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Nerve

dick francis

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Rob Finn was a bit of a a struggling young jockey in a family of accomplished musicians, a man in love with a beautiful woman who wouldn't have him -- he suddenly looked like a rider who had lost his nerve. Could it be, though, that the horses were unusually sluggish, and that there was something more sinister attempting to sabotage him...?
"The best thriller writer going."
ATLANTIC MONTHLY

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1,1964

This edition

Format
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published
September 1, 1998 by Jove
ISBN
9780515123463
ASIN
0515123463
Language
English
Characters More characters

More editions

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 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
33(33%)
4 stars
29(29%)
3 stars
38(38%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
0(0%)
100 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
Tii__
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Great book... VERY easy read! My Grandma Judy, who is an AVID reader recommended it to me. I am really glad she did! I was thoroughly entertained from page one, it was totally clean, and the murder/mystery plot was both intruiging and fullfilling. Set in England, it was fun to interpret English words like 'bonnet' for the 'hood' of a car, etc... Now I want to shake hands with a jockey and go bet on a Steeplechase!! :)
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haruhi-chii
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I'm reading Dick Francis' novels according to their published date, so this was his second mystery novel. I must say that compared to his first, "Dead Cert," one can tell that his writing has became better. It seems that he writes with more ease and adds more depth to the characters, scenes and the plot. I've enjoyed reading this book a lot and definitely recommend it to all Francis' afficionados.
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miaka15
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I enjoy these stories of jockeys and the horses on the racing circuit. Robb Finn begins to experience success in racing when everything turns cold. He can't win. Things are just too coincidental. He starts to investigate and finds that someone is trying to destroy those who love to ride. He works hard and risks lots to set everything to right again including returning his reputation as a good rider and someone who hasn't lost his nerve. A worthy read as Dick Francis books usually are. I think Robb Finn is a great character. Enjoy this series.
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Bradisboss
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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What does it take to break someone's nerve?
Growing up as a non-musician in a world renowned family of famous players, conductors and singers, Rob takes up horse racing.
He is up and coming, drawing attention in all the right places and in one very wrong place. Until he starts to lose - did he lose his nerve? Or are the horses being stopped? A famous television presenter only has to whisper a rumor and no one will have him on their horses.
A great psychological thriller - an exploration of identity and relationships.
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animeluver550
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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One of the best books written by Dick Francis. A man born into a family of musicians finds fame as a jockey, but then things go terribly wrong. What happens next is a typical Dick Francis roller-coaster ride. Highly recommended.
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karannemesis
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I am a big fan of Dick Francis novels. While they may not be great literature, I love reading them. So I decided to start my reading year with a couple of my favorites. I think Nerve is my very favorite. Both Bonecrack and Nerve as well deserving of 5 star ratings for their genre (in my opinion - which is usually not all that humble so I won't act like it is).
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LilyRein
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Steplechase jockey Sid Hailey lose a hand as the result of a racing accident. His ex-father-in-law gets him a job with a detective agency where he learns the trade while seemingly manning a desk. He is finalkly in the field investigating horse racing related crimes at the request of the ex-in-law. Dick Fracis creates excitement.
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saiyohara
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Rob Finn has a love for racing horses but he is odd man out in his family of musicians. He is a jockey on the National Hunt circuit which is one of England’s series of races where horses race while jumping barriers of various types.
Early on he (and many others) are witnesses to a jockey committing a very public suicide at a race course.
"He drove in silence for a while, and then said with an impatient shake of his big head, “No one stands to gain anything by trying to ruin jockeys. It’s nonsense. Pointless.” “I know,” I said. “Pointless.”"

Or is it? Francis lets this story slowly build as we follow Finn’s budding career and his attempts to put things together. This is an early work and my GR friend James Thane and I agree that eventually Francis finds “a formula” for his racing thrillers. But this is an early one that I particularly enjoyed. It has a love interest to balance the violence.

"Most of the time, after so much practice, I could keep my more uncousinly feelings for Joanna well concealed from her; and it was necessary to conceal them because I knew from past experience that if I even approached the subject of love she would begin to fidget and avoid my eyes, and would very soon find a good reason for leaving."

This early effort from author Francis was part of how he built his franchise of thriller/mysteries involving horse racing. Even this early effort show how effectively Francis can tell a story, juggle the elements of mystery, love and thrills…….and equally important – know how to “bring it home.”

Here's the kind of jockey POV that appeals to me: "The utter joy of riding Template lay in the feeling of immense power which he generated. There was no need to make the best of things, on his back; to fiddle and scramble, and hope for others to blunder, and find nothing to spare for a finish. He had enough reserve strength for his jockey to be able to carve up the race as he wished, and there was nothing in racing, I thought, more ecstatic than that."


My previous comments / complaints have been adressed.
Thanks to my GR friend Jan-Maat, much of this has be "adjusted."
I am more amused than frustrated by GR's inability to get this corrected. First they appended my review of Francis' High Stakes to another edition of Nerve. (It is still there)
Then I learned that the site hasn't been able to recognize the difference between the two books.
So, I thought I would write my review on this "other" edition so it would at least be in the right location.
But, did you notice, that it says that this edition was published in 1730...one has to laugh.
RTC
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