It's a perfectly fine story.

I'm not in love with or disturbed by any of the characters.
But that's probably fairly common picking up one random book from a series where most readers have already developed affection for the protagonist.

It got a bit didactic at the end, the moral of the story is drugs are bad, and drug dealers cease to value human life.
But also moral relativism. The artistic scoundrel is forgiven.
He relates personally driving 70 miles home black out drunk but I don't think he perceived this as applying to him?

the story started with a bomb statement "I inherited my brother's life. Inherited his desk, his business, his gadgets, his enemies, his horses and his mistress. I inherited my brother's life, and it nearly killed me."

that is definitely how book authors should begin their stories. the opening paragraph summarizes everything in the book in the most catchy, intriguing way. straight is about the mc, derek franklin, an injured jockey, who was forced to inherit his rich brother's belongings after the accident that killed his brother. the book, based on the paragraph in the beginning, promises you that you are about to embark on a journey that is full of mystery, chase and and a whole new adventure.

HOWEVER, that somehow didn't happen which left me disappointed! (lol, i'm angry). the story just turned out to be an unending hunting of diamonds and it was dragging because most of the chapters in the book were about it. there's no real progress until at the very end of the story. the main character himself is also uncharismatic, and i get it that the author tried to write derek's character as realistic and relatable to the readers. derek was not your typical main character who's good at everthing, he was just an ordinary man who happened to claim his brother's properties since both of them didn't have enough relatives to share his brother's inheritance. but that too was unsuccessful. he appeared to be boring rather than being realistic. so i have to skip some parts while reading the book.

the opening paragraph could have been a nice idea to explore the story of derek. maybe his brother's death was not really caused by an accident at all, but a homicide... and derek was left to chase the enemies who killed his brother. that could have been a good angle to explore. it would be more interesting that way.. also, about the mistress thing, that was cringey. it just happened near the end so it felt like it was forced to include in the plot. that was really unnecessary.

i've read other dick francis' novels so this is definitely not his best one. i've enjoyed his other books before this book, so this is forgivable. lol

Despite the title, this is one of the more convoluted Dick Francis thrillers. The protagonist, Derek Franklin, is a jockey, that’s a Francis standard, and like many of his protagonists, Franklin is unexpectedly thrust into a world with which he has no prior experience , but he does his best. In this case, it’s the sudden death of a much older, scarcely known brother which forces Franklin to learn about the brother’s business – if only his brother hadn’t been so secretive!

That’s what we like about Francis’ works (aside from the horses) – the characters are fairly ordinary people, doing their best in a bad situation. We like to imagine ourselves as resourceful and upright and true to our principles in similar circumstances.

"Straight" has always been one of my favorite Francis stories, and I'm not sure why. The main topic--gemstones--holds absolutely zero interest for me, and neither do the clever gadgets that the main character has to figure out.

But maybe that's why it's interesting. The chances of me ever wearing lots of gems, or getting involved in the industry in any way, are remote to say the least, which is part of the fascination: Derek also has zero interest in gems to begin with, but, forced to run his brother's business after his brother's untimely death, he learns an appreciation for them, something Francis describes in almost sensuous terms.

In fact, the whole novel is strangely sensuous, from the slippery, shimmering gems that Derek finds himself handling daily, to the erotic encounters he has with his brother's mistress, to the final life-and-death struggle in which Derek's many-times-broken ankle collapses under his weight at just the wrong moment, despite all his intensions to run on it and all the adrenaline coursing through his system, numbing the pain. Francis at his best moments had an eye, ear, and nose for physical detail that rendered his writing incredibly alive.

Balanced against the sensuality that courses through "Straight," bursting out even from the title--which refers to many things, including the main character's sexuality--is the flip side of physical pleasure: the destruction, psychological and physical, that the characters experience. Rather than one explosive encounter, it's a slow process: Derek's brother slowly slips away as his life support is turned off one machine at a time, key relationships slowly erode, and Derek's ankle is damaged over and over again, until it's rendered mechanically useless. And then the two sides come together in a sudden epiphany, solving the final mystery of the book.

Francis doesn't delve so much into social issues in "Straight" the way he does in some of his other books, and it doesn't have quite the same soul-searching as books like "Come to Grief" and "To the Hilt" do, but, as befits a books about gems, it may be one of his most elegantly constructed and written books, the plot beautifully balanced, the language lapidary and clear. A pleasure to read, whatever your inclinations are.

Simply another good Dick Francis. This time also left me without the frustrating impression I sometimes get in his books of fatalism about the world and a sense of total incompetence from the police; this one felt more realistic in a lot of that about the accurate limits of options in such moments but people trying. And the story overall was just good and fun as usual. Was on the line but in the end the coolness of so many different parts of the story put it over the top for the fifth star.

