Reflex

Excellent book. Even after all this time. Worth rereading. Highly recommend Dick Francis novels. Couldn’t put it down & have read before lol.

赛马骑师Philip童年流离，被母亲推给一个又一个朋友照顾，在寄养家庭中帮忙干活期间，学会了两个能够赖以为生的技能，骑马和摄影。
在同行的一位出色的摄影师离奇死亡后，他机缘巧合得到了摄影师的一份遗物，在解密一系列底片过程中，他渐渐发现了风平浪静的赛马界中暗藏的龌蹉交易，危险一步步靠近。
另一方面，癌症晚期的外祖母让他寻找他同母异父的妹妹来继承她的遗产，并告诉他生父的秘密以及她厌恶他的原因。
Philip开头莫名的正直让人不以为然，后来黑化了感觉才有点人格魅力。外祖母从头到尾一副屌样，连最后的遗嘱都要怼一下主角，是个人物。两个寄养家庭的故事很温暖，可能就是主角那股正直的由来，他母亲给他的唯二的美好的东西。
总体来说，蛮好看的。

I've probably said something similar before about Dick Francis novels and that is I'm always surprised just how good they are.

Well thought out, complicated but not confusing plot, fast pace, well written, very strong characters all go to making this book a compelling read.

I'm not sure if one has to have any love of horseracing or not to appreciate his work; I've been a regular racegoer over the years so it's hard to be objective on the matter but I can't imagine liking it any less if the backdrop to the story were (say) car racing, or something else I was less familiar with.

I suppose five stars is quite generous for a formulaic crime novel but I think four stars may undersell how much I enjoyed this one.

1 Jan 1985
1 Jan 1998
19 Feb 1998
2 Sep 2016

I have two reasons for rereading this book: watching Nore trying to retrace his childhood, and watching him change as an adult. And also this book has the memorable scene of Nore sitting on the stairs in pain, waiting for it to pass. Gripping, and also surprisingly funny, which one probably wouldn't expect. The only reason not to read it is because you'll be stuck listening to the chorus of a Duran Duran song in your head on repeat.


Personal copy

It's been some years since I read this, so while I remembered the general plot, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the re-read. I didn't remember the strong female roles in this, given the 1980 publication date. As with most of Dick Francis' mysteries, there's a lot of information about a particular subject besides horse-racing; in this case, photography.

Enjoy!

Loved it. I really like the effort he puts into his research and sharing it within the story. Fast paced and entertaining.

I’m nearing half way in reading Dick Francis’ mysteries. He has a formula that he tends to follow, and this one fits to his formula well. Here a steeplechase jockey solves a mystery involving strange happenings around racing, including a mysterious death. As in most of the Francis books I’ve read, the protagonist gets beat up multiple times. Francis writes fluently of pain and recovery, and I always find myself wincing as I read these sections. And as in all other Francis books I’ve read, he brings in another topic or two to weave into the story. In this one, a minor topic is publishing, and we learn a little about that world. But by far the main topic beyond jockeying is photography. The hero is a photographer as well as a jockey, and the first victim is a photographer. We dive into darkrooms, filters, and Nikons. In my mind, though, this book “jumped the shark”. Francis went beyond adding a photography storyline and threw in some gimmicks based on photography.  A photographer hides information in photos that need to be developed using different, not normal methods. Why would he use different methods instead of just one? It's not explained, but it kept the plot plodding at an appropriate pace. Here it was too obvious a device to drag findings out.  Overall, a typical Francis story but one where the plot was hampered by a nonsensical timing issue.

Read many, many years ago! Today I'm venturing into the audiobook, performed
by Simon Pebble, one of my favorite narrators!
Stay tuned....

This is one of Dick Francis's most memorable mysteries. I've read it at least 3 times, now, and enjoyed it this time as much as I had in the past. His knowledge of the British horse-racing world is based on long years of his own experience, and his writing skills shine in this as in others of his novels. He does his research, his stories and his characters are impeccably constructed and his novels shine with a burnished narrative style.

Reflex is not my favorite Dick Francis, but it's still a fun read. There's lots of good information about photography and photographic puzzles in here, and a rather sweet story about an isolated man creating a new sense of family for himself while he solves the mysteries dumped on his doorstep. I was disappointed that one important thread was left hanging at the end, but I suppose we should trust the main character to fix that problem as his life continues after the book is finished!

The old books {1981} are so well researched and totally a page turner. This one is about a photographers secrets, a mothers secrets, herion addiction and a little love. Great book Oh yes, the British race track is in there too!!

Read it for the 3rd of 4th time. Vintage Dick Francis. But this time, I read with an eye on how the book was written, the various plot lines, how it has weathered the years since it was published in 1981, etc. This has held up well!

I also read it because I wanted to understand how Francis went about hiding puzzles in photography. For those who aren't aware of him, he wrote crime novels (usually featuring an amateur detective) around horse-racing + one other profession. Sometimes it's glass-blowing, other times it's gem-collecting, and in this book's case it was photography.

I also read it in parallel with my first James Patterson thriller (which was OK). Both books have 'the unknown sibling who turns up' theme, which I've always been a sucker for.