Another good Dick Francis mystery that successfully weaves horses and horse racing into an interesting plot. There are some truly evil characters that make the plot even more interesting and spellbinding. I was glued to the pages until the end and it had a very satisfying ending, but not the one I had expected.

Classic Dick Francis

I have never set foot on a racetrack (and don’t want to) yet feel I know a little of the world of horse racing because Dick Francis always makes it come alive. With few words the father/son relationships were brilliantly fleshed out, something that is a gift of this author. As usual the protagonist is clever, and wise. When reading a Dick Francis book I often find myself making mental notes on how to diffuse a tense situation & respond without letting emotions lead the way. It has been a joy to discover there are still a few I haven’t read. The only problem with a Dick Francis book is that it ends.

I've read this book before, but for some reason, I didn't enjoy reading it this time. Perhaps current events have made me indisposed to reading about a spoiled, pampered rich kid who has never been told no and whose father tramples everyone who dares to stand in his or his offspring's way.
The writing was at the usual Francis high standards. The problems I had with the book this time are purely my own.

This is not a bad book but it was a bit too predictable and far fetched in places. Still syphilis and madness with a couple of dysfunctional fathers set within the racing world was entertaining to read. None of the characters were in any way likeable except the horses!

I will probably give another Dick Francis a go as in parts I did enjoy it. Although the monotony of each day the apprentices doing the same thing was a bit dull. The ending was good though albeit a bit tragic for the equine character!

Here's yet another series that I've really liked. Dick Francis was the Queen Mother's jockey, and he knows his horses and racing. There's always some violence directed toward the main character, so it can seem gratuitous, but I love the horses. This one has an interesting plot, but it's not one of the best.

Very well-written, but I'm simply not a horsewoman. I was so bored.

In 2023, Felix Francis told Sophie Roell of fivebooks.com that Bonecrack was his favorite among his father’s 39 novels because it was a father-son story that was especially relevant to him when he was 18. The book features a boy that age caught between two father figures—his biological father, a controlling man obsessed with giving his son everything he wants, and a horse trainer who offers him freedom and a chance to practice the profession he loves. In that way, Felix notes, “It isn’t a whodunit because you know whodunit right from the beginning. It’s a ‘how the hell do I get out of this mess?’ book.” I can’t do more than agree with Felix.

