It has been a long time since I have read one of Dick Francis’s books. They are still entertaining, but I had forgotten about the dose of violence in each book. I enjoy his style of writing which is straightforward. A good read.

Whip Hand, winner of the 1980 Edgar Award for Best Novel, was the middle of three novels by Dick Francis to win the prize; Forfeit won in 1970, and Come to Grief in 1996. This is three decades, which is pretty impressive for an amazing career. I have read all of them (and at least two by Felix Francis), like hundreds of people, yet I wonder if anyone would ever have identified these three as Francis’ best. Myself, I consider his first three, Nerve, Dead Cert, and For Kicks as far superior to the three winners, but award voters do tend to miss early greatness in authors and they can probably be forgiven. I have already bestowed my “should have” Edgar for 1962 on Dead Cert, and Nerve and For Kicks only happened to go against The Light of Day and In the Heat of the Night: The Original Virgil Tibbs Novel in their years, which I didn’t and won’t argue with.

Whip Hand was also one of three novels to feature the same character, Sid Halley, a rarity for Francis (Felix has also used him once). This was a re-read for me, and the copy of Whip Hand I obtained for the purpose had all three of the original Sid Halleys in one convenient triple-header. Sid Halley is a former jockey who became a detective after losing most of one arm in a riding accident. Assisted by his useful assistant, Chico, he finds himself working on three cases simultaneously, one involving his ex-wife’s smarmy ex-boyfriend who has used her name to commit a fraud involving furniture polish, and one involving suspicion of corruption high in the security service of British racing. The most fraught involves a trainer for whom he formerly worked, who has been the victim of a suspiciously long string of unexpected race failures.

Sid makes a bit of progress on the cases, but before we reach Chapter 8 a wealthy bookmaker named Trevor Deansgate who Sid has known since the bookmaker was named Trevor Shummuck, reveals himself to be behind some of the criminal action, and threatens to shoot off Sid’s good hand with a rifle if he doesn’t drop the case. This sadistic threat is effective and first, and Sid stays away from the case long enough for his second client’s horse to join its predecessors in unexpected failure.

As with most of Dick Francis’ best ones, Whip Hand features yet another fiendishly clever plot to rig races; the solution of this one was convincing and satisfying, as usual. And I always appreciated the moral complexity of Francis’ characters, and the first time I read it, the struggle of Sid against his fear is fairly novel for a thriller. Rereading it, however, after having read the whole series, put it in a different light, and it slipped in my isolation on second reading. The sadism and ruthlessness of Trevor Deansgate and the moral strength needed to fight it were less interesting after I realized just how chockaplenty Francis’ novels were with sadists and jockeys whose strength is the ability to absorb pain and the threat of pain.

(this review first appeared on www.vladimirmortsgna.com)

3.5 stars and I rounded it down mostly because the violence done to the protagonist (something I really noticed listening to a bunch of Francis in a row) is rather extreme and unceasing in this one. Three interlocking plots and a lot going on. Sid is such a great character.

Sid Halley is the same old nice guy as in the first book. I like him a lot. But the subject matter of this book is not an interesting to me as in Francis' first book. Sid's sailing in a hot air balloon with a crazy guy was a little bit much to me. His finding of a dread disease that was laying low winning horses was rather complicated. The utter fear Sid had of losing his right hand too laid him low for awhile. But he finally came back to being the same old Sid and did what he had to do. The ending was a surprise. I may try #3 in the series.

It is many years since I read a Dick Francis novel & this didn’t disappoint. Yes, there are elements that are slightly dated but it still holds up. You can tell that the author was a jockey and has an inner knowledge of the workings of racing yards and the horse racing industry.
Our protagonist Sid Halley had a nasty fall whilst racing that led to the loss of his left hand and the end of his riding career. He has a prosthetic hand and a new career as a private investigator, and many of his cases involve the racing world.
The writing is quite succinct and packs plenty of action into a fairly short novel.

Jan 5, 930pm ~~ Since I finished 2022 with some books about horse racing, I decided to start 2023 with the same topic, just a different genre. My first print book of the year was Odds Against, by Dick Francis, the first of three of his that feature ex-jockey turned private detective Sid Halley.

Whip Hand, published in 1979, is the second. At first it seemed less intense, because unlike in Odds Against, Sid did not start the book in the middle of a mess. We needed a few chapters to get the story properly rolling, but when it got started, it didn't stop until the very last sentence. Whew!

Here Sid deals with investigations into apparent fixing of races, but he also has to try and help his ex-wife face the truth of a mess she has gotten herself into. Besides this, Sid will need to face the reality of his life as a man with only one naturally functioning hand, and his fears.

What, you might ask, would Sid Halley be afraid of? He had loved the thrill of riding steeplechase horses, and we learned in the previous book that he was cool and in control during difficult and scary detective work.

But there is a deep fear to stand up to. Or to run from. Which will it be?!

I think I liked Odds Against better than Whip Hand (and I also think I am a little in love with Sid's partner Chico) but this book was still full of classic Dick Francis intensity. I don't remember a thing about the next book, 1995's Come To Grief, even though I know I have read it. I think it will be interesting to see any changes in DF's work after nearly 20 years since Sid had last appeared. I know that as time went by, I went from being thrilled with every new DF title to being much less enchanted, so I wonder if I will still like Sid in Come To Grief?

