A quirky architect risking everything for family.

While my favorite DickFrancis book is To the Hilt, this holds second place. The main character is independent, quirky and a genius in his field, deeply devoted to his gaggle of boys

It's a good story with intrigue and tense moments. Characters were a little too caricature-ish for me to suspend disbelief, so that spoiled it a little. Still, the story moves along with enough twists to keep you reading.

I recently finished listening to Decider written by Dick Francis and narrated by Simon Prebble

Lee Morris, a family man and local architect, has finally settled into a home that he is happy with when trouble shows up on his doorstep. The Stratton Racepark is in trouble because the Stratton family is tearing itself apart. He is involved, whether he wants to be or not, because his departed mother left him a number of shares she was given by the recently deceased patriarch of the family.

What initially appears to be merely a family struggle heats up when someone blows up the park with Lee and one of his sons in it. They just barely escape death's clutches, but who did it and, more importantly, can his family ever be safe if the bomber isn't found?

Simon Prebble delivers his usual excellent narration here adding such depth and dry wit to the characters that one can only admire his skill. He really grabs your attention and holds onto it.

Conclusion: This is a great mystery full of lots of twists and turns. The characters really spring to life in your mind between the insightful writing and inspired narration. I had serious trouble stopping this book to take a break of any sort. It grabbed my imagination and kept on running.

Weird book. The extended aristocratic family that our architect/builder protagonist has managed to avoid for 30+ years is so dysfunctional that many of its members become difficult to tell apart. They all are so consumed by hate, envy, greed, sexual perversion and the like that they don't really differentiate.

A few chapters into the novel the protagonist already should be having several of them arrested for assault and battery on his person, and as he works to save the race course that is a major family asset, he is keeping most of his sons close at hand--a major error in parenting as these kids already are hugely at risk from the family. (One son is almost blown up when some family member dynamites the grandstands in hope that the course will be sold, enriching everyone.)

This is not the only Dick Francis novel in which a protagonist sticks it out in a difficult situation when anyone with any sense would just leave.

By the way, it is ironic that a person like Dick Francis so honored by British society would so completely debunk the British system of class and noble birth. These people are (mostly)monsters, and those who accept their authority as our protagonist mostly does are abetting a corrupt system

It's not my favorite of his, but still a great story. There were complicated relationships, a fractured family, the protagonist and his 6 sons, and a run-down horse track and grounds. Lee Morris, though, is a thoughtful, smart man who has developed strong friendships in his life. I loved Henry, the tent guy; and Roger and his wife, the track manager; and the boys who lived with their dad in a bus. That was fun.

Dick Francis: gripping and sometimes terrifying with a hero whose head you can climb into. I've loved his books for years and this one is a fine addition to the collection.

Ieri mi-am pierdut licenţa.

Pentru un jocheu de alergări cu obstacole, a-şi pierde licenţa şi a fi exclus din Newmarket Heath este ca şi cum ar fi şters din registrul medical, ba chiar mai rău.

Tăiat de la curse, târât de la hipodrom. Mai mult, tăiat de la grajduri. Ceea ce constituie pentru mine o adevărată problemă, întrucât eu trăiesc în unul.

Fără mijloace de existenţă şi poate fără cămin.

Noaptea trecută a fost un adevărat chin, şi prefer să uit orele acelea groaznice de nesomn. Şoc şi uluire, sentimentul că nu putea să se fi întâmplat, că totul era o greşeală… toate astea au durat până după miezul nopţii. Şi, cel puţin, stadiul de incapacitate de a crede avusese un anumit confort interior. Înţelegerea deplină care urmase, căzând ca nu trăsnet, nu avusese niciunul. Viaţa mea zăcea în jur ca fragmentele unei ceşti de ceai sparte şi eu nu aveam nici clei, nici capacitatea de a o drege.

Azi-dimineaţă m-am sculat şi mi-am făcut o cafea, apoi m-am uitat pe fereastră la flăcăii care năvăleau în curte, încălecau şi porneau spre Downs, şi am simţit pentru prima dată gustul amar de a fi un paria.

Fred n-a urlat la fereastra mea cum făcea de obicei „Ai de gând să stai acolo toată ziua?”

De data asta aveam.

Niciunul dintre flăcăi nu ridică privirea… Îşi ţinură, mai mult sau mai puţin grijulii, ochii în pământ. Şi erau şi tăcuţi. Al naibii de tăcuţi. L-am urmărit pe Bouncing Bernie urcându-şi cele şaptezeci şi două de kilograme pe calul castrat pe care îl călărisem în ultimul timp, şi felul în care îşi lăsă fundul gras în şa avea ceva care semăna a scuză.

