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Francis, Dick - 24th book / 1st Kit Fielding

Family ties mean trouble, chains and fatal obligations. And when steeplechase jockey Kit Fielding comes to the aid of his twin sister and her husband, even death threatens.

This is the first Kit Fielding book. I really like the character and his twin sister and his love interest, Danielle. Francis is such a treat to read.

Γνώρισα τα αστυνομικά μυθιστορήματα του Ντικ Φράνσις όταν έμεινα στην Αγγλία για ένα εξάμηνο ως φοιτήτρια και τώρα τα ξαναδιαβάζω (συνήθως παράλληλα με άλλα βιβλία). Έχουν μια πρωτοτυπία, ιδιαίτερα για Έλληνα αναγνώστη, γιατί ο συγγραφέας ήταν πρώην τζόκει και διαδραματίζονται στο κόσμο των αγγλικών ιπποδρομιών, που για μένα τουλάχιστον είναι τόσο ξένος όσο και η Μέση Γη του Τόλκιν. Δεν πρόκειται για λογοτεχνικά αριστουργήματα, άσε που πλέον είναι μάλλον παρωχημένα (το συγκεκριμένο πρέπει να γράφτηκε μέσα της δεκαετίας '80). Αλλά κάνουν την ίδια δουλειά με τα βιβλία της Αγκάθα Κρίστι: ό,τι πρέπει όταν στο τέλος της μέρας θέλεις κάτι μη απαιτητικό για να χαλαρώσεις, και ανακαλύπτω ότι ξαναδιαβάζονται ευχάριστα. Ίσως είναι άδικο που είπα ότι δεν είναι αριστουργήματα: στο είδος τους ίσως να είναι.

Starý dobrý Dick a jeho kone. Dá sa povedať, po prečítaní jeho asi 30 kníh, že dodržiava istú šablónu, ktorú však dokáže vždy inovatívne pozmeniť. Je majster gradácie a napriek desaťročiam, ktoré od napísania mnohých kníh ubehli tá súčasná moderná doba deju vôbec nechýba. O * menej len kvôli počtu strán, zaslúžila by si viac.

Another fascinating mystery by Dick Francis who writes a tight and suspenseful plot, tying everything together for a satisfying ending. In this one the protagonist is Kit Fielding, a steeplechase jockey, whose sister Holly married Bobby Allardeck, the son of a family that has feuded with the Fieldings for generations. Maynard Allardeck, Bobby’s father and a ruthless and successful businessman, disapproves of his son’s wife and will provide no help as they try to run a horse training facility. When a notorious newspaper runs a gossip column claiming that Bobby and his wife’s business is in danger of going bankrupt, Kit comes to the rescue for his sister’s sake, discovering a plot to discredit Maynard, who longs to be knighted. Maynard has ruined many, including the son of the owner of another newspaper, and the complex plot has Kit winning races, romancing the niece of a princess who owns some racehorses, and interviewing several people who have had their lives destroyed by Maynard, setting up an explosive conclusion that brings justice to Bobby and Holly.

I loved this book. It’s nearly 50 years old, so in some ways it’s outdated, but that didn’t spoil it for me. I’ve read all the Dick Francis books, but somehow I missed this one. I’m glad I read it though. This is one of the books where there’s a lot of horse racing detail, which I love. Not all his books take place virtually on the race track and in the stables!
Although outdated due to the passing of time, it’s still very relevant, with phone hacking taking place. A very exciting read, a very believable plot. The first book featuring Kit Fielding - I’m now going to track down book 2! There’s real excitement and danger, family feuds, horse racing - for me, the perfect book.

A Quick Race-On Sale $1.99
Years ago before goodreads was even thought of, I binged on as many Dick Francis books I could find at the library. I had been involved with horses, riding them, watching them race, and mixing a little bit with those who trained them. These books had some sort of horse racing mixed with a thriller/crime element.

Dick Francis had been a steeplechase jockey bringing firsthand experiences to the authenticity of every tale. His writing gave me so much enjoyment and pleasure during a time when it was so needed.

If you have any interest in horse racing viewed from those who actually know from where they speak, then the novels by Dick Francis are a must.

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Yes, I love Dick Francis. What's not to like?!

There are fast horses...



and hot men!


Umm... I don't think that was exactly the jockey I was looking for, but what the hell! Eye Candy!


Anyway, the Kit Fielding novels are probably my favorite of all Francis' books. Kit Fielding is a champion jockey with minor telepathic talent and a great affinity for horses. When his twin sister approaches him for help regarding some false accusations in a tabloid about her husband's training stables, Kit becomes involved in a conspiracy that goes all the way up the newspaper echelons and into the depths of the Honours Office.

