I first read this at 13 (the first Francis book I'd ever read), and at that point, fell in love with Francis books. I went through his complete (at that time, at least) library in about a month. My education suffered, but my knowledge of things covered in these books has remained with me ever since!

I was glad to discover this one is as good as I remembered, a nice simple but tense little thriller. While the bad guys get revealed early on, the precise method they use to make the horses win on demand is not and it's nicely held back as an impressive reveal.

Daniel Roke is a great character to be with. My chief memory of the audiobook version I heard first is of Tony Britton putting on an Australian accent for the whole of the narration, which still seems an impressive piece of work. Roke is relentlessly positive and chivalrous but never stupid, so we are never wondering at a foolish mistake he's made.

1965 is also another world in Britain. Of course, Francis's view may not be the real truth but certainly he's laced this book with the class divide, Lord October and his fellow Stewards showing they genuinely believe stable lads likely incapable of critical thinking due to their working class roots, and the very tame (by today's standards) methods used to make Roke seem like a thug. It does strike a slightly odd note since I feel like a number of his heroes have worked as stable lads, and Chico, Sid Halley's sidekick, is very much a sharp and clever example of a working class man. That said, it never felt like Francis himself was endorsing this, but Roke certainly doesn't contradict Lord October's views. There's even, maybe, a sense of the book asking us not to judge people by how they look but who knows.

Overall a nice slice of 1965 England alongside a mystery that is cleverly setup, even if it's hard to know if that level of monetary return would really be worth the work. And really, one hopes to god Francis never really found a stable that treated their lads so poorly.

Daniel Roke is an Australian who has an established stud farm. He is presented with a chance to work undercover as a stable boy in England to figure out how horses are being doped and undetected. He is not exactly happy with his current lot, so he does it. He must transform himself into a shady character and work at brutal stable whose owner isn't above beating the workers. This was a good one. No language.

An early novel from Dick Francis, this was a quick and easy read. Told in Fancis’s fairly flat, no-nonsense style, the first person narrative engages early and, despite a few plot holes, is fairly believable. The mid-1960s setting does date it quite a bit, but the central theme of horses being ‘doped’ to win and the main character having to go under cover as a stable lad, was well thought through. There was a point when I thought that the action flagged a bit, but don’t let that put you off. For an enjoyable thriller, chose Mr Francis.
© Koplowitz 2012

good, solid adition to the Dick Francis catalogue

Daniel Roke is an Australian horse breeder. Orphaned as a teenager, he supports his siblings and is bored to death. When is is offered a job to underground and investigate a racing scandal he takes a chance and discovers the adventure that he craves.

This was a bit slow moving in the first half, but the second half was pretty good.

An interesting horse racing thriller, an undercover expatriate (from Australia) returns to the UK to infiltrate UK horse racing to seek out a conspiracy of race fixers. As ever with Francis, his horse racing work always gives insight into how the British horse racing industry works. 6 out of 12.

2008 read

I enjoyed this book. Dan had to leave the employer because of how they were treating him even though he was undercover. But his main employer his daughter did blow his cover and he got beaten and he did have to save her and he kill one of the bad guys and then beat one of the other ones who in turn was beating him as it were, so in the long run they got what they dish out. Plus he also found out what he was asked to find out but the only problem I had was that he should of still took the agreed payment.

Again, I can attest to the effectiveness of audiobooks for books you can't seem to read. I started this months ago in my attempt to re-read Francis in something like chronological order, and simply couldn't get through it because there was too much deadwood. On the page, it was dull and slow. When I got the chance to listen to it, I thought maybe it would be rather like some other dull page-reads, and be more interesting. What was revealed was a thoroughly unpleasant little tale.

If you don't like reading or hearing about cruelty, stay far away from this one. Bored Australian horsebreeder who "looks Italian" or "looks like a gypsy" though he is neither one, runs away from his family responsibilities for several months to look into a race-fixing scam in the UK, having been sought out by the oh-so-credibly named "Lord October." (Really, dear?) Apparently they breed Gary Stus in Oz, too, as he has no problem acquiring a Mockney accent, and the differences in phrases and words don't trip him up either. Francis uses his main character as a vehicle to criticise classism and judging people on their looks and they way they dress and speak--but only to a point. The bad, judgemental folk are all bourgeois--the real nobility are fine and noble and never misjudge anyone for long because, after all--they're noble. Uh-huh.

The bourgeois are money-hungry bastards who care nothing about who or what they squeeze until the pips squeak, and of course the bad guy is a total psychopath. He has to be, this is Planet Francis.
The women are either well-intentioned but not too swift on the uptake, or predatory. Yawn.I also got very tired of Roke's fixation on his own dignity; apparently it was pretty darn fragile if even being looked at by a pretty girl in certain circumstances could make him feel humiliated!!
What eliminated even a second star is the detailed account of cruelty to the actual horses as well as people, and the pathetic "skip forward in time" wrap. The ending sounded like Francis was thinking of a series starring Roke as a James Bond with horses, but fortunately that didn't happen.

The reader did his best with a rather bad book. The constant switch between Roke-as-Australian when narrating and Roke-as-Mockney when speaking to the stable folk was annoying but that's just me.

Better than I remembered

The hero here patiently piles brick on brick to deliver the goods, which of course the author did too. A taut mystery, grim settings, with a literally murderous villain.

I first read Dick Francis more than a half-century ago, and I still find a great deal of pleasure in his many and varied heroes, among whom Daniel Roke is a standard-issue Francis protagonist: brave, strong, a horse lover, a man of more parts than he himself knows.

Younger readers may be puzzled or frustrated by the lack of cell phones, but their absence doesn't slow the pace of the novel at all, and the lack of instant access to help is itself a plot twist.

Yes, it's an old book. An oldie, but a really good read. Especially at this price point, you won't be disappointed.

Um, what to say about this? Well I read it as it was suggested by a friend due to Mr Dick Francis's superb 1st person writing skills in a hope to improve my own. Not a story I would have normally read but ended up quite enjoying it.

He has a simple approach that never really leaves you not knowing what is going on. His description was exceptional with a full body language included that made the story almost come to live in my head. A nerve racking story that gets you routing for the main character early on until you almost lose hope that he's gonna get out alive.

I'm certainly gonna see if this book ever had any sequels as I thoroughly enjoyed the characters and the writers ability to portray a range of different characters realistically.

A damn good read and a surprisingly enjoyable story.