Borrowed from a guesthouse, started at an airport boarding gate, continued in between movies on the plane, and finished once I returned home that night. A great travelling book. And I learned a bit about the newspaper business at the time. :-)

Those who have read several of Dick Francis's mysteries will know exactly what to expect from Break In. Malevolent forces are at work and a jockey, in this case Kit Fielding, gets caught up in the machinations. The Fielding family has been feuding with the Allardeck family for generations, and Kit's sister, Holly, has complicated matters by marrying into the Allardeck family, on the order of Romeo and Juliet.

As the book opens, someone has been planting viscous rumors in the press about Holly's husband, Bobby. Bobby is a horse trainer and the rumors say that he is broke and unable to pay his debts. His creditors and the people who own the horses he trains are pressing him, and it appears that Bobby will have to declare bankruptcy and lose everything.

As an Allardeck, he's reluctant to accept help from a Fielding, but Kit is the only one who appears capable of getting his sister and brother-in-law out of this crisis. Kit is forged in the same mold as virtually every other Dick Francis protagonist; he's very smart, extremely clever, and tough as nails. He has the sort of resilience that one expects from a Francis protagonist and like most of the others, he seems impervious to pain. In and around his efforts to save his sister and brother-in-law, Kit will ride a lot of races, and he will meet a beautiful woman that he will court in the style of a Dick Francis hero.

Again, there are no surprises here for anyone who has read a lot of these novels, but that's fine. It's sometimes comforting to fall down and just relax with a good book, even if you know with certainty where it's going to take you.

I'm giving this book three stars instead of four for the way in which Francis treats the Bobby Allardeck character. Bobby has married Kit's sister, and even though he has been trained to hate Fieldings, he seems to have reached an accommodation with Kit and is grateful for his help. But on a couple of occasions, he boils over and attacks Kit as though he were some member of the Fielding family that he had never met. At one point, he's even on the brink of shooting him. This behavior made absolutely no sense, and Francis takes this long-time family feud to ridiculous extremes. That took away a bit of the enjoyment of the book.

3.5 Stars

Break in is the first book in the Kit Fielding series by Dick Francis. This is full of family drama/feuds/grudges, adventure, action, tension, mystery, suspense, horse racing, intensity, and drama- which makes for an intriguing read.
->2023 Reading Challenge.
->Glennie's Collection
Dick Francis novels were a familiar fixture in our household when I was growing up, as both my parents loved his books. He was amongst the first ‘adult’ reads that I explored at the time, and over the years I have read everything he’s written. I remember every time my mother read one of his books, she'd tell me about him and how he'd gone from being an RAF pilot to being the Queen Mother's favourite jockey, before retiring to become a journalist/writer.
Since my mother passed away over a year ago, I have been making my way through her book collection, finally. I decided to make reading her entire collection a part of my reading challenge for the next couple of years (she has a HUGE collection), as well as a way to pay tribute to my mum, who was such a voracious reader..... Reading her collection of books has stirred up a lot of memories, mostly of our shared love of reading. I am forever grateful that she passed on her love of reading to me.

My dad bought all of Dick Francis' books, and as he finished them I picked them up. This character, Christmas "Kit" Fielding was my favorite of all of his jockey/detectives, and while it's been a number of years since I read it, I remember it fondly. In fact, I had a huge crush on the character, book nerd that I was. You can't go wrong with a Dick Francis whodunnit. Lots of horses, racetrack intrigue, Brit humor and witty/brilliant detectives. This and Bolt were the two that I remember the best, and loved the most. For those who don't know, Francis was a steeplechase jockey before turning to writing as a career, so his knowledge of the racing industry really brings the stories to life.

Break In is one of my favorite books by author Dick Francis. As all of Francis' books, this takes place in England and involves thoroughbred racing. Kit Fielding, the main character, is a successful steeplechase jockey. He comes from an old racing family and his twin sister, Holly, has married into another old racing family, the Allerdecks. Unfortunately, these families have quarreled and loathed each other literally for centuries. Holly and her husband, Bobby Allerdeck, run a racing stable and someone is trying to ruin it via innuendos and libelous articles in the newspaper, Flag. Kit helps them solve the problems and on the way falls in love and is hurt by knives and a stun gun.

