There wasn't really much of a flow in the story. If feels flat for the most of the book, with readers being dragged by the author's reputation, at least in my case.

I have yet to read a Dick Francis that disappointed or unsettled me. This one lived up to his excellent reputation.

Ben Juliard is set to become a jockey. He has a job in the industry, and he has the desire and motivation to make it happen. But he is falsely accused of using drugs, and the stable owner summarily cuts him off and fires him despite his protestations and remonstrances.

But there’s perhaps more to the false accusation than he originally believed. It turns out that his dad needed him to help him. Seems dear old dad has political ambitions. He’s sure his son, Ben, can help him get elected. The two swear out a pact that neither one will ever conduct their lives in a way that would embarrass the politician, and young Ben strives mightily to keep the promise.

But a hate-filled member of the press who wants to sabotage Ben’s dad’s job. As a result, the fake news scandals begin, and before the book is done, things will turn deadly.

I enjoyed most the relationship between Ben and his politician father. The two are in some ways distant, but as the dangers mount and the fake news gets increasingly vicious, the two come together in wonderful ways. It’s a relatively short book, and it’s well worth the time investment you put into it.

"The one about the politician's son". Ah, so good. This novel suffered from poor structure: the natural arc for the story would have been the election campaign, but instead it drags on post-election and indeed post-the-next-election. So the first 70% of the book is all about the challenge of getting Dad elected, then it just sort of flaps between son's career, Dad's career, and lingering threats from the chaps in black. It became a little like one of those stories told by drunk people, which just blither on and on until finally you reach a conclusion long after all suspense, interest, and purpose have died.

Still, even a bad Francis beats a good Clancy!

Unlike the other Dick Francis books I have read, this one only touches on horseracing. It is emblematic of the life seventeen year old Benedict desires but is not able to have. The story centers on a contest for a seat in Parliament that Ben's father, a successful businessman, is working toward. The two men are getting to know each other as Ben's father, a widower, was an absentee parent.
The story is charming but not compelling. I can easily put it down after a chapter and not pick it up again for a couple of days. The author attempts to get inside the mind of a fairly immature boy but it reads more like a man ten years older. I liked it but it didn't have anything special to recommend it.

Although Dick Francis has written well over 40 thrillers, I have never had the privilege of reading one. So, when I came across 10-lb Penalty in a Little Free Library, I decided to give it a try. Mr Francis usually writes about the horse racing world, but this novel is mainly about politics with horse racing playing only a minor role. The writing style is very pleasant, which makes this an easy read. The story just ripples along and is typically British. Things don't get nailbitingly exciting until maybe in the last few pages. But all is well that ends well.

Nothing has changed since this book was published (in 1997):
p. 235: The Secretary of State for Social Security agreed.
'Every woman in politics gets the hate treatment. Haven't you noticed?'

Another good Dick Francis book - this time giving an incite into Politics. If you've not tried one, don't be fooled by the "horseracing" connection - they all have some connection to the horseracing world but the main focus is usually something else entirely. They're well researched and you can't help but learn something new from each one.

Dick Francis is dependable. He doesn't write my favorite mysteries- cozies, with emotionally resonant characters and relationships- nor does he write sensationalist high-action thrillers. Instead, he writes pleasing works that feature a large cast of characters and a plot based narrative. His primary characters are likable, and his villains are villainous. This was a good one.

Not even remotely what I thought it would be about! Wouldn’t say the mystery was all that mysterious but I enjoyed the characters and especially the son. Overall worth the read.

A story about parliamentary politics, special advisers and the gutter press, with horse racing only of marginal relevance, rattles along in typical Francis style.

Not great, not terrible (barring a few 'interesting' bits). Published in '97 it seems the upcoming general election and host of by-elections in the preceding years made Dick and Mary decide to write a political thriller, but the result is excessively simplistic and really loses pace in much of the second half. There are also a number of run-on sentences that didn't help at times and made me wonder if they were struggling keep up the yearly output (the next year was a short story collection including a number of previously published pieces). I don't believe I ever read this one before because at that point in my life (university) I had read so many of his that I didn't really bother with the new ones much.

The main story is of our protagonist's youthful father getting picked by the party to run in a marginal by-election. He is the perfect politician and while this is in-line with the classic Francis setup, that our hero and his familial allies are good people, which is part of the draw of these books, when you merge it with the harsh realities of politics it becomes hard to really keep disbelief suspended. When we add into the antagonist a sort of strawman tabloid journo and a 'behind the scenes' puppet master with nothing at all to explain him or what he's about, it all lacks any real edge of excitement.

While it stays away from huge levels of weird sexism and the like, there's still time for the writing to be wildly out of touch: A boy is referenced as having 'left to join a rap group and grew a beard and got AIDS'. Like, what?! Then there's Hudson Hurst, a high up politician who apparently sported a pony tail and goatee (described as 'one of those silly little moustache and beard combinations that frame a man's mouth and distract you from what he's saying'), which is definitely something that's not happening in UK political circles even now. It's not even like this guy is put up as part of some hippie party, in fact it seems more likely he's in the Tories, based on the other cues we get.

Alongside those howlers is the usual hobby horses of explaining why someone should want to do a sport like horse racing and how great it is generally, as well as sticking the knife into tabloid journalism. The latter leads to an analogy of tabloid journalism being caused by demand that lands so oddly I'll reproduce it here:

I said, ‘Drug dealers would be out of business if people didn’t want drugs.’
‘What?’
‘The so-called war on drugs is fought against the wrong people. Lock up the users. Lock up the demand. Lock up human nature.’

The 'war on drugs' is actually fought against users primarily but I can only read this as Francis believing it's fighting supply and, moreover, advocating for all drug users to be flung in jail so drug dealers weep about their lack of customers. Truly a wild piece of philosophy!

This was one of those story's where if you like a story that's happing in the moment this won't be for you. The story is told over an extended period of time. The action is stretched out and if you're gripped into it by chapter 3 your probably not going to. I was pleased by the book. It had some high morals like, never give up. I cared about the characters.

I easily foreshadowed who the guilty party was. Usually, that would bug me, but the way it was written for story structure made the story more thrilling.

I loved how Ben learns more about his father once he is pulled away from being a Jockey to help him in his election. The book as an intense moment that you will be glad you waited for. I believe the best part of this book were the characters. I rooted for them through the entire book.

This mystery was a little different from most of the traditional mysteries that Francis writes. We do find out who the "bad guy" is early on, but the resolution takes several years. I liked it because the main character wasn't a brilliant jockey, but loved the sport anyway.

I also liked how the father-son relationship developed. I think I'd classify this more as fiction with a mystery element and incidental ties to racing. It isn't what I would suggest as a "classic" Dick Francis mystery, but ultimately it was satisfying. I did find one passage I really liked. "Never, ever make a joke to the police, they have no sense of humor. Never make a political joke, it will always be considered an insult. Always remember that umbrage can be taken at the lift of an eyebrow. Remember that if offense can possibly be given, it will be."

Fans of Dick Francis will like this book. I'd suggest it also for people who don't mind a meandering mystery.