Excellent and moving. All the thrills of anteposte betting - and the nonstarter market racket —on the track— while the organized crime bosses continue to get more desperate to cause favored horses to forfeit. This interesting UK track rule makes for a good crime thriller.

Passes the time; it's okay, though...

The cover of my copy of the book breathlessly
brags of a story at "the center of a powerful
ring of international intrigue, the middle of
a high-finance farce."

Um, no. The story is more humdrum than
that: a London tabloid writer discovers a
horserace-fixing racket. He uses his
column to cast light on the racket. This
leads to the obvious skullduggery: threats,
blackmail and beatings.

The last 50 pages or so involve a car chase,
home invasion and kidnapping. This is
mildly stimulating fare, but not a lot of
fireworks here.

I enjoyed this thriller with James a racing journalist for the Blaze. It revolves around ante-post favourites where you bet on a horse weeks before a race where the odds can be much better. However, if the horse fails to run then you forfeit your bet and the bookie keeps all the money.

James uncovers owners being blackmailed or threatened unless they scratch their horses. The SA behind it and a bookie arrange for James to be beaten and warned to stop writing articles about it. James of course ignores this. He also looks after his wife Elizabeth paralysed by polio. This part of the story was fascinating and eye opening about a horrible disease.

The story has a great escape with James drunk managing to save his wife and deal with the villains. Great story and entertaining.