So back to Francis and while it doesn’t show here on Goodreads have of course, read this before. Good story about the lengths some folks will go to protect their own interests. Yes we get that about villains in the pieces but also applies to people who think they are upright citizens who toss their scruples to the side. Like the relationship between the twins Holly and Kit. And Kit is only the second character in Dick Francis’ books to show up in another book, which I am sure to be rereading soon.

One of Dick Francis’ classics, this story revolves around the life of a steeplechase jockey and the perils of tracks, trainers, and reputations. Dick Francis is an excellent writer and storyteller. I was happy to reread this complex tale of intrigue and strategy, with a bit of the best romantic writing by a man that I’ve encountered. All of his books are interesting and, as a reader, I can rest and enjoy his storytelling because he never disappoints me.

It was strange reading a book that was published when I was only 14. Things were not as high-tech, for instance, people did not have cell phones.
I thought that all mysteries had at least one murder, but in this case it did not.

Just reread this for about the millionth time. Kit Fielding = dreamboat.

I think this was one of the first Dick Francis books I ever read (I still remember the surprise of Kit's real name). It's still classic Francis, with a higher proportion of racing/riding action than his later books, a touch of the trademark research/information (in this case, in TV production/video editing), a protagonist facing down blackmail threats with ingenuity, and some unexpectedly touching relationships - not the romantic interest material, which tends to be workmanlike but a little token in Francis' plots, but Kit's relationships with his brother in law, his grandfather and his employer the Princess, all of which are more nuanced than one expects in most thrillers. I'm not sure I buy the telepathy angle ("I can only fall in love with a girl who can read my mind the same way as my twin sister"), least of all Danielle's sudden manifestation of the requisite ability, but I suppose the author had rather boxed himself in by that point!

I have never read a book by Dick Francis, because I don't have the slightest interest in horse racing. However, my grandfather used to have a lot of Dick Francis books, so when I was looking for new mysteries to read, I thought I would try one out. While this book did not change my life or otherwise have a huge emotional impact, it was still a very well done, solidly written book. It was fairly quick to read, and the characters were well developed. I will definitely read more Dick Francis books.

[9/10]

Dick Francis is a bit of a one-trick-pony: he stumbled onto a winning formula in the field of thrillers and applied it to about four dozen books.
The similarities in plot and characters from one adventure to the next are obvious, but the key word in that definition is pony because Dick Francis is a hell of a good jockey on his particular hobby horse. The kind that wins championships in steeple-chasing and tops the best-seller lists in literature.

The horse ahead, the taxing job in hand, had absolute and necessary priority. I was primarily no one’s brother. I was primarily Kit Fielding, steeplechase jockey, some years champion, some years not, sharing the annual honour with another much like myself, coming out on top when my bones didn’t break, bowing to fate when they did.

Of the long list of popular thrillers written by Francis, the ones that deal directly with his field of expertise are the best. The racing world is for the author the passion of a lifetime and a true mirror of the world. The lessons learned by jumping over high fences at thirty miles an hour can be applied to any field of activity: preparation, dedication, focus, courage, integrity, respect and so on.

Kit Fielding is a steeple-chase jockey, a champion cut from the same mould as his creator. In fact, Dick Francis liked this Kit so much that he made him a recurrent character, something that only happens twice in his long catalogue [the other one is Sid Halley, another fictional steeple-chase jockey].
During a race, Mr. Fielding is absorbed completely by his relationship with the horse that carries him at high speed over fences, a level of wordless communication that may appear as magical to outsiders, but that is for Kit a combination of intuition and telepathy [and some bloody mindedness to get over that finish line together in the pole position]

Outside the racing field, Kit is reserved, discreet and reliable, a fact known also to his twin sister who has a habit of appealing to her brother whenever she is in trouble.

Coming to her brother, still, for her worst troubles to be fixed. Even though she was four years married, those patterns of behaviour, established in a parentless childhood, still seemed normal to us.

Holly Fielding is also part of the racing world, having married a young horse trainer in a sweeping romantic gesture that mirrors the plays of Shakespeare: The Fielding and the Allardeck racing clans have a generations long bloody feud going on, with Bobby and Holly being the first to break the tabu and cross over to the enemy. A sort of Montagues and Capulets in Newmarket.

