Scary but good! I listened on Audible and the narration was sheer perfection – – perfectly matched to the deadpan clipped style of the writing. A lot of the book took place in areas I’m a little familiar with such as the Southwest and Southern California Coast so that was a bonus. No animals were harmed in the telling so that was a plus. If you like this genre and style I highly recommend it as one of the good ones!

This book was a refresher from all the bland sameness that infect a lot of books I tend to read. The pacing was great, starting off a bit slowly but getting quicker and quicker as the book progressed. Something I really enjoyed about this book was the portrayal of Gene, the protagonist. He was a borderline suicidal, but not because of depression, but just because he has become BORED with LIFE. Honestly he is this bad-ass who knows his way with people but simply got bored and spent a big chunk of the book contemplating and rationalizing death. Definitely a great read and I would recommend.

”I awoke with foreboding. My hand closed in a reflex on the Luger under the pillow. I listened, acutely attentive. No sound. No quick surreptitious slither, no rub of cloth on cloth, no half-controlled pulse-driven breath. No enemy hovering. Slowly, relaxing, I turned half over and squinted at the room. A quiet, empty, ugly room. One third of what for want of a less cozy word I called home.”

Gene Hawkins is on a forced vacation from a British agency that remains unnamed, but could quite possibly be some entity of MI6. He would rather stay busy because mental repose leads to thoughts of melancholy. His life is empty outside of his service to his country. The love of his life, Caroline, is married to another man, and whatever hope he once had of having a life with her sailed away when her husband refused to divorce her. This is the 1960s, and getting a divorce is not as easy as the perfunctory wham, bam, see you in the funny papers style of today.

While attempting to relax on a boat, an attempt is made on the life of one of his shipmates, which leads, after he fishes the chap out of the water, to a job offer to find some stolen thoroughbred horses. I knew that Dick Francis would be working horses into the plot. What intrigues me is his decision to have his protagonist, a man with little knowledge of horses, be on the outside of the business, unlike most of his other books where the protagonist is someone working in the horse business.

To find these horses, he has to go to America. That’s okay. He globe-trots for his day job, so moving about in America on his moonlighting gig will be easy peasy. He decides to be German because his German accent is better than his American one. Three expensive horses, past their racing days and now being used as studs for future generations of hopefully fast horses, have been stolen over a series of years, but it is baffling as to why. Their value is in their papers, so someone can’t sell their sperm without rolling out their ancestral tree. If they can’t show their prestigious background, they are, for all intents and purposes, nearly worthless. Gene will have to unravel the reasons for the theft if he has any chance of finding out who took them. He has to be careful because, if he tips his hand before he can secure the creatures, it will only stand to reason that the thieves will have the horses killed.

Gene has a bigger problem named Lynnie Teller, daughter of the man he fished out of the water in England. While trying to get a line on his investigation, he is spending time with her and her mother. Both are attractive, and both are interested in finding out more, a lot more, about Gene Hawkins. Lynnie reminds him of Caroline because she matches up well with Gene on a mental level, and she is pretty and trim, a delight for any man’s eye. ”But if I’d learned anything in thirty-eight years it is who not to go to bed with.” Maybe so, but loneliness weighs on Hawkins like a five hundred pound gorilla, and the girl makes him feel good about himself. ”Too young in experience, understanding, and wickedness.” Aye, but that also lends charm to her beauty. Despite the pitfalls, he can’t help flirting with her.

”She laughed gently, stretching like a cat. ‘Isn’t this heat just gorgeous?’

‘Mm.’

‘What are all those scars on you?’

‘Lions and tigers and appendicitis.’

She snorted.”

It’s hard to decide who is more dangerous, the thieves or the pretty and smart seventeen year old temptation.

The plot has a few tricky parts that don’t quite work, but in the later part of the book, the well crafted action scenes make the reader forget about the snags in the beginning of the book. There are inexplicable sections of minutiae that are kind of dull at times, but the basis of the plot proves to be fascinating, especially for those of us who have dealt with blood lines in animals before.

I sort of fell into owning this book. I was actually looking for a copy of Whip Hand, which is the second book in the Sid Halley series. I stumbled upon first American edition copies of Odds Against and Blood Sport, sold by the same dealer at unbelievably good prices. They have the lovely Frederick E. Banbery covers, and this is one of the few times where I prefer American dust jackets to the British designed ones. Blood Sport is sun faded on the spine, but otherwise is a very good copy. The Odds Against is really lovely, near fine, and just like that, I’m no longer just a reader of Francis’s books but a collector of his early titles. Fortunately, it is a gentle madness.

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Thought I was rereading this one as I thought I'd read all his books and this was his first, but if I'd read this one I really didn't remember anything from it. I liked it a lot. It definitely felt dated ~50 years after it was written, but I liked that. The main character's depression reminded me a little of his character in Proof, though not done as well.

A Dick Francis is always a good read. This one had horses but no jockeys, not a bad thing. It also touched on mental health (depression) and risk-taking; the characters and their relationships were somewhat multi-dimensional.

I'd never heard of Dick Francis before reading this book. And I was very reluctant to buy it at first given that I'm not the biggest fan of Crime/Thriller (give me Horror anytime); but I'm glad I bought it, what a fantastic storyteller Francis is. I enjoyed his wit and straight-to-the-point narration. And what about Gene Hawkins? Wow, this was a character I really identified with; the way Francis portrayed his protagonist was brilliant, his personality alone is enough to keep you interested, his internal conflicts keep the story moving forward. I guess I'll be reading more Thriller from now on, all thanks to this book. I loved it.

Finalist 1969 Edgar Award for Best Mystery. A thriller that moves the action from author Francis' familiar British haunts to the U.S. Includes a memorable stretch of follow the leader along American highways.

Racing related thrillers - When English agent Gene Hawkins told his boss he'd forego his vacation to search for millionaire Dave Teller's prized missing stallion, he didn't know his retainer would include the attentions of his boss's beautiful daughter--or Teller's seldom sober wife. Nor did he know that a trail from London to New York to Las Vegas to California would eventually lead to murder.

I quite enjoyed this book. It is a very early Dick Francis, and it shows, just due to the age of the writing, and the technology (or more correctly, the almost complete lack of it) portrayed in it. The book moved along at a steady pace, with plenty of action to keep me turning pages, and the chapters were a nice length.

I'm omnivorous when it comes to books. I don't think I have ever read anything in this genre, so I thought I would try it. I was slightly disappointed that there was no mystery here. It was suspenseful, and the characters are interesting. The main character is a miserable sort who muses repeatedly about death and his desire for oblivion. I tired of that.

I loved Dick Francis back in the 80's so I'm sure I read this one. It came across as the Audible.com Deal of the Day so I thought I'd give it a try. I almost quit at the start as I didn't like the narrator's voice at all but I stuck with it. I have to admit the story felt very dated and the hero's conflict--whether or not to kill himself--never rang true. I'm not sure if it was the bad narration, if this wasn't one of his best or if this is a series that I should just remember fondly and not revisit.

Interesting plot and another take on the sport of racing, but what makes this book shine is the depiction of a depression so deep it borders on despair. The man with the dark thoughts is surrounded by a variety of other ways of being: innocent, knowing, superficial, committed, insouciant and distracting. Cleverly done, within the tight parameters of foiling the criminals.

I think I prefer the mysteries that take place closer to the track, but this was also an entertaining read. I have to admit, that having a main character who doesn't care whether they live or die made the ending more poignant. I would recommend to people who are already fans of Dick Francis, and others depending on many variables.

Good weekend read, just what I wanted.