Şi el îşi ţinu ochii în jos.

Mâine, am bănuit eu, aveau să fie iar ei înşişi. Mâine aveau să fie curioşi şi aveau să pună întrebări. Am înţeles că nu mă dispreţuiau. Erau înţelegători. Probabil prea înţelegători pentru propriul lor confort. Şi stânjeniţi. Şi asta, şi instinctiv destul de delicaţi pentru a nu privi prea curând în faţă un total dezastru.

După plecarea lor mi-am băut încet cafeaua şi m-am întrebat ce să fac în continuare. O senzaţie scârboasă, foarte scârboasă, de goliciune şi pierdere.

Ziarele îmi fuseseră înfipte ca de obicei în cutia de scrisori. M-am întrebat ce gândise băiatul, ştiind ce livra. Am ridicat din umeri. Poate era preferabil să citesc ce spuneau ei, mizerabilii de ziarişti, Dumnezeu să-i binecuvânteze.

Sporting Life, concis privitor la ştire, ne-a acordat titlul de-o şchioapă şi tratament complet.

„Cranfield şi Hughes descalificaţi”.

Goodness! A little disturbing but the formula still works even if the behavior or perhaps thinking of Lee Morris was for me unsettling. Lee s n a loveless marriage with Amanda and the builder architect lives for his six boys. Yes six boys! Although religion is not mentioned once I suspect he or his wife were catholic

Whip-cracking stuff.

Family rivalry, intrigue, skeletons in the cupboard and skulduggery surrounding a racecourse, whose future is threatened by the death of the patriarch.

A fab read at a full gallop.

Lee is an architect with 6 boys and a rapidly cooling marriage. When Lord Stratton dies he gets wrangled into the drama of his mother's ex-in-laws because he owns shares in the racecourse the family owns. The problem is that the family is uber rich and morally bankrupt. Can Lee, a nice guy traveling with his 5 oldest boys, help save the racecourse against the sabotage from the family?

Francis writes about horse racing, that’s well known. But his recipe for a book is to also mix in one or two other topics, like glass blowing or computer viruses or movie making. These extra topics flesh out the characters and differentiate the stories, and I’m sure Francis enjoyed researching these extra bits. Sometimes it takes some reflection to figure out the topics, often it doesn’t. This one certainly had the role of an architect/builder as a key part of the story. The architect is our protagonist, and unlike many Francis books, you get more of a surface view of the life of the architect without getting much detail in his work. The detail that was there (regarding explosives and design) was not that compelling, and I missed that depth here. The book seemed to be much more about relationships, and the second topic was managing families. Lee, our architect, manages this entire episode with his brood of sons with him. I was worried this might turn into a mystery episode of “The Brady Bunch”, but Francis writes the boys as prototypical Boy Scouts – well behaved and adventurous. And the work Lee does in the story is related to a dysfunctional and rich family of racecourse owners. I’ve read a few Francis books that deal with families, like “Hot Money” and “Longshot”, and I like them best. Francis has a way with navigating family politics and dealing with family trauma that he only touches on occasionally in his books. I think his writing about families give him the ability to bring some interesting characters to life, such as the grandson here trying to cure his baldness. Francis also, as he likes to do, includes a beating scene here. I’ve read more than a dozen scenes in Francis’ various books where the protagonist is beat up. They are always very cringe-inducing. Just once I’d like to see the good guy beat up the bad guy without getting his own clock cleaned first. I suspect that’s not in the Francis story formula. Overall, one of the better ones.

This is one of my favorite Dick Francis novels. Although horse racing is important to this story, the primary character is only peripherally involved with the racing business. He happens to have inherited eight shares (of 100) in a declining racecourse. That brings him into contact with the upper-class family to which his mother once belonged.

Family is at the center of this story. Our hero, Lee Morris, is in a troubled marriage and is very worried about how a break-up will affect his six sons. He takes the five oldest with him on his expedition to the Stratton racecourse. The divisions within his estranged family are extremely vicious and violent. Lee gets involved in trying to resolve the issues within the Stratton family about the future of the racecourse, in which his training as an architect is relevant. But these issues place Lee and his sons in real danger. Is he going to have to withdraw from the family controversy in order to save his sons' lives?

This is a novel in which the hero's personal and family life, and his emotional life, are front and center. The horses are far in the background. Francis' ability to make each of his many characters individual and concrete is outstanding.

This novel goes a bit beyond the usual entertainment Dick Francis provides. An excellent book!