Joe and Frank Hardy are rescuing a kindapped girl from her kidnapper and do it quite successfully. But people are starting to realize that they are always around when trouble is going down. Are they heroes or jinxes? None of the above, they really work for A.T.A.C., American Teens Against Crime.
Then, at the school talent show, one of their classmates, Dia, is doing a magic act. But during the act, a heckler from the audience causes her to lose her co-star, a rabbit named Bunny Boy. Joe and Frank catch Bunny Boy and return the pet to her, and in return, she gives them a game cassette addressed to them which she found in her magic stuff.
The game is from ATAC, who tells them to go to the Castle Magique, where one of the performers, the Great Marconi, has been missing his own assistant, his dog, Poppy. Since she has been missing his life hasn't been the same, and the prime suspects are the other magicians who work in Castle Magique: Karnak, Glom and Miss Tique. But the case shuts off, very strangely, and they find out that Dia has been invited to the Castle Magique on her own merits.
Once they travel to the Castle, they find that it seems set up for endless magical tricks and illusions, all aimed at them! And they aren't the only ones who have been invited to the castle. Tre' Gelbman, a writer they met on the Bullet Train, also shows up, having been sent a letter promising her she wouldn't see Poppy again unless Tre' came to the Castle.
But as they continue to fall victim to illusions, gags and tricks, Joe and Frank will have to discover who is responsible for all of the tricks and illusions, find Poppy and reunite Tre' with her missing father. But can they do it before they find out that some of the tricks and illusions are real?
I found this book to be one of the worst illustrated of all the graphic Hardy Boys novels. Right from the start, some of the characters look stretched out and wrong. The writing isn't bad, and the art may be influenced by anime, but there is a big difference between being influenced by the anime style and being unable to draw correctly!
The books are short, can be read in an hour or two (for most people- I average at about ten minutes or so) and they are very updated for the modern day. Most kids will enjoy the references to MySpace, World of Warcraft, Blackberries, and iPods (all suitably labelled with other names for the graphic novel).
It's not an entirely bad book, but the artist could do better when it comes to drawing the figures without distorting them. I'm all for the anime style, but I've seen SD's and Chibi's and this goes beyond that. It sometimes looks like he was being rushed and didn't take the time to draw properly. YMMV, of course.
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