Superb!

I read this book about 50 years ago, and just re-read it.
True to early Dick Francis, the plot revolves around horses, the protagonist is a roughly 30-year-old single male, and our hero does suffer grievous bodily harm at the climax...but it's still great!
Dick Francis was a master storyteller.

This was my introduction to the British author Dock Francis.It’s been a bit hard to find a lot of his 40+ mystery thrillers, written from the 1960’s to the time of his death in 2010. I listened to For Kicks and now I’m hooked and on the hunt for more. His books concentrate on horse racing with good reason. After WWII, he became a renowned jockey, winning over 350 races and becoming champion jockey of the British National Hunt. I enjoyed the mystery itself, but also felt I learned a lot about breeding and racing horses in England. It had a slightly slow start, but quickly turned into a page turner. An enjoyable, fast read.

What is there to say about Dick Francis? As I think about all of his books (yes, this review covers all of his books, and yes I've read them all) I think about a moral ethical hero, steeped in intelligence and goodness embroiled in evil machinations within British horse racing society - either directly or indirectly. The heroes aren't always horse jockies, they can be film producers, or involve heroes engaged in peripheral professions that somehow always touch the horse racing world.

But more than that, Francis's heroes are rational human beings. The choices made are rational choices directed by a firm objective philosophy that belies all of Francis's novels. The dialogue is clear and touched with humor no matter the intensity of evil that the hero faces. The hero's thoughts reveal a vulnerability that is touching, while his actions are always based on doing the right thing to achieve justice.

Causing the reader to deeply care about the characters in a novel is a difficult thing to do. No such worries in a Francis novel. The point of view is first person, you are the main character as you read the story (usually the character of Mr. Douglas). The hero is personable, like able, non-violent but delivering swift justice with his mind rather than through physical means. This is not to say that violence is a stranger to our hero. Some of it staggering and often delivered by what we would think of normal persons living in British society.

You will come to love the world of Steeple Chase racing, you will grow a fondness for horses, stables, trainers and the people who live in that world. You will read the books, devouring one after the other and trust me Dick Francis has a lot of novels (over 40 by my last count).

There are several series woven into the fabric of Francis's work: notably the Sid Halley and Kit Fielding series.

Assessment: Dick Francis is one of my favorite writers. I read his books with a fierce hunger that remains insatiable and I mourn his death.

I had never read Dick Francis before, and thoroughly enjoyed For Kicks. I'm not really interested in reading lots more of this kind of mystery, but it passed the time with good dialogue, good characters, and fast pacing.

I enjoyed the book. It's not my favorite Dick Francis story but as usual I liked the main character and enjoyed the development of the characters. Surprisingly Francis' books age pretty well and allow one to concentrate on the story lines and characters instead of the technology. I might have rated the story 4 stars but I thought the narrator a bit harsh.

Never a disappointment !!

I have been reading and re-reading his books for years. This one as All of them grab the reader in the first paragraph - ALWAYS. I just knew to get back to reading He would help me, 5 mins a day.
Due to sudden and tragic loss of my son I am left totally ALONE. NO next of kin, no one to chat to. It was the silence, the stillness.its been 13 months. This book has taken about 2 months. BUT I am grateful, slowly getting, I don't know where x Do read it, there's the suspense, quick turning the pages, then it ends !

I felt nothing emotionally for this mc, but the author really sustains very high levels of tension throughout this engrossing book. That is high praise for any thriller. Written in 1965, this is one of Francis' best. As with many of his books, the absence of cell phones is the only thing that really dates it. If you are able to put that out of your mind, it could be a contemporary story. The dire circumstances of the stable boys definitely draw you in, and the portrait of the mentally challenged boy who befriends the mc is very engaging. This novel climaxes with the hero fighting for his life in a cramped office. The scene is vividly written and rather atypical in its outcome (for this author). Following that, there is an extremely long denouement, which is quite unusual for this author. In this case, that long winding-down almost works. But those several inactive chapters take this one out of the very highest tier of Dick Francis novels.

Its a fairly good yarn, but lost me in the middle somewhat with its protagonist's pitfalls. Really felt no connection with the hero of the story (Daniel Roke). To be honest, I am not familiar with the genre (racing) myself, or i probably would have given the novel a more esteemed rating.

One of my least favorite Francis books. It's very very slow with little of the oh no what will happen next build up and frankly little character development to make me care what happened to them. It's not a bad concept idea, it's just the pacing plus the development of the situation and villains didn't inspire fear of any but the mildest sort (until perhaps one scene towards the end.) The description of the police and their methods still holds true today though.

Another thing I am realizing about Dick Francis' novels, now that I am rereading them for the first time in some years (in order of publication this time), is that the stories are extremely memorable. I didn't remember, from the title, what this one was about, and the generic description didn't ring any bells, but as soon as I read the first sentence of the book, I remembered it all. This narrator is an extremely engaging character, and it is he, rather than the plot (though the plot is quite imaginative) which makes this book worth reading. I would have liked more books with this protagonist.

I generally love Dick Francis novels but this one was not one of my favorites. While the hero was interesting the story was very slow paced. I understand that mysteries aren't solved overnight in real life but a novel needs to show some movement or become sleep inducing. The reason for the final action seemed contrived and the ending was rushed. I also tired of the gratuitous violence, degradation and animal cruelty. Reading about a psychopath is challenging for me, especially one who enjoys inflicting pain. The title is apt and I should have taken it more seriously.