Dame Agatha Christie and Her Peers
1973 - Dick Francis, toward the end of this book, offers a good warning, one to live by: "If you meet a syphilitic megalomaniac, duck. Duck quickly, because they can be dangerous. There's a theory that Hitler was one..." You see, some people get syphilis and gonorrhoea at the same time. They are cured of the later, but the syphilis goes undetected, infected children might occur but are usually stillborn but if they live there is usually some problem. "There is literally no one more likely to move mountains than your megalomaniac syphilitic..." But the next step is GPI (General paralysis of the insane). In other words, "...descent to cabbage...". Thankfully there has never, ever, in this history of America, been a case of 'descent to cabbage'.* (This information is circa 1973 and maybe be old/incorrect.)
I usually enjoy this author. And I will read more by Francis.
CAST -1 star: In the Introduction, although not identified as been authored by Francis, readers are told "unsatisfactory father-son relationships interest me to such an extent that book reviewers have speculated...opining that I must have suffered badly at home." Francis denies this, then creates an unbelievable Allesandro father-son team: the son has no experience in horse racing but dreams of doing (?) so while his farther is determined to make his son a famous jockey by hurting stable horses till the stable allows the son to ride with little experience. The other son, Neil Griffon is inexperienced at running a stable (his father is in the hospital), is kidnapped and hurt badly, and 2 horses die, and only then is the bad kid Allesandro allowed on a horse!. If I'm ever kidnapped and beaten, and I own a business suffering because someone else wants to work for me, I'm heading straight to the cops. No matter how little experience I might have in said business. It's only logical. And the horses: they've done nothing but be horses, and they die? Because someone WANTS to ride them? Whhhhhaaaat? And what is so odd here is that if one stands OUTSIDE the story and looks in, one wants to pick up the phone and call the racing commission at a minimum, possibly Scotland Yard. No, this is just so odd from this author: senseless characters doing really stupid things. Yes, true, on occasion Francis gives us a hero just short of having super-powers who can survive anything. But they aren't stupid, and they never allow horses to be killed, and they never allow the enemy such ridiculous fulfillment attempts of ambitions. This plot hole is so massive it takes over the entire book.
ATMOSPHERE - 3 stars. I did like the way a new jockey has to learn to ride, and I enjoyed all the aspects that go into that. (There is so much a jockey must learn, so much personal sacrifice in weight and time: jockeys make an entire life of riding and it's tough out there!) I like the choosing of certain horses for certain races and the discussion of the whys and whens. And the big thing I learned is that no way, no how could this Rivera son be a jockey. Ever. I am not naive and I do know there is much evil.
CRIME (s) - 1 star. Didn't believe it, didn't believe the story. No,no, no. I'm sorta concerned though about someone I know who messes around with (possibly) unsafe hookers here in America. ** (The oversight of the health of sex workers in America is nothing compared to the oversight of these workers in Europe. And that's why I'm 100% for making this occupation legal, cause we know people find what they want. So let's make it safe.)
INVESTIGATION: - 1 star: No one seems to care much about the horses, it's just...unbelievable.
RESOLUTION - 1 star. Neil decides this eveil son is just fine, leaves him employed at the stable, why, they seem to become besties. Nope, no, no!!!
SUMMARY - 1.4. Easily my least favorite Francis novel. There is no great hero. Hey, I like a believable story that has a good and deserving hero. This plot here doesn't makes sense. Sorry, even having a 'syphilitic megalomaniac" in your story doesn't make it wor. In fact, this might be one of the biggest plot holes I've ever run across in a mystery. Even bigger than the fact that if Ms. Marple and/or Poirot go on a vacation, someone must die. Or that if Tommy and Tupence get involved in some international conspiracy, they are going to solve it brilliantly and be awarded a Nobel Prize for Peace. (Even more ridiculous is the idea...just a rumor/fake news..that Rush Limbaugh is to be given a "Medal of Honor" from trump! That happened? Next thing you know Ann Coulter will break up from her love, trump. WHAT? That happened also? ) The universe is truly chaotic. I need some really good fiction right now.
*Maybe one, but I'm not one to name names.
**Same person and again I'm not one to name names. Actually, I sorta am after a martini...

Good enough for two stars, but I didn't think much of this one. Too unrealistic, in multiple respects - both the main villain and the main character's responses/reactions to his threats and actions were frankly sufficiently implausible to me to actively bother me while I was reading the book.

Neil takes over his father's stable and deals with blackmail. The story was average, but I'm always into the-new-guy-is-surprisingly-better-than-the-old-guy and the-sworn-enemy-is-seduced-by-honor tropes.

Re-read. This has one of Francis’s best premises, and the execution lives up to it. Neil Griffon, an antique dealer, has temporarily taken over his trainer father’s stable after his father was seriously injured in a car crash. Neil is kidnapped by a dangerous madman who demands, on pain of destroying the stable, that Neil hire his son Alessandro as a jockey… and let him ride their prize stallion in the Kentucky Derby.

The theme here is fathers and sons. Neil’s father was emotionally abusive and distant, but competent in his own sphere; Neil, forced to step into his shoes, must gain the trust of all the employees who prefer his father. Alessandro’s father is a sociopathic megalomaniac, but gave him everything he ever wanted. The heart of the book is the relationship between Alessandro and Neil, an oddly paternal one though Neil is only 15 years older, and Alessandro’s growth into becoming his own person.

Excellent suspense, plus Francis’s usual good characterization of the supporting cast. My favorite here was Etty, confident in her place as a female “head lad” in a male-dominated profession. Though Francis doesn’t use the word “asexual,” Neil describes her as having no interest in sex. The phrasing isn’t sensitive in current terms, but the sentiment is nonjudgmental.

One of my favorite things about this book was the way that Alessandro seemed to have stepped out of an entirely different novel, one where the arrogant and damaged young man is the romantic lead, and was forced to interact with Francis’s down-to-earth characters, who either didn’t notice how hot he was or noticed but didn’t let it cloud their judgment. His interactions with the no-time-for-this-shit Etty were comedy gold.

Warning for horse harm.

Until Dick Francis came along, who knew that the world of horse racing could be so exciting? I've read quite a few Dick Francis novels and I can't think of any that were less than 3+ stars.

Bonecrack involves two meglomaniac fathers and the sons that have to deal with them. Francis says in the forward that he had a pretty good father, so the two in this novel are not based on his own father. Good to know!