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dick francis

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When he wakes in a pitch-black room with his hands bound, Roland Britten—accountant and champion steeplechase jockey—knows he’s entered a nightmare of someone else’s making. Wracking his brain to figure out who’s out to get him and why, he comes up empty, but somehow manages a death-defying escape. It isn’t long, though, before he’s recaptured. Now, with his life at stake, he must take every risk to outsmart his well-disguised enemy and save himself...

272 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1,1977

This edition

Format
272 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published
August 1, 2006 by G.P. Putnam's Sons
ISBN
9780425211038
ASIN
0425211037
Language
English
Characters More characters

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About the author

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dick francis

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Dick Francis, CBE, FRSL (born Richard Stanley Francis) was a popular British horse racing crime writer and retired jockey.

Dick Francis worked on his books with his wife, Mary, before her death. Dick considered his wife to be his co-writer - as he is quoted in the book, "The Dick Francis Companion", released in 2003:
"Mary and I worked as a team. ... I have often said that I would have been happy to have both our names on the cover. Mary's family always called me Richard due to having another Dick in the family. I am Richard, Mary was Mary, and Dick Francis was the two of us together."

Praise for Dick Francis: 'As a jockey, Dick Francis was unbeatable when he got into his stride. The same is true of his crime writing' Daily Mirror '

Dick Francis's fiction has a secret ingredient - his inimitable knack of grabbing the reader's attention on page one and holding it tight until the very end' Sunday Telegraph '

Dick Francis was one of the most successful post-war National Hunt jockeys. The winner of over 350 races, he was champion jockey in 1953/1954 and rode for HM Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, most famously on Devon Loch in the 1956 Grand National.

On his retirement from the saddle, he published his autobiography, The Sport of Queens, before going on to write forty-three bestselling novels, a volume of short stories (Field of 13), and the biography of Lester Piggott.

During his lifetime Dick Francis received many awards, amongst them the prestigious Crime Writers' Association's Cartier Diamond Dagger for his outstanding contribution to the genre, and three 'best novel' Edgar Allan Poe awards from The Mystery Writers of America. In 1996 he was named by them as Grand Master for a lifetime's achievement. In 1998 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List of 2000. Dick Francis died in February 2010, at the age of eighty-nine, but he remains one of the greatest thriller writers of all time.

Series:
* Sid Halley Mystery
* Kit Fielding Mystery

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Community Reviews

Rating(4.1 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
35(35%)
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28(28%)
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100 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
FlyingxHigh
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Another good, fast-paced yarn, with the action starting immediately as the hero awakes, ill & disoriented, to find himself imprisoned on a boat in the ocean. What on earth has brought him here?

Roland Britten is accountant to the racing fraternity of Newbury, & an amateur jockey. There is very little he doesn't know about the finances of the people on his patch, from trainers & jockeys to feed suppliers, he sees the money round as he does their tax returns. As he is pulled from pillar to post, Ro puts his mathematical mind to work, analysing what he knows & about whom.

I wasn't keen on the love interest, Jossie Finch, but I did enjoy Miss Hilary Margaret Pinlock, an admirable woman of intelligence & common sense.
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LadyAxeFace
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This is another fairly typical Dick Francis novel. The protagonist, Roland Britten, is an accountant by trade and an amateur jockey who loves to race. Like most Francis lead characters, Britten is single, a man who lives within himself and who few people know really well. He shares the courage and steel will of his fellow Francis protagonists--a man who will not be bullied or bribed and who will withstand almost any amount of pain or suffering rather than surrendering to the will of his adversaries.

As the book opens, Britten unexpectedly wins a very prestigious race. But even before he has a chance to celebrate his unlikely victory, he is kidnapped and rendered unconscious. He awakens to find himself bound in a sail locker of a yacht that is obviously out on the high seas.

It's a dark, uncomfortable and claustrophobic situation, and Britten cannot figure out how or why he wound up there. "There was no one to pay millions for my release, no parents rich or poor ... I had no political significance and no special knowledge: I couldn't be bartered, didn't know any secrets, had no access to government papers or defense plans or scientific discoveries. No one would care more than a passing pang whether I lived or died ..."

Of course, he will live, at least for a while, or the novel would end after the second chapter. Britten will spend the rest of the book attempting to figure out how he wound up in the locker and who was responsible for putting him there. It's a good read although not one of Francis's best efforts, and fans of the author will know exactly what to expect.
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okayhero
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This is another book I hadn't read in decades until I tore through it again yesterday. Dick Francis is still one of my favorite authors decades after his death, but even I will concede that his work suffered in later years from staleness. The issue worsened after his wife and acknowledged collaborator died.

However, he (or they) wrote RISK at about the midpoint in his career and it is original, fun, and extremely well done. To is an accountant and amateur jockey who has made enemies in both worlds be at of his uncompromising integrity. So who has been kidnapping him and why? Read and find out. Franchises books are noe being released as ebooks and are frequently available at bargain prices, but I prefer hard copies myself.
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l34str0
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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One of my favorites. This was a reread. Or a re listen. When you can't find a good book to listen to on your commute, you can always listen to Dick Francis even if you've read the book before. They nearly always stand up to a re read or listen.
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PaulPhoenixx
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Roland is an accountant and amateur jockey. After winning the Gold Cup he is mysteriously kidnapped. He wakes up in a claustrophobic space in darkness. Roland has no idea why he was kidnapped. Eventually he escapes from the sailboat he is on and helped by a middle aged head mistress. He finds himself in Minorca.

Returning to England he investigates why he was kidnapped and once again is kidnapped but is unharmed. Suddenly he is released by the police who are incompetent beyond belief.

SPOILERS AHEAD

He finds his partner is a crook in collusion with his girlfriend Jossie father a horse train fiddling his books. There are also three other crooks who Roland sent to prison who take revenge on Roland.

Overall a good read. Far fetched but as always entertaining.

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