History Recap / HardyBoysCaseFiles07Deathgame

* SheepInSheepsClothing: After Frank gets separated from the rest of the teens during Hammerlock's first attack, Joe's fear and sorrow that he may be dead causes him to become suspicious that either Lauren or Terry is TheMole who secretly betrayed them to Hammerlock and got Frank killed, though he keeps these suspicions to himself. By the time the teens take down Hammerlock, it's clear that this isn't the case and both of them are indeed the good-hearted, loyal teens they always appeared to be, with the minor circumstances that made Joe suspect them being just innocent coincidences.

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: By the time the Hardy Boys find Biff, he's suffered one of these offscreen when, after being "recruited" (abducted) for Hammerlock's strike force team, the Hardys showed up to the camp looking for him. Brand and Hammerlock brutally beat him up while interrogating him to find out how much he'd told the Hardys about it, but he refused to spill the beans and believed in his friends to find him.

* BigDamnHeroes: Brand and his mooks show up to betray Hammerlock, and prepare to execute him, Joe, Lauren, Terry, and Biff. Just before they open fire, Frank--whom everyone believed at this point to be dead--arrives JustInTime to ambush him, allowing the teens to turn the tables on their would-be killers.

* TheGeneralissimo: Brand plans to turn Hammerlock’s militia into a mercenary army hired by Generalissimo Manuel Strosser of the fictional [[BananaRepublic San Marcos]].

* TheWorfEffect: Lauren, who is a highly skilled tactician and Action Girl, gets shot by Hammerlock, though she's only temporarily stunned and still participates in the fighting afterwards.
* WorfHadTheFlu: Biff, who is not only the strongest of the bunch when at full strength, but also a skilled tactician, is pretty much TheLoad figuratively and literally during the survival game, as a result of being subjected to a serious beating during interrogation from which he has not yet recovered.

* UnscrupulousHero: Hammerlock wants to create an extremely ruthless counter terrorist strike force that is willing to do whatever it takes, including [[ShootTheHostage shooting civilians]] to take down terrorists.

* UndyingLoyalty: Hammerlock saved Brand’s life in ‘Nam, so he expects the Major to show him such loyalty. Brand, however, is more interested in money.

* TheGeneralissimo: Brand hopes to turn Hammerlock’s militia into a mercenary army hired by a Manuel Strosser, Generalissimo of the fictional [[BananaRepublic San Marcos]].

* LuredIntoATrap: The bad guys use surveillance equipment to eavesdrop on the boys at their hotel and learn their plans, then have an assassin with a similar build to Biff (and a blond wig) let them see him so they think they have a lead to Biff and follow him. He lures to a nearby store after it's closed and attempts to kill them, only for the Hardys to survive and the would-be killer to die instead.

* HeKnowsTooMuch: To Major Brand's great displeasure, he discovers that Biff ''did'', in fact, tell someone where he was going when the Hardys show up to the camp looking for him. Once they find irrefutable evidence to prove Biff was there, Brand kidnaps them too before they can tell anyone.

* ItsAllMyFault: When Biff tells Joe at the beginning of the book about his plan to participate in the survival camp and asks him not to tell anyone about it, Joe clearly isn't thrilled and outright states it's probably a bad idea, but agrees and keeps the secret against his better judgment. So when Biff never comes back from the camp and his parents are frantic, Joe tells them (and Frank) what's up, and is wracked with guilt that keeping Biff's secret for so long may have allowed something horrible to happen to him. He's determined to never rest until they find Biff and bring him home safely.

* FiveManBand: The five teens who refuse to join Hammerlock's army and are released into the jungle as a result to be hunted down:
** [[TheLeader Co-Leaders]] / [[TheLancer Co-Lancers]]: Frank and Joe Hardy, who, as the heroes of the story, share a leadership role and back each other up as needed.
** TheSmartGuy: Terrence "Terry" Scott, who provides some great innovations for the team like a drink from natural ingredients that gives them strength, and building a spear-slingshot out of a tree.
** TheBigGuy: Biff Hooper, who is physically the largest of the bunch. In this case, though, it's subverted, since Biff is [[WorfHadTheFlu suffering from a serious beatdown he received from Hammerlock's men]] and seriously weakened, meaning that he has to be literally carried through the woods by the others.
** TheChick: Lauren Madigan, the sole girl of the group, though she's an ActionGirl who saves the boys' bacon from Hammerlock multiple times.