Dick Francis is always solidly entertaining to me. His books are "mysteries" but also action and thriller as much as they are a puzzle. There's a lot going on in this one, somewhat unrelated threads, but Francis makes it (mostly) believable by setting up the opening premise of an unexpected, accidental death. One that makes any Dick Francis a solid 4 for me, and sometimes 5, is that I know the main character will be the kind of man I would like, a straight up, decent, honorable man of the 20th Century. Sure a little chivalrous by today's standards, but not in a bad way. That's, unfortunately, also the reason why I can't read too many of them in a row. I feel like we're getting the same main character (who was probably Francis himself) placed in another book like an actor playing in a different setting. Sometimes you wonder couldn't he have written at least one book with a woman as the main character?

This is a good book to give someone who is reccuperating in a hospital because it is immediately engrossing and entertaining and they will not want to put it down. It will take their mind off of whatever else is going on.

Some parts were hard to understand and it could get boring at some points, but overall it was a great book. I think I would reccomend this book more for adults or teens that are into business and organization.

Dick Francis never disappoints! Even though I first read this over 30 years ago, his work still captivates. It helps that I didn’t remember how the mystery played out, but I still love his work! Priceless and timeless!

Dick Francis books never disappoint - and this is one of his best. That's saying something. When Derek, a steeplechase jockey finds out his brother died suddenly and tragically- a complicated and exciting adventure begins. The brother, an esteemed gemstone trader and racehorse owner, leaves his business and horses to Derek. But some things are amiss - and there is foul play in the air. And several mysteries arise out of the death. And the stakes are high.

What makes Francis books are not so much the mysteries but rather the characters - who all come alive in the story.
We know these people - or people just like them. Characters - even secondary and tertiary, have dimensions beyond their role in the story and become as important to us as the protagonist. They become our friends. The moment Dick Francis books end - it's always bittersweet as we have to say goodbye to our friends. And this is no exception.

Derek must deal with his brothers’: company, missing gems (millions), horses, shady thoroughbred trainer, employees in need of leadership, stunned mistress, and a host of other issues that test Derek's IQ, EQ, and business skills. But he is a jockey. Not a business man. And Greville- the deceased brother- was extremely secretive, security conscious and tech savvy - and this meant nobody could really step in effectively. Way more questions than answers for Derek. But try Derek did - and his good faith noble try is fun to root for.

I was sad when it ended. Very. And that is how I know how much i love a book. I already miss Derek and the other characters.

Superb tale.

On Wednesday, August 12, due to a windy storm I had been without electricity for 24 hours. Wanting something to read, I went to my bookshelves an plucked out my hard copy of "Straight" that I had bought way back in 1989. For a dozen years or so from 1989, I purchased hard copies of every Dick Francis novel as it was published. Over the years, a I given away many of the books I purchased during this time from but kept all of the Dick Francis thinking that someday I might be looking for an easy, fun read. What a great decision by me!

Dick Francis wrote interesting crime novels. The protagonist is always a young man in his early thirties that has a connection to the world of horse racing in England, but each book explores different professions. In "Straight" Derek Franklin, an injured steeplechase jockey, inherits his brother's gem business, his gadgets, his enemies, his horses, and his mistress. The details about the wholesale gem business are fascinating, particularly the information on how diamonds are traded. The story moves quickly, the characters are interesting, and the sense of place is vivid.

My mom: "Yeah, Dick Francis is good, but his stories all center around horse racing." False on a number of occasions, including this book. A better generalization of Francis is "solid writing, solid plots, realistic characters, and some connection to horses".

In this case, horse racing was secondary to (or at least co-primary with) the mystery surrounding an inherited gemstones business--an inherited life, as it were. As ever, Francis gave the reader a bright protagonist, a pretty lady, a couple life-threatening events, and a couple twists.

I'll admit that one of the twists was a bit out of left field, as even the protagonist pointed out that he couldn't have seen it coming, as he himself hasn't known the connection until the villain made boasts. It was a reasonable twist, but not the most clever. The first twist was a little better thought out, and I appreciated the gray-morality resolution.

Another generalization: Francis is always a safe bet to be an entertaining, page-turning read; on the other hand, he's nothing if not formulaic, and after half a lifetime of reading his books and others like them, he will never knock my socks off. This is as dead-center average a book can be, and I loved it for that. In reality I'd probably give it a 3.5, but that's not possible; hence, 3 stars and a recommendation.

I always enjoy the stand-alone mysteries of Dick Francis. They always have a tie to the world of horse racing, the hero is a decent person, and the author plays fair with the reader. Straight was no exception.

In this novel, the jockey is unexpectedly tossed into the deep end of the pool of the world of gemology when his brother dies unexpectedly. There are so many questions to be answered: did the brother really buy diamonds (not something he usually bought), is there something going on with the race horse the brother owned, is there something going on related to his brother's job as a magistrate, and just who is making the hero's life so difficult? The author plays absolutely fair in solving all of those questions. This quotation sums up the book nicely: "I inherited my brother’s life. Inherited his desk, his business, his gadgets, his enemies, his horses and his mistress. I inherited my brother’s life, and it nearly killed me."

If you enjoy mysteries, this should be on your list to read if you haven't already.