My 20th or so Francis book and he continues to amaze me. His characters are well developed; his stories remain fresh; his pace is perfect. Simply one of the greatest writers of all time.

This book really grew on me with its hero, Daniel Roke who owns a stud farm in Australia. I found myself wishing for a sequel book with Daniel Roke. I liked the Australian connection which made it easy for him to be an unknown, undercover investigator in the British racing stables. His job: find out who is drugging steeplechase horses and how they are doing it when drug tests fail to detect drugs. Daniel Roke enters a crucible that tests his grit and determination in the face of humiliating treatment as he dresses and acts the part of a disreputable stable boy. The villains are brutal and need to be stopped. The story moves swiftly, with much suspense, to a stunning conclusion. The ending has many loose ends to gather up. Most importantly, Daniel discovers what kind of man he is and where his passions lie.

HORSES ... amirite?

This was my first foray into the Cult of Dick Francis (something I've learned: people have never read just one Dick Francis; they've read THEM ALL) and the charm is undeniable. There's just something so EASY about Francis's tale of undercover gruntwork in the seedy world of horse racing -- even if (like me) you have zero interest in horses.

A pinch of Agatha Christie, a smattering of good ol' boy action-adventure, and you've got yourself a STORY.

"For Kicks" by Dick Francis is why the hero takes on a painful job, and gets broken and bruised. The lone hero has to investigate and fight - with some background data, without training, tools, or support. Annoying, too gorgeous, the October daughters, distract, detract, and fatally endanger. From the discomfort and shame the disguised successfully portrays "low-class", I wonder if the author ever went incognito for research, or remembers humbler beginnings.

Daniel Roke, Australian who established stud farm to raise orphaned siblings, accepts undercover stable lad job from the Earl of October, investigating steeplechase doping in England. At least ten horses win adrenalin-high stimulated, but regular lab tests show nothing. He endures cold hard privation at the high-turnover Humber stable, and psychopathic abuse from snob Adams. His fellow lads are believably odd, from food-filching Reggie to comic-book illiterate simpleton Jerry. Tension builds into an explosive chair-leg, cane, and paperweight fight to the death.

(Spoiler:
I like the ending, suggesting Dan has the courage and desire to become an undercover agent. I'd have read more. In his long career, Francis imagined many frauds for his men (never women) to uncover and circumvent, here Pavlovian flight response to dog-whistle trained by fire, few hours for months later. Present-day authors often write too long series, like on TV, same old people do same old sure thing. Maybe author's son Felix could take on the challenge of this already created protagonist, instead of lecturing weathermen and physicists?)

Typo:
p260 Sentences missing spaces. "Thistroubledhim.Hesatupandforgottokeephisplace."

Ponder points:
• If urine and saliva tests show nothing p5, why not try breath, blood, hair, or all the acronyms humans get besides Xrays - EEG, ECG, EKG, MRI?
• Australian pounds strike an odd note p12. Story first published in 1965; national currency changed to dollars in 1966; this edition is 1967. "Field of Thirteen" first story "Raid at Kingdom Hill" "millenniumized money and usages". http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I always look at the publishing date of a book so I know what time frame I'm dealing with. Reading this book 54 years after it was published made me raise my eyebrows in a few places for the following reasons:

1. Sexual assault would be prison time and the perpetrator vilified on every news network
2. Beating an employee would be the end of your career, good reputation and jail time
3. Poor working conditions for employees would have the government at your doorstep, huge fines and the owner would lose a lot of business
4. Abusing an animal...you might as well change your identity and leave the country as the abuser would be crucified on every social media. (The lion killing dentist)
But those were simpler times.

I like Dick Francis' writing because it is well researched and I learn something. Also, he re-frames from swearing and lots of descriptive sex which I appreciate.

Narrated by Tony Britton -- doing a great Australian accent to match the Australian main character.

