This book started out ok. Seventeen year old Ben is pulled from his dream of racing in steeplechases to help his father win a political race. There's a lot of campaigning, then it becomes clear someone didn't want his father to win. A failed assassination, tampering with his vehicle, and an arson later, Ben fears his father won't make it to election day.
But he does.
Then FIVE YEARS GO BY. Nothing happens but people living their lives. Is this a mystery or a character study? Family drama? Plain old literary fiction.
The action doesn't pick up until there are literally 20 pages left in the nearly 300 page book.
I wanted a mystery. What I got was bored.

Enjoyable read.

Not so much about horses, but it was an enjoyable read. In this book too, we have a very loveable hero. Ben seemed very mature for his age. Though it was repeatedly mentioned that Ben was only 18 years old, the way he behaved, i kept picturing him as at least 30 years old and his father as a 60 + yr old ! George Julliard came across a very selfish person. But Ben was a son any parent would be proud of.
There were interesting details about British politics, horse insurance, some lessons in physics ...

Francis established the plot at the beginning and grabbed my interest, but then proceeded with a 100 pages of filler. The ending was dramatic, but quite predicable.
I still remain a fan, as I have enjoyed the majority of his books.

I listened to the inimitable Tony Britton, who always does a sterling job.

Horses and racing play a very small part in this Francis mystery without a murder, leaving room for plenty of political posturing and soap boxing. (Did you know that "you can't bribe your way into Parliament"? That's the second novel I've read lately that tells me that. They were both written before the scandals of the 2000s.)
Our Hero is a wide-eyed 17 yr old apprentice who has just been sacked under false pretenses so that --surprise!--he can help his millionaire daddy with a political campaign to stand for Parliament in Dorset of all places. True to Francis form, all and sundry find themselves opening their hearts to Young Ben and telling him all sorts of secrets and stuff. The baddy was pretty obvious from the time that character showed up, but this is Planet Francis you know.

Francis continues to work through his daddy issues, this time as Ben nannies Dad, acting as body guard, secretary, sleuth, you name it he does it and does it well. At one point, Ben say shock leaves him "numb from the ankles down" which must surely have been an editorial error. After all, the only thing below your ankles is your feet!

I did get the feeling the novel was originally going to end earlier, and someone read through it and said, "No, that's not good enough" so yet more excitement (or whatever) was added to the end, giving Francis the chance to sound off about tabloid journalists.

I did wonder why Ben (or Francis) was so unkind in his descriptions of absolutely all the female characters, who are either kindly frumps or bitter, brittle fashion mavens. One of the two certainly doesn't think much of women as cabinet ministers! At least there's no sex, kinky or otherwise, this time. And of course we have a male character with one of the bizarre names Francis is known for--"Alderney Wyvern" no less! An alderney is a cow, and a wyvern is a mythical beast, but I doubt it's a British surname for all that.

Good Book. This book was my first English novel given by one of my friend when I said I wanted to read the novels to improve my communication. I have not have any idea how to read the novels by then. Since it was a first time I taken almost like 8 months last time when I read that book. But this time I have completed in a week time (among office work) and was proud of the fact that almost I have remembered most of the story . First time when I read my vocabularies were very much limited and may not have understood much by that time. This time understood for the good effect.

Personally From Story side, it was not that much thrilled or complex one but juat feel good novel. Worth spending time.

Twist which were given was not that much surprise but it's okay.

This was a re-read for me, thanks to Popsugar's 2021 Challenge that required me to find a 1990's best-seller. I found this in a box in my house, and it's been long enough since I last read it (some time in 1999, presumably, since I bought the paperback new) that I didn't remember a thing.

Unlike most of Dick Francis's books, this one did not center on racing. The protagonist, Ben Juliard, is an 18 year old young man who enjoys being an untrained, amateur steeplechase jockey, and he's having a grand time of it until his father pulls some strings and gets him sacked, because his father is running for elected office and needs a family member by his side, since family men are more likely to be elected. Ben doesn't realize it yet, but he's quite skilled at seeing people's motivations, and he becomes an important asset to his father. And then - dun-dun-dun! - someone tries to murder his father. Ben is no private investigator, but at the same time, he won't let the case drop.

The 10 pound penalty is a weight penalty that a novice horse must carry in a novice race if he's recently won a previous race. It's a bit of a reach to say this applies to the plot, but Francis is a skilled author, and he makes it work.

TW: a beloved horse dies after a racing accident.

Reading this was a delight (except for that one evening when I read about the horse dying - I had to set the book down for a bit after that). I enjoyed it so much that I forced myself to read only one chapter a time, to extend the pleasure. I looked forward to that chapter each day! (There are only twelve chapters, so obviously I skipped a few days.) I had forgotten how much I enjoyed Dick Francis's books, and I have Popsugar to thank for reminding me.

Now I need to go hunting through old boxes of books in my house to find all the other Dick Francis books I own, and read them, too! Or maybe I'll just go to the library.

I loved Dick Francis and miss him to this day. I was delighted to find this book, which somehow I missed back when I read and re-read his steeplechase oriented thrillers, often in hard cover as soon as possible after publication. Unfortunately this is a weak entry. The real subject is British politics, with minimal attention to horse racing, and the plot doesn’t have the energy or tightness typical of Francis at his best.

I am a huge Dick Francis fan, but this book was just not up to his normal standards. The story of a politician trying to get elected and using his son for validity just felt forced and unbelievable. The characters were hard to get in touch with as they didn't come across as real people. Overall I wouldn't recommend this as an example of Francis' writing and storytelling ability.

This was a bit of a departure for Francis, in that it was more of a political thriller than a mystery set in the racing world. Racing was only very peripherally involved, but it was a delight. The hero is an unlikely 18 (who grows to be 22 during course the book) very bright young man who figures out who is trying to kill his father. It was delightful and entertaining, one of the best of Francis's work.

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/3...

I seem to be re-reading all my Dick Francis novels, in no particular order, &, if I'm not enjoying them quite as much as the very first time, they are still a very entertaining & undemanding read. If I get to the end of them I may venture into Felix' territory - we'll see.

Ben Juliard is a much younger protagonist than usual, but he's got his head screwed on straight & he has that quality that encourages other people to talk to him - he looks harmless, I suppose. It's a quality that many of DF's heroes have, & benefit from.

Ben's father, George, is entering politics & wants Ben on the campaign trail with him - a family man is more likely to please the public. Ben is reluctant at first, but when he sees that his father's life may be in danger during the election he enters into his role as faithful knight wholeheartedly.

There are a couple of antagonists in this book that one finds very easy to detest, nothing ambiguous about them at all, which makes for an easy, escapist read.

Strong start, but middling finish

A bit of horse, a bit of political intrigue, strong opening that fizzles out later. End is ordinary . Still, being a DF fan,nI finished the book.