Now Bobby Allardeck is the subject of a series of personal attacks in the yellow press that threaten to ruin his business. ‘The Daily Flag’ is publishing articles about Bobby’s financial secrets and exposure due to recent loans and purchases, implying both incompetence and ill will. These attacks are indirectly also targetting Bobby’s father, tycoon Maynard Allardeck, who abandoned his son because of the marriage to a daughter of his sworn enemies.

Kit Fielding is not a private investigator, but every Dick Francis protagonist is very good at whatever he does, especially when it comes to observing the fine details of what is going on around them, keeping a level head and applying common sense to the problems encountered.
They are also good at dealing with bullies which, as a rule, compose most if not all of the adversaries in a Dick Francis novel. I’ve got so used to this aspect of the formula that I can spot the bad man of the novel the second he opens his mouth:

‘I won’t forget this,’ he assured me viciously. ‘You’ll regret you meddled with me, I’ll see to that.’

The first question Kit Fielding asks when he arrives at the Bobby Allardeck stables is how the newspaper has obtained private information. The second action is to take steps to secure the compound against trespassers. This leads to immediate results, such as foiling a plan to kidnap horses without paying training debts by a venal owner. And catching a couple of strangers in the act of breaking into the stables after midnight, which gives us the title of the novel.

>>><<<>>><<<

I will stop here with the revelations about the plot. It will not do to tell all the salient points in a review that should be more about the secret ingredients Dick Francis puts in his successful formula. How exactly is he writing so many winners?

One of these key elements is the vibrant curiosity the author has about how different industries function. Most of these side activities provide the local colouring for individual novels and are somehow related to the world of racing. We have had in the past: horse riding, horse buying, horse training, race fixing, horse transports, photography, banking, car racing, movie stunts, catering, and so on ...
So how can we bring the scandal sheets of contemporary journalism into the fold?

The Flag’s overall and constant tone, I found, was of self-righteous spite, its message a sneer, its aftertaste guaranteed to send a reader belligerently out looking for an excuse to take umbrage or to spread ill-will.
[...]
The Flag thought that respect was unnecessary, envy was normal, all motives were sleazy and only dogs were loved; and presumably it was what people wanted to read, as the circulation (said the Flag) was increasing daily.

Instead of a murder investigation we are offered in the present novel a description of how the power of the press has been perverted for propaganda and for financial gains.
Someone is secretly paying the ‘Daily Flag’ to run a smear campaign against the elder Allardeck, someone vicious and venal enough to break the law and to target the innocents.
Maynard Allardeck has caused a lot of grief during his rise to power in the financial circles, but for Kit Fielding this doesn’t mean that his son and his own sister must pay the price of bringing the bastard Maynard down.
So Kit Fielding takes the fight right back to the corrupt journalists, putting his own life in danger just as he does every time he enters a race, bringing his best assets that I mentioned earlier [focus, determination, courage, etc] into play against the clique of bullies.

>>><<<>>><<<

Another secret ingredient in the Francis formula is the attention to detail and the empathy given to secondary characters: Kit Fielding and other Francis heroes are never truly lone rangers, but they move in a circle of kindred spirits, driven by kindness and selflessness and professionalism. Most often than not, these character traits lead to long lasting friendships and even passionate love.
For Kit Fielding this reliable circle of old and new friends include his royal sponsor, the aging princess of an unnamed European country, his reclusive trainer, his cranky personal stable boy, a fierce woman editor at a rival newspaper and a beautiful young American heiress that prefers hard work to the lure of the jet set circuit.

I could have easily given the story five stars, as one of the best rides in the stable of Dick Francis’ champion ponies, but I found the often repeated telepathy claims a bit iffy and unnecessary. As a person with an identical twin who never received any telepathic messages from him, or from anyone else, I take these claims with more than a grain of salt.

But I am still looking forward to my years long quest to read every Dick Francis novel in publication order [ ‘Break In’ is actually a re-read]

‘I do begin to see,’ Danielle said, ‘what racing is all about.’