I'm much older than the target audience for this book. I read both The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books as a young adult and even watched the TV series that was made. My guess is that the Undercover Brothers is an attempt to update the series technologically to appeal more to today's young adults.

Frank and Joe Hardy are still high school students in this book. (I believe there is another update to the series that made them college age.) Since this is a YA book, it was fairly simple. (I read somewhere that there is a list of approved vocabulary for books based on age range it is set for--I could see that being the case for this book.)

I remember in the original series of books that you could be 30 books in and have never heard a peep about something before but all of a sudden, the boys were experienced at it or even experts. That idea holds through to some extent in this series too as the boys are given a couple new tech tools that both get used to help solve the mystery. Time will tell if we ever see these pieces of technology again.

I find it odd that Fenton Hardy would not have told his wife that the boys were agents. If she knows, she's doing a good job of hiding it from them. Also, Frank and Joe need to better watch what they say around their parrot if they want to keep their undercover status secret.

This book's theme is that the boys are supposed to keep music sensation Vee Sharp safe after she begins receiving Top Ten Ways To Die death threats. I didn't guess who the culprit was until closer to the reveal. I liked the twist with Aunt Trudy's friend Betty at the end. ( )