Like most of Francis' heroes, Kit is calm and laid-back with an underlying will of steel. His easygoing facade hides a sharp mind and a great deal of dogged stubbornness. Break In has all the ingredients required for a successful Dick Francis outing — horse races, a Princess and her beautiful niece, evil men with knives, family drama and a hero who can be both a real man and a gentleman. Fun times!

Francis, much like his heroes, has a slow, easy way of writing that pulls you into the story almost without your knowledge. He has a simple, straightforward style of writing that makes for some excellent light reading. Even if, like me, you've never been near a horse in your life, you'll fall in love with his heartfelt descriptions of a jockey's life, his bond with his horses and the horse-racing scene in England. Having been a champion jockey himself, Francis definitely follows the rule of 'write what you know' and he does it excellently.

If you're looking for some beach reading that's not chick lit or YA, Dick Francis is the way to go!

My father loved Dick Francis, and I can still see him in a beach chair at Spring Valley Pool reading or rereading one while my brother and I played around him. A Francis novel combined two things Dad loved: well-written work and horse racing. I hadn’t read one in at least 20 years, but it was Father’s Day and this was in the pile, so I figured it would be a way to reminisce a little.

The start of this shows what Dad loved about these novels. We get a riveting description of our protagonist Kit Fielding as he serves as jockey during a nail-biter of a steeplechase run, and we get a deep background provided with clear efficiency. Francis gives us everything we need to know in just a handful of pages, and he does so without “info-dump,” without breaking the narrative he grabs us with at the start.

We get, as well, a great example of the “cozy,” the old-fashioned Agatha Christie style mystery where, beyond the crime in question, we’re led to see the fundamental decency of the world. That’s in contrast to the hardboiled or noir, mysteries that suggest the opposite: that the world is a dark place where decent people are at a perpetual disadvantage.

And Kit is decent. Francis more or less bullies us into liking him. He’s such a good guy that we have no choice. His brother-in-law comes from a rival racing family, the result of a marriage his sister undertook as a kind of real-life Juliet Capulet move. He still helps Bobby out when Bobby is suddenly the victim of a sudden series of tabloid attacks. He loans them money, puts on his amateur detective hat, and even forgives Bobby after a tantrum-style unprovoked attack on him.

Later, he forgives several others who wrong him. It’s a kind of turn-the-other-cheek response that ultimately wins in the novel but that, in this age of Trump, seems quaint and impossible.

And, just to show how very British this all is, he pursues an eligible young woman patiently and chastely, waiting to be certain that all concerned are interested and have no objections. We get an eventual “sex scene,” but it’s almost comically discrete.

While I am impressed with the opening here, I’m afraid my disappointment grows as it goes. Kit is able, far too often, to ask the right tangential character the right question to get the response he needs. He gradually learns the real reason behind the campaign against his brother-in-law [SPOILER: It’s to get at the brother-in-law’s father] and, he is able to put together a documentary detailing the old man’s financial crimes.

[CONTINUED SPOILER] The further we go, the more we’re asked to assume Kit can simply accomplish things others cannot. Why, for instance, is he able to ask three people for their experiences, stick a video camera in their faces, and get a report so damning that it undoes Allardeck’s chances at a knighthood? I mean, there are two major newspapers out to get Allardeck as well; not one of them has a reporter with the capacity to follow up on the very basic leads Kit pursues?

All of that goes along with the strangely nonviolent quality of the novel. Kit gets beat up once or twice – and he’s subjected to a stun gun at one point – but the only gun in the novel comes at the very end, and then no one fires it. There are large sums of money in play and ruthless men out to get it, but no one ever ventures to real hurt.

I’m glad I read this since it did make me feel as if I were in conversation with my father. Short of that, though – with a nod to the clear skill of its early narrative – I don’t feel called back to this. It’s no slight on Dad to acknowledge that the genre has grown since he read these. Francis has some better ones as I recall, but this shows he could also lose sight of wrapping up his own creations.

There is something about a Dick Francis book that catches the reader, pulls that reader along, and won't let that reader stop reading until the final page of the book. That is why I like Dick Francis novels: i know what I am getting into and that it will be a good ride until the story is over. Another fine example of a Dick Francis book.

Re-reading many Dick Francis books in my library and thoroughly enjoying each one.

Kit Fielding, jockey extraordinaire and occasional telepath, saves his sister and brother-in-law from malicious gossip and associated financial ruin. Dear Dick Francis, I heart you. Also, I heart Christmas Fielding. Also, I heart all your books, and I'm pretty sure I've sequentially hearted every one of your heroes. Also, I don't heart horses, but you make me heart them for 300 pages at a time. I am truly contemplating putting aside all of my to-read list and doing a chronological read of your entire corpus.

The first Kit Fielding book is a winner. Jockey Kit Fielding helps his twin sister, Holly, and her husband save their horse training operation in a complicated story with plot twists galore. Great fun read.