There is only one way to find out, so off we go!

While Dick Francis doesn’t disappoint with this second Sid Halley book, I have to say I was a little disappointed when Sid went off to Paris. Where was my hero? My unbreakable, resilient, risk-taking Sid? If I had a little patience, I could have saved myself a little bit of heartache.

Actually, there were some moments of joy in this story.  When Sid and Chico are rescued by the young son of the villain. Priceless.  When Sid finds himself aloft in a hot air balloon with someone who is even more of a risk taker than Sid. Such fun.

And then I was doubly rewarded when Sid thwarted not one bad guy, but two. A perfect ending. But of course it’s not since there are two more Sid Halleys to read.

Dick Francis is my 'Go-To' author whenever I start wondering what to read next. He hasn't disappointed me till now, I have rated all his books as 4 or 5 *.
Though he has written so many books with similar theme (horse racing), he doesn’t repeat his heroes. But Sid Halley is an exception. There are 4 books in the series , i am not counting the ones his son has written.

Sid Halley, ex-jockey turned Private detective is investigating 3 different cases, one of them involving his ex-wife. It gets messier when the villians feel threatened and resort to violence to silence Sid.
The plot was complicated and enjoyable. The hot air balloon race was brilliant ! I would have rated this 5 *, if the ex-wife Jenny's character was more likeable. Sid Halley is a true gentleman who puts up with her taunts and ungratefulness to help her get out of a criminal conviction.

Dick Francis comes up with very unique action sequences in his books. Here, The hot air balloon race was brilliant.

As I have mentioned in most of the Dick Francis reviews, he is the only author who writes in first person and doesn't make his hero seem annoying. I am glad he is has written so many books

Sid's ex-wife is in trouble... her new boyfriend is actually a swindler... and her dad (Sid's best friend) asks him to help prove her innocence - and get the bad ex-boyfriend arrested.

and the Racetrack security asks him to quietly look into what feels like something sneaky going on...
ends up he is complicit in the deception...
a bookie, a mobster, and security guy - working together to throw the wins... they choose a horse guaranteed to win, inject horse with a special virus that causes tiredness and loss, hence an unlikely horse wins, and the gamblers lose... the virus results in the deaths of 4 or 5 horses up to 1-1/2 years later when they exert themselves, as it causes damage to the heart...

interestingly, he struggles with his pride/self-image - worse then when he lost his hand...half way into the story, the mobster threatens the loss of his other hand if he continues to investigate... he backs off for a week (in a different city, as commanded to do)... and the expected horse loses & he knows he could have stopped it... and he struggles to reconcile his fear with doing what is right... and of course, he does what is right in the end.

the story ends with a confrontation with the mobster - who had been waiting for him for a few days... and he appears to be ready to kill Sid... but when Sid doesn't beg for his life (he's resolved his self-image issues) the mobster frustratingly admits he had decided killing him (or shooting off his other hand) isn't worth 10+ years in jail, so he lets him walk.

Sometimes when it's cold and you're in the middle of a pandemic you need an old friend. That's how I felt when I picked up Whip Hand by Dick Francis from my bookshelf. I read it years ago and it's still a really good book to get comfy with.

The hero, Sid Halley, is someone to admire for his calm insight and sense and bravery, and to care about when he faces dangers Francis is a very good writer who brings another world to life, because of his own experiences and imagination.

British critic H. R. F. Keating said on the NBC, when he reviewed Whip Hand:

I suppose if I actually had to choose one book of the year; but you can't really -- If I had to, though, I would go for a straight thriller -- Dick Francis' Whip Hand. I thought that was Francis absolutely at his most typical, and best. He writes extraordinarily well; and this time I think he's put himself squarely into his world. A marvelous book. A book about a person, about human qualities, couraage, or integrity or whatever, and admitting the possibility of your hero not going through with it. Real human stuff. Magnificent.

If you are tired of seeing certain words in print and afraid some of these words will eventually erupt in your speech if you see them in print again, cleanse yourself with really good writing by reading anything by Dick Francis. And you will learn a lot about horse racing too.

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He looked as if Sid wasn't exactly the sort of name his friends had, but faced the fact manfully.

SPOILER
You hire a guy to investigate your organization. You tell him there's been a predecessor who has met with a fate as good as death. The guy tells you he understands that his investigation now includes the investigation of what happened to that predecessor. Fortunately the guy, who turns out to be a death-defying lunatic running all over the place visiting well-known venues in spite of having received a horrifying threat at the start of the story, somehow never finds the time to check with the authorities and find out it was all a lie until the final pages of the story. Dickie, Dickie, Dickie ... where were your grey cells ... those of your wife (who is said to have co-written this) ... ???
(I like Dick Francis - very much - a hard-nosed right-wing idealist like myself - his morality , his harsh and unforgiving stance on good and bad and justice for ALL (ALL: including those not of our race, those guys who speak in non-human tongues and whose IQs are way down there) steer me to the extra star - but this story sucks.)