* ChekhovsGun: Biff's distinctive goggles, complete with his initials, "B.H.", carved into them. Joe later recognizes a similar-looking pair hanging on the belt of Sergeant Collins (who occasionally rips off valuable items from the trainees), arousing his suspicious that Brand is lying about Biff having never attended the camp. Frank and Joe later infiltrate and eventually confirm the goggles are indeed Biff's, giving them the evidence they need for the sheriff. (Too bad Brand captures them before they can report it.)

* SheepInSheepsClothing: After Frank gets separated from the rest of the teens during Hammerlock's first attack, Joe's fear and sorrow that he may be dead causes him to become suspicious that either Lauren or Terry is TheMole who secretly betrayed them to Hammerlock and got Frank killed, though he keeps these suspicions to himself. By the time the teens take down Hammerlock, it's clear that this isn't the case and both of them are indeed the good-hearted, loyal teens they always appeared to be, with the minor circumstances that made Joe suspect being just innocent coincidences.

* ItsAllMyFault: When Biff tells Joe at the beginning of the book about his plan to participate in the survival camp and asks him not to tell anyone about it, Joe clearly isn't thrilled about it and outright states it's probably a bad idea, but agrees against his better judgment. So when Biff never comes back from the camp and his parents are frantic, Joe tells them (and Frank) what's up, and is wracked with guilt that keeping Biff's secret for so long may have allowed something horrible to happen to him. He's determined to never rest until they find Biff and bring him home safely.

* SpannerInTheWorks: The fact that Biff told Joe where he was going (while asking him to keep it a secret) before heading to Major Brand's survival camp is the catalyst for the events of the entire book and the Hardys bringing down Brand and Hammerlock. The major has an ironclad rule about only "recruiting" kids from his camp for Hammerlock's army when absolutely no one knew they were there, like Lauren and Terry; however, since Biff truthfully told him that his parents didn't know he was there, and didn't reveal that he'd confided in one of his friends, Brand assumed he was "safe" to kidnap, only for the Hardys to show up later looking for him, eventually forcing Brand to abduct them as well. The boys then proceed to rally Biff, Terry, and Lauren to bring down the whole operation from the inside.

* TooCleverByHalf: Terry and Lauren both lament this when telling the Hardys their respective backstories and how they ended up as Hammerlock's prisoners; they were so clever and thorough in covering their tracks to participate in Brand's survival camp--which they knew their respective parents wouldn't approve of--that when they ended up being kidnapped by Brand as "recruits" for Hammerlock's army, they'd made it impossible for their loved ones to track them down, leaving them with no hope of rescue and no way for their families to ever learn what happened to them if they died.

* BigDamnHeroes: When Brand and his mooks shows up to betray Hammerlock and prepares to execute him, Joe, Lauren, Terry, and Biff, Frank--whom everyone believed at this point to be dead--arrives JustInTime to ambush him, allowing the teens to turn the tables on their would-be killers.

* CassandraTruth: Frank discovers evidence that Hammerlock's team of "soldiers" are being rented out as mercenaries to ruthless dictators around the world; however, when he accuses him of it during the group dinner on Hammerlock's island, the latter coldly tells them he has no idea what they're talking about. At the climax of the book, it's revealed that ''Brand'' is the one who's been doing this, going behind Hammerlock's back to do so (to his disgust), showing that Hammerlock really ''was'' telling the truth about not knowing anything about it.

* UndyingLoyalty: Hammerlock saved Brand’s life in ‘Nam, so he expects the Major to show him such loyalty. Brand however, is more interested in money.

* ActionGirl: Lauren. This is lessened when a high-caliber round fired from a Desert Eagle grazes her in the shoulder, but even then she's still not completely out of action.

* CassandraTruth: The Hardys discover evidence that Hammerlock's team of "soldiers" are being rented out as mercenaries to ruthless dictators around the world; however, when they accuse him of it during the group dinner, he coldly tells them he has no idea what they're talking about. At the climax of the book, it's revealed that ''Brand'' is the one who's been doing this, going behind Hammerlock's back to do so, to the latter's disgust, showing that Hammerlock really ''was'' telling the truth about not knowing anything about it.