This can be seen as a story about identity, if you want to read anything deep into it, or just an entertaining book about a spy in the world of racing if you don't. I'm a big fan of character stories, so I like the way that Francis always focuses on the character and his life; unfortunately, in this case I didn't believe the choices that his character makes at the end of the book. Fortunately, that didn't ruin the rest of the book for me. ;)

Dame Agatha Christie and Her Peers
BOOK 19
This 1965 publication has a certain 1965 flavor, relating to films of the time. Not a bad thing at all, given the relationship, but more on that shortly.
CAST – 3 stars: Daniel Roke is our hero, a “shining knight” even, as his parent’s had passed when he as young and he does a beautiful job (natch!) raising his siblings and sacrificing his own dreams of seeing the world. But he has done very well for himself and his family. I completely get Roke's itch to move on as I've had 15 permanent addresses since leaving undergraduate school. (And I thought I was ready to settle down, but no, I gotta check out other places. I've never lived outside of America and...oh, there I go again...back to the book.) He grabs for the golden ring when Lord October (savior? or not?) offers Daniel an opportunity requiring Roke to move from Australia to England. But Roke's younger brother, Phillip, and his two younger sisters Belinda and Helen also have dreams, and Roke needs much more money (and adventure) for them to get the right education, for him to LIVE life to the fullest.Early on, the author writes, “Common sense lost” concerning Roke's decision to leave his family. (This is all in the first chapter so I'm not giving anything away.) Friends and enemies abound in England. It’s a solid cast, almost 4-stars. But it’s a bit on the fantasy/hero/how did he survive that...or that...so suspend belief a bit. This author really knows how to tug at reader's hearts, and it's a bit too obvious.
PLOT/CRIME – 4: The crime is a fascinating one: horses that appear to be doped (after the race their behavior is erratic and unusual) are winning said races. But when the horses are tested, analysis shows nothing. Oh, what big red herrings are put forth by the author early. Daniel must penetrate deep into the evil-doers fortress, save the damsel in distress, and live to tell the story. Yes, again, there is a fantasy element, but still a very good story.
PLACE/ATMOSPHERE – 3: Compared to other detective series involving horse racing…wait, there isn’t another one, I don’t think. Anyway, I know nothing about horse racing and horse doping. I thought Francis did a great job with atmosphere in a previous novel, “Nerve.” But I was lost on occasion here. Yes, there is the Australian outback. But I wanted more of that. Yes, there is research into why horses are acting like they do, but I wanted to know more about how regular horses act after a win. Or a loss. The term “box” is used a few times and in different ways. And of course there is fabulous England and moors and castles in the air, but I wanted more of that also.
INVESTIGATION – 3: Daniel digs so deep: it just seems unendurable to me. This is more American style hard-boiled private eye, really, than English cozy: the violence is comparatively, well, violent. During Daniel's adventures, one of two of Lord October's daughters accuses Daniel of rape but it’s a flat out lie as we were there watching/reading the scene. October tosses Daniel to the villians. But what does Daniel do when the other daughter invites him to her dorm room? He goes! Alone! I couldn’t decide if Daniel was particularly naive, or that perhaps times have changed far more than it seems to me. He does other things that seem equally on the side of bad decision-making, and although I was willing to suspend some belief, I wasn't able to step out of reality completely. There are thrills and chills galore, though: you'll keep turning the pages.
SOLUTION – 4: It’s a doozy, alright. But it involves a very ugly subject matter (animal mistreatment, so beware). I liked very much the way everything wraps up: there is a great action sequence toward the end, then a very cool twist that the inner book flap alludes to, that I was looking for, but still it was unexpected and great fun.
SUMMARY: 3.4. I kept thinking, “This sorta feels like an Ian Fleming” spy thriller (I’ve read the first ten in that series). Given the publication date of 1965, I looked up the release year of “Goldfinger”: 1964. Yea, this is Bond/spy thriller/penetrating the fortress, getting the gal (well, maybe) then the final cool twist taking us deep into the world of...secret stuff I can’t talk about. I really liked it, it was fun, and even though Francis might very well be borrowing some Bond adventure (Daniel is hot, and kind, and daring), and we have a good Bond girl and a bad Bond girl, and foreign villains, "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." And the title, “For Kicks” might be telling: Francis perhaps wrote this for kicks, just as the Bond craze had kicked in (and, I think, peaked at 'Goldfinger'). Substitute a farm training stable for Fort Knox, shake but don't stir (rather, think too hard), and enjoy! This would have made a far better Bond film than, say, "The Spy who Loved Me." Couldn't quite gives this one 4 stars because the motivations/actions of the cast were on the unbelievable/heart-tugging side.

