This Francis book had a complex and interesting plot and IMHO a good representation of suicidal depression. It made me wonder if Francis himself ever suffered from depression. Unfortunately the plot was a bit dated, since the major swindle could never be carried out in these days of simple DNA analysis, but setting that quibble aside it was quite an enjoyable installment in the Francis series.

Simon Prebble narrated the recording I listened to. He's a fine British narrator in general. Unfortunately, large parts of this book take place in the US. Prebble has a lousy American accent, and no Southern or Western accents at all. Too bad!

This isn't the first time I've read this book, nor even the second, but it's my first time with the audio version. This one is read rather than performed -- there's not so much differentiation of voices nor tonal shift depending on mood -- but that doesn't much matter when the story is this gripping. There is a reason Dick Francis is one of my favourite authors, and this story illustrates it beautifully. Full marks for the story and for the narration, which showed the author's craft to good advantage.

Never read this genre before, normally I don't read Fiction.
But because the author was previously a world class jockey, I thought the read might be interesting.
Also, Dick Francis' books were written in the 60's, I thought the writing would feel quite retro and old school...a welcome change from contemporary writing which seems heavy on darkness and gritty grit grit :-(
I liked very much the pared back narrative that sounded very much like Sam Spade. Not convoluted. I enjoyed this book more than I expected, but I will probably never read another Dick Francis book because curiousity led me here, and I have no more questions.

More moving than I expected, though Francis' understated books often are. In this case the viewpoint character is suicidally depressed, chronically unattached and uses the dangers of his covert-ops-type job to keep himself engaged enough to struggle through one more day after another. Ironically, it is how painful and personal the cost of
his succeeding at this particular job turns out to be that brings him to the point of being willing to re-engage with life, and other people for the first time in years.

"To give and to remove confidence were the tools of my trade and there was no union to say that I couldn't use them on Sundays."

I was surprised with how much I liked this book. Suspenseful but not overdone. Not very long either which is a huge plus.

Although Well written I was not overly keen of the plot mainly as the story was set in the United States, when to me Dick Francis novels are as English as 'fish and chips'.Although What is to be commended about the story is the fact that the lead character suffered from depression, which was still bit of a taboo subject in 1969.

Unusually this story is set in America. Gene is a civil servant who screens people for highly sensitive work. He is good at his job intelligent, introverted and very depressed after a failed relationship. After saving the life of a millionaire American on the Thames he takes a job to find three kidnapped stallions in America.

The story is set in Wyoming, New York, California and Arizona. His investigation takes him to a dude ranch, Las Vegas and Kentucky. He works with Walt an insurance investigator and slowly following the clues works out who are the culprits. Overall a good story with tension, escapes and a man overcoming his depression.

What is there to say about Dick Francis? As I think about all of his books (yes, this review covers all of his books, and yes I've read them all) I think about a moral ethical hero, steeped in intelligence and goodness embroiled in evil machinations within British horse racing society - either directly or indirectly. The heroes aren't always horse jockies, they can be film producers, or involve heroes engaged in peripheral professions that somehow always touch the horse racing world.

But more than that, Francis's heroes are rational human beings. The choices made are rational choices directed by a firm objective philosophy that belies all of Francis's novels. The dialogue is clear and touched with humor no matter the intensity of evil that the hero faces. The hero's thoughts reveal a vulnerability that is touching, while his actions are always based on doing the right thing to achieve justice.

Causing the reader to deeply care about the characters in a novel is a difficult thing to do. No such worries in a Francis novel. The point of view is first person, you are the main character as you read the story (usually the character of Mr. Douglas). The hero is personable, like able, non-violent but delivering swift justice with his mind rather than through physical means. This is not to say that violence is a stranger to our hero. Some of it staggering and often delivered by what we would think of normal persons living in British society.

You will come to love the world of Steeple Chase racing, you will grow a fondness for horses, stables, trainers and the people who live in that world. You will read the books, devouring one after the other and trust me Dick Francis has a lot of novels (over 40 by my last count).

There are several series woven into the fabric of Francis's work: notably the Sid Halley and Kit Fielding series.

Assessment: Dick Francis is one of my favorite writers. I read his books with a fierce hunger that remains insatiable and I mourn his death.

This excellent thriller from Dick Francis explores the world of British Horse racing and the world of crime solving! This book explores the identification of race horses, the price of breeding and the complexities involved in the training and choice of horses. A great mystery, slightly further from the racetrack than some of the other books.

So I feel like I should start by saying that I don’t read mysteries. I’ve maybe read a half-dozen in my life, and while I do find them entertaining at the time, I have never started following an author and their specific detective from the beginning. And I feel like maybe there is something to be said about growing with these brooding characters (I realize I’m stereotyping fictional detectives, but with minimal empirical evidence, the adjective fits).
This novel did not fail to entertain, but again, the main character must have had loads of backstory that I wasn’t privy to. It didn’t really mess with the story much, but at times I wanted to shake him out of his melancholy…because I just don’t know what drove him to it!
The opening of this book sucks you right in, I will definitely give it that. There was also quite a bit of knowledge around horse racing and that society that I knew nothing about and learned a little bit. Overall, I thought it was fun.

Had no clue that this book was written almost 50 years ago, until some references to technology seemed a little antiquated. But it still works. Dick Francis novels are a curious interest for me. I know nothing about horse racing. Have never been to England. So the settings are completely unfamiliar to me. But his books were always so well written that it just didn't matter.

Francis" hero is great fun. Dare I say....Reacherlike?