One of the first I read by Dick Francis and one of my favorites. The people seem so genuine, the situations so true to life. James Tyrone struggles with temptation and as the reader, I wasn't sure what I wanted him to choose.

Classic Dick Francis: danger, an anti-hero who gets violently beaten more than once, but who has an iron will and a problem in his marriage. James Tyrone writes for a weekly newspaper that thrives on the sensational. He uncovers a horse race betting scandal that nearly costs him his life. Great characters throughout. Francis' metaphors and similies are fresh as ever!

I was obsessed with Duck Frances novels towards the end of college. I’d gotten to the point where I didn’t know if I’d read the book or just the summary on the jacket, so I was pleasantly surprised that I managed to grab one I definitely hadn’t read. I was also pleasantly surprised that the story held up after all these years. I mean, it’s definitely rooted in a specific time - with the MC’s wife confined to an iron lung type thing because of polio. But the action and tension were spot on.

In which the Young Man is Unfaithful and Pays a Price.

I liked this one, though I think it's not one of Francis' best. I found Ty's wife Elizabeth to be not as sympathetic as Francis probably intended. I felt sorry for her, but I also kind of hated her. She redeemed herself in the end, of course, but I couldn't help being more concerned with Ty's happiness than hers. The villain was also not quite as much of a looming evil presence as he could have been. The final showdown was almost staid in comparison to some of Francis' other novels.

Still, he's one of my favorite mystery novelists, and I will happily spend a couple hours reading anything he wrote.

James Tyrone is a sports writer for a tabloid paper called The Blaze. It's not the most respectable paper in town, but it pays better than its more prestigious counterparts and Tyrone badly needs the money.

Tyrone's principal beat is horseracing and one day after lunch he walks a fellow scribe back to his office. The other reporter, Burt Chekov, writes for a competitor, but he and Tyrone have been friends. Chekov has been drinking heavily of late and seems to be deeply troubled. He's also been touting horses in his column, encouraging readers to bet heavily on his picks, only to have some of the horses withdraw from the races at the last minute, leaving the people who bet on them out of luck. As Tyrone walks Chekov to his office, Chekov says something that leads Tyrone to believe he has been being blackmailed and then, shortly thereafter, Chekov "accidentally" falls out of the window of his office to his death.

Tyrone smells a story and begins digging into the horses that Chekov was touting. He ultimately discovers a nefarious scheme to cheat bettors out of their money. Before long, powerful forces are warning him to drop the story, "or else." Tyrone believes that he is impervious to the sorts of threats that doomed his friend, Chekov, but when the villains discover that Tyrone may have a weak spot after all, all bets may be off.

This is a fairly typical Dick Francis story that should appeal to anyone who has enjoyed his other books. James Tyrone is the usual stand-up Francis protagonist, and the bad guys are dependably powerful and villainous. The end result is a very good read.

Rereading all of Dick Francis' work in order. This is another one I'd give 4.5 starts to, rather than 5, if that were an option, but since I can't, it deserves the bump up. This book features a very interesting and difficult moral dilemma faced by the hero/narrator. Makes you think.

I can see where off track bedding could definitely present a problem. Obviously, if not overseen by the Wright authorities. The racing commission is certainly not the governing body to oversee such a broad expanse of facilities. I would think more like a lottery commission. Nonetheless, Dick Francis certainly shows us the problem with off track betting in this novel. A great love story and a true example of how if you love someone let them go and if it’s true love, indeed they will return.

James Tyrone is a former jockey,who is now a journalist,just like Dick Francis himself was.He has to take care of a polio stricken wife too,who needs a ventilator to breathe.This adds to his financial needs which become pressing.

Bert Chekov,a drunken colleague warns him not to sell his column.Then,Chekov falls to his death.Was it murder ?

The villain ensures that heavily favoured horses fail to appear at races,or fail to win.

An excellent effort by Francis,Forfeit deservedly won the Edgar Allan Poe award.

Kept me engrossed,among his best.

I hadn't read "Forfeit" in, oh, twenty years or something, until I recently picked it up and reread it. As always, rereading is as enlightening as reading.

"Forfeit" is one of Francis's slighter works in many ways, but it gets added depth by the interactions between Ty (the hero) and his wife Elizabeth, who has been paralyzed by polio. Rather than exciting scenes of horseback riding (Ty doesn't ride once, and only occasionally goes to the races), the tension in the story is largely generated by Ty's conflict over his sexual desire, which hasn't gone anywhere with his wife's paralysis, and his desire to be faithful to the woman whom he still loves.

When I read the story as a teenager I was struck by the drama of the situation but had a hard time sympathizing with either character, both Ty's inner conflict and Elizabeth's fear that he would leave her over it, abandoning her to a life of utter dependency on strangers. Having spent the past several years quite ill (although not, thank God, completely paralyzed like Elizabeth--yet, at least), I was struck on the reread how well Francis captured both characters' emotional struggles. As always, he had a sharp eye for detail and for character, conveying in a few well-chosen phrases the agony that many writers about illness try and fail to convey in pages of purple prose.

The climactic action scene is also a gem. I don't want to give away anything about it, but once again Francis takes the mundane and turns it into high drama.

"Forfeit" is probably not Francis's best work, but it's good, and well worth reading both because it's a compelling read and because of his insight into the experiences of people struggling with difficulties, disabilities, and physical helplessness, a common theme in his work that takes perhaps its most overt form here. It's one of his more "domestic" works, and probably one of his more autobiographical books (Ty is a journalist, like Dick was, and Mary Francis was briefly paralyzed, providing the inspiration for this story) but it's never boring.

One of his best, IMHO.

As always Dick Francis is a fun read. Tight, meaningful action, rich characters and a tidy ending. (Dick Francis novels are crafted around Brittish horse racing.)