In Dead Cert and Nerve, Francis chose jockeys as his heroes who found themselves in the center of a mystery. This time, Francis decided to go with an actual investigator. The way Daniel Roke was drafted as an undercover agent was exceptionally convoluted, and it was hard to get into the actual mystery because it wasn't personal. Roke, as usual for a Francis hero, is appealing, likable, and naturally noble and honest, and it's interesting to travel with him as he makes himself into something he's not -- and someone he would normally despise.

The thing that jumped out at me this time was how Francis treated class issues. Roke is constantly assumed to be lower class because he looks Italian, and stable hands are assumed to be idiots because smarter men would have better jobs. And this time, Roke is said to be very handsome, something Francis didn't do with his previous heroes. This time through, I wondered if Francis was trying (unsuccessfully) to create a hero in Daniel Roke that would work as a continuing character.

Again, if you're a purist and want to read all DF mysteries, For Kicks is readable. All of DF's books are readable. But it's not one I'd recommend.

Another solid book focused on horse racing by Francis, if a bit slow in the middle. Daniel is living in Australia running a stud farm and raising his younger sisters and brother after their parents' death. He is approached by Lord October to come back to England to investigate an undetected drug that is being used to dope horses into winning at the track. The future of steeplechase racing is at stake. Reluctantly he agrees to do it and has to dumb himself down and rough himself up into looking the part so that he can pose as a stable boy. The plan is for him to start at Lord October's barn and then, with his reference, go to the stables where the impacted horses are housed. But that plan goes a bit away when October's daughter, Patty, tries to seduce him and failed so she cries rape to daddy and leaves him no choice but to sack Daniel. Wanting to complete the job and now forced into a bleak situation, Daniel takes a job at the most hated stable in the area where the men are treated like dirt and never last more than three months. It is also the same place where several of the doped horses were housed before they had won in the races. This is where things slow down considerably. We see Daniel working, eating bad food and generally being treated poorly but not a lot happens for a while. Finally, there is a breakthrough when a horse is missing for a few days and comes back with a completely different personality, jumpy and nervous and not allowing anyone to get too close. Daniel knows that he is onto something and finally figures it out when visiting October's other daughter, Ellinor, who admits to him that Patty confessed to her that she lied about what had happened between them. But that wasn't the best news he heard that day. He saw that she had a dog whistle and he recalled seeing one in the car of the stable owner and everything suddenly clicks into place. They were taking the horses away and torturing them by conditioning them to run away when they heard a dog whistle lest they be burned by a flame torch. Then, when at the racetrack, they would blow the dog whistle when the horse was in the stretch and the horse would bolt ahead with the extra adrenaline and win. Again, things slowed to a crawl again as we wait and watch Daniel collect the evidence to prove his theory, which he does, but not before getting caught and fighting both the stable owner and his partner in crime, killing one and injuring the other. Unfortunately, Ellinor had stuck her nose in and stopped by the stable, inquiring about the experiment with the dog whistle, and gets herself drugged by the stable owner, requiring Daniel to save her life. Both the fight and rescuing a damsel in distress are typical plot points in Francis books.

An early Dick Francis with perhaps fewer twists in the storyline than some of his later books. Nevertheless, still a page-turner

Still a great story written by someone who understands their subject. Thoroughly enjoyable

For Kicks was the first Dick Francis I read, and was overall a light & enjoyable read. I had never read a novel set in the world of horse racing, and Francis did a excellent job at introducing the reader to horse racing while also moving the plot along fast enough to keep it from getting unbearably slow. I liked how Francis used a first-person point of view, because it helped make the protagonist more interesting to me. A nice summer read.