* ItsAllMyFault: When Biff tells Joe at the beginning of the book about his plan to participate in the survival camp and asks him not to tell anyone about it, Joe clearly isn't thrilled about it, but agrees against his better judgment. So when Biff never comes back from the camp and Biff's parents are frantic, Joe tells them (and Frank) what's up, and is wracked with guilt that keeping Biff's secret for so long may have allowed something horrible to happen to him. He's determined to never rest until they find Biff and bring him home safely.

* TheWorfEffect: Lauren, who is a highly skilled tactician and Action Girl, gets shot by Hammerlock, though she's only temporarily stunned and not completely out of commission.

* TraumaButton: When Frank gets separated from the rest of the group and they later hear gunshots, Joe seriously fears that he's dead, and this triggers flashbacks to Iola's death as well. And then when Lauren appears to be shot and killed while trying to distract Hammerlock, this gets even worse, to the point that Joe's on the verge of a FreakOut. Thankfully, he soon discovers that both Lauren and Frank are still alive.

* WorfHadTheFlu: Biff, who is not only the strongest of the bunch when at full strength, but also a skilled tactician, is pretty much TheLoad figuratively and literally during the survival game, as a result of being subjected to a serious beating during interrogation from which he has not yet recovered.

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: By the time the Hardy Boys find Biff, he's suffered one of these offscreen when, after being "recruited" (abducted) for Hammerlock's mercenary team, the Hardys showed up to the camp looking for him. Brand and Hammerlock brutally beat him up while interrogating him to find out how much he'd told the Hardys about it, but he refused to spill the beans and believed in his friends to find him.

When Biff doesn’t return when he said he would, the boys head down to Georgia to investigate the paramilitary base and find him. The base is a faux boot camp where people are being trained in advanced tactics by Army Special Forces Major Oliver Brand, a [[UsefulNotes/VietnamWar Vietnam vet]]. Brand states he never heard of any trainee named Biff Hooper. Joe decides to investigate a “restricted area” expecting to find evidence of Biff’s presence there - only to blunder onto the shooting range. An incensed Major Brand throws them both out. But after someone matching Biff’s description lures the boys away and then tries to murder them with a grenade, the boys suspect that Brand does know something about Biff’s disappearance. The boys decide to go undercover as trainees Fred and Jim Cassidy.

During their training, the boys notice that a climbing instructor Sergeant Collins has a pair of goggles that look awfully similar to the pair Biff owned. The boys sneak into his quarters and find that the goggles are Biff’s - indicated by the initials BH engraved onto them. Then just as the boys are drinking some Gatorade in their dorm room, planning to go to the local Sheriff with their evidence, they black out.

The boys wake up tied to the seats of an airplane, heading to a mysterious island. Brand reveals that this “training program” for paintball players is actually used as a cover to recruit people into a mysterious militia run by a Colonel Hammerlock, who was once Brand’s superior in the Green Berets in Vietnam. Those who’d been chosen are apparently taken to this island to train with actual weapons and live rounds against living targets - with those who refuse the offer to join, being the targets. The boys are reunited with Biff, who has been severely beaten and can’t even walk. The three of them are told that they will be sent out into the field for Colonel Hammerlock to practice his own skills on. Two more trainees who refused, Terry and Lauren will join them.

!Tropes positively identified are

* ActionGirl: Lauren, until a high caliber round fired from a Desert Eagle grazes her in the shoulder.

* UndyingLoyalty: Hammerlock saved Brand’s life in ‘Nam, so he expects the major to show him such loyalty. The Major however, is more interested in money.

* TheWorfEffect: Lauren, who is a highly skilled tactician is rendered useless when she gets shot.
** WorfHadTheFlu: Biff, who is not only the strongest of the bunch and is a skilled tactician is also rendered useless by having him in the process of recovering from a serious beating inflicted on him.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Hammerlock refuses to turn his “honorable unit of soldiers” into a mercenary outfit bought and paid for by some Central African dictator.

* UnscrupulousHero: Hammerlock wants to create an extremely ruthless counter terrorist strike force that is willing to do whatever it takes, including [[ShootTheHostage shooting civilians]] to take down terrorists.