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.

Just okay.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Hilary Pinlock was the best part of the book.

Accountant and amature jockey kidnapped - twice.

This was a little different from most of Francis's other books. In most of them, sooner or later the protagonist does something that puts him up against a bunch of bad guys with fists, tasers, guns, or what-have-you, but this one starts out on page one with the protagonist already kidnapped and wondering who in his career as an auditing accountant he has pissed off sufficiently to make them lock him up in a cold dark space for an interminable time with no explanation? I enjoyed going along with him to figure it out.

Dick Francis liked to put his heroes in difficult situations,where they underwent torture,captivity and claustrophobia.He has used this plot device in several books,but in Risk,it happens repeatedly and for extended periods of time.

This time,it is an amateur jockey,whose day job is accountancy.He wins the Gold Cup by accident,as the horses in front of him fall.But he has no time to savour his triumph as he is kidnapped straightaway and taken to a boat.

He manages to escape,but on his return home,finds the same men still searching for him.He eludes them for a few days and gets back to work.

But he soon discovers that several of his clients are involved in fraud and embezzlement,and want their accountant to help cover their tracks.

And if he won't help them,he should remain prepared to be kidnapped again and for further rough treatment.

There are multiple villains and a crooked trainer as well,who wants him to throw races.A good story,but the element of torture and captivity was overdone.

(NOTE: I'm stingy with stars. For me 2 stars means a good book or a B. 3 stars means a very good book or a B+. 4 stars means an outstanding book or an A {only about 5% of the books I read merit 4 stars}. 5 stars means an all time favorite or an A+ {Only one of 400 or 500 books rates this!).

Audible Audiobook

“The psychiatrist’s eye-view of patients: if they’re early they’re anxious, if they’re late they’re passive-aggressive, if they’re on time they’re pathological.”


“I felt like a man on a high-diving board awaiting the moment of strength. Ahead the plunge. Behind the quiet way down. The choice within me. I could walk away I thought. Pretend I didn’t know what I knew. Settle for silence, friendship, peace. Refrain from bringing distress, disgrace, dreary unhappiness. My friend or the law: to which did I belong, the law or my own pleasure? All Great God Almighty. I swallowed with a dry mouth.

… There was no fun, no fun at all looking into the face of disaster.”