex and interwoven. It was like several stories, all interconnected were being related simultaneously. I cannot rate it a 5 star as there were several other books deserving of that rating. But Cabin Island rates a strong strong 4 star rating.
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