I'm a big fan of Dick Francis and I love the Sid Halley books (and wish he'd written more). UNDER ORDERS is entertaining but flawed. The story is interesting but the plot and conflict is too contrived to create drama. The police and hospital staff and private security are too unhelpful. The climax of the book is where it goes a little too far. Sid creates a situation that could harm a criminal case and puts himself in unnecessary danger. The same drama could've been pulled off with a little more finesse. Still worth a read.

Ex-jockey turned private investigator Sid Halley investigates mysterious deaths and possible race fixing in the age of the Internet. While the story was a typical Dick Francis story, the flow was constantly interrupted by uncharacteristic explanations of things like the Internet or DNA analysis. You get the feeling that the author has either researched unfamiliar concepts in so much detail that he wants to add that information in, or doesn't realise that the audience understand those things without the need for jarring textbook explanations, or that the editor for this book had edited school textbooks in the recent past. The editor (or the author in old age) also enjoys adjectives and trite moralisms.

A quick action read. As a horse rider in my youth, I usually enjoy books about horses and have read many Dick Francis books in the past. He was 85 when he wrote this, and the story was a bit thin, but I enjoyed it and it did keep me turning the pages!

I always enjoy books written by Dick Francis and this one didn't disappoint. His signature topic is horse racing, and since I know little about the sport, after reading his books, I learn something new. In this book, Sid Halley is an ex jockey, now private eye. He never strays far from a race track and most of his cases are racing related. He's just a good guy. In this book, within a short span of time, there are 3 deaths at the track, and it's too much of a coincidence to think that they couldn't be related. Of course, those involved do their best to dissuade Sid from pursuing the matter, but that only makes him more determined. Quick, fun read.

This was my first Dick Francis novel. It had been in my bedside table for several years but I'm glad that I pulled it out. It was a good read, even though I know little about horse racing. It seems that he is/was? quite a prolific author so I will add him to my list of authors when I'm next at our free little library or somebody's garage sale.

Online gambling, murder and race fixing - Sid Halley encounters them all in this installment of the series. Things get pretty dicey for Sid and his girlfriend but Sid maintains his cool while solveing the mystery and protecting his girlfriend. I always enjoy how the protagonists in Francis's books keep their cool and calm manner no matter what dangers or challenges they face.

Sid Halley gaat een dagje naar de races, samen met zijn ex-schoonvader. Helaas zal de dag in een drama eindigen: er vallen drie doden, waaronder één paard. Voor de dag om is, zal Sid tot over zijn oren betrokken zijn bij deze sterfgevallen. Sid Halley is namelijk niet zomaar een man. Sid is een beroemde en talentvolle jockey geweest, die bij een akelige val zijn linkerhand is kwijtgeraakt. Sinds die tijd heeft hij zich opgeworpen als een soort privé-detective voor eigenaars en trainers van paarden. Als er doden vallen, weet men Sid dan ook meestal snel te vinden.
Dick Francis is een van die zeldzame auteurs die zich al jarenlang niet alleen weten te handhaven, maar ook met zijn tijd meegaat. Alle boeken van Dick Francis spelen zich af in de racewereld. Tot zover blijft alles bij het oude. Maar verder heeft hij veel eigentijdse elementen geïntroduceerd. Het internetgokken doet zijn intrede en zijn hoofdpersonen hebben tegenwoordig computers en mobieltjes tot hun beschikking.
Daarbij blijven de verhalen zélf ook een bepaalde frisheid hebben. Hoewel alle verhalen typisch Britse hoofdpersonen hebben, en zich afspelen op die typisch Britse racebanen, wordt het nooit 'typisch truttig'. Francis' mannelijke helden zijn geen stoere in tweed geklede mannen, zijn slechteriken zijn geen sigaren kauwende en plat pratende figuren, en zijn vrouwen zijn geen hulpeloze 'damsels in distress'. In tegendeel. Francis' hoofdpersonen zijn echte mensen! Dat is een van de redenen waarom zijn boeken altijd goed zijn voor een paar uur leesplezier.
Dodelijk web is ouderwets knap geconstrueerd. Er wordt een echt web geweven van de gebeurtenissen; de draden van het web beginnen in het verleden, maar worden pas in het heden volledig ontrafeld. Bovendien worden er nieuwe draden gelegd die een verbinding vormen naar nieuwe verhalen met Sid Halley in de hoofdrol. En dat belooft dus nog veel meer spanning in de toekomst. Dick Francis, still going strong.

Some months back, I saw Murder on the Orient Express in the theatre. I was talking to some people at work about it and a nice old lady (who retired three days ago so I'll be unable to thank her for giving me this book) approached me and said:

"Do you like horse racing?"
No.
"Do you like horses?"
Not particularly.
"Do you like gambling?
Not at all.
"Do you like mysteries?"
Yes.
"Then you'll love Dick Francis!"

Honestly that sums up this book pretty well. This is the only Sid Halley book I've read so maybe there is more to it if you're invested in Francis's other work. Former horse jockey is thrust into a world of horse race betting and murder. Mystery ensues. I don't mean to take anything away from it, it was a fun little weekend read. Francis clearly knows his stuff on the aforementioned topics so the writing is genuine and believable. I'd recommend this to any mystery buffs out there.

Sid Halley #4 - Sid has been a private investigator for 10 years now. He's not involved in such dangerous activities as he had been, more prone to doing background checks for new employees, etc. His friend Huw Evans, a jockey, is desperate to talk with him, and they agree to meet at the races. But when Sid leaves the races early, he finds Huw's bullet-riddled body in the car park (very dangerous places in Dick Francis' books). A couple of day later, the trainer that Huw rode for is found in his house, dead by apparent suicide. Sid believes that both deaths are murders by the same person and sets about to investigate.

Sid has a girlfriend in this book, his wife by the book's end. Her name is Marina and she's Dutch and works at the cancer clinic as a researcher. When the killer attacks her instead of Sid, she is able to get DNA evidence from under her fingernails where she had scratched her attacker. Her colleague also gets DNA from an envelope's seal that had been sent to Sid.

A little dull in the first third because of long explanations of gambling odds, but not a bad read.

Very good work with an intriguing mystery as usual from Mr. Francis. I am not sure why the premarital sex scenes and talk were necessary but that’s just me. Other than that the book was excellent. I do not think it was one of his best but definitely one to read.

Dick Francis made writing look easy. As ever, this story flows so naturally. Told from the perspective of the famous ex-jockey, Sid Halley, turned detective, you enjoy the way in which the story unfolds. As ever, something terrible happens from time to time but that also is recounted in that smooth conversational manner. Dick Francis is a great writer on a level beyond most others in terms of his story telling ability.

If you want to learn about horses, different kinds of horse racing, steeple chase, etc. this author know horses. his books keep your interest. some have a character that got murdered, then its about 'who did it' do they catch the bad guy?

Dick Frances brother Felix Frances also writes very good books.