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Excellent look at Cold War Russia. A world I was too young to really know for myself. Quite different than the usual Dick Francis book.
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Trial Run
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Veteran horseman Randall Drew travels to Moscow to help the Russian royal family--but ends up caught in a world of jealousy, sabotage, and murder.
272 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1,1978
This edition
- Format
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272 pages, Mass Market Paperback
- Published
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September 7, 2004 by G.P. Putnam's Sons
- ISBN
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9780425199831
- ASIN
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0425199835
- Language
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English
About the author
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Dick Francis, CBE, FRSL (born Richard Stanley Francis) was a popular British horse racing crime writer and retired jockey.
Dick Francis worked on his books with his wife, Mary, before her death. Dick considered his wife to be his co-writer - as he is quoted in the book, "The Dick Francis Companion", released in 2003:
"Mary and I worked as a team. ... I have often said that I would have been happy to have both our names on the cover. Mary's family always called me Richard due to having another Dick in the family. I am Richard, Mary was Mary, and Dick Francis was the two of us together."
Praise for Dick Francis: 'As a jockey, Dick Francis was unbeatable when he got into his stride. The same is true of his crime writing' Daily Mirror '
Dick Francis's fiction has a secret ingredient - his inimitable knack of grabbing the reader's attention on page one and holding it tight until the very end' Sunday Telegraph '
Dick Francis was one of the most successful post-war National Hunt jockeys. The winner of over 350 races, he was champion jockey in 1953/1954 and rode for HM Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, most famously on Devon Loch in the 1956 Grand National.
On his retirement from the saddle, he published his autobiography, The Sport of Queens, before going on to write forty-three bestselling novels, a volume of short stories (Field of 13), and the biography of Lester Piggott.
During his lifetime Dick Francis received many awards, amongst them the prestigious Crime Writers' Association's Cartier Diamond Dagger for his outstanding contribution to the genre, and three 'best novel' Edgar Allan Poe awards from The Mystery Writers of America. In 1996 he was named by them as Grand Master for a lifetime's achievement. In 1998 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List of 2000. Dick Francis died in February 2010, at the age of eighty-nine, but he remains one of the greatest thriller writers of all time.
Series:
* Sid Halley Mystery
* Kit Fielding Mystery
Dick Francis worked on his books with his wife, Mary, before her death. Dick considered his wife to be his co-writer - as he is quoted in the book, "The Dick Francis Companion", released in 2003:
"Mary and I worked as a team. ... I have often said that I would have been happy to have both our names on the cover. Mary's family always called me Richard due to having another Dick in the family. I am Richard, Mary was Mary, and Dick Francis was the two of us together."
Praise for Dick Francis: 'As a jockey, Dick Francis was unbeatable when he got into his stride. The same is true of his crime writing' Daily Mirror '
Dick Francis's fiction has a secret ingredient - his inimitable knack of grabbing the reader's attention on page one and holding it tight until the very end' Sunday Telegraph '
Dick Francis was one of the most successful post-war National Hunt jockeys. The winner of over 350 races, he was champion jockey in 1953/1954 and rode for HM Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, most famously on Devon Loch in the 1956 Grand National.
On his retirement from the saddle, he published his autobiography, The Sport of Queens, before going on to write forty-three bestselling novels, a volume of short stories (Field of 13), and the biography of Lester Piggott.
During his lifetime Dick Francis received many awards, amongst them the prestigious Crime Writers' Association's Cartier Diamond Dagger for his outstanding contribution to the genre, and three 'best novel' Edgar Allan Poe awards from The Mystery Writers of America. In 1996 he was named by them as Grand Master for a lifetime's achievement. In 1998 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List of 2000. Dick Francis died in February 2010, at the age of eighty-nine, but he remains one of the greatest thriller writers of all time.
Series:
* Sid Halley Mystery
* Kit Fielding Mystery
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I thought I had read all of Francis' books but stumbled onto this at a thrift store. Well written late 70's cold war story.
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Written with the thought of the cold war after WW II, this is an interesting story with spying and espionage for the reader's delight. The character development is grasped. Enjoyable reading.
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Randall Drew, amateur steeplechase rider, grounded by new safety regulations, is drawn into a rather larger plot than usually engages Dick Francis' heroes. In this case, Randall is asked to looking into whether a minor royal should be allowed to participate in the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. We get international intrigue, people who aren't who they seem to be, and hints about violent terrorism.
I have the impression that Francis modelled Lord Farringford on some of the horsey members of the Windsor clan, such as Princess Anne and Mark Phillips. Farringford may be a great rider, but he's as dense as a block of concrete. Fortunately, the story revolves around Randall Drew, whose bad health is nearly the death of him in wintertime Moscow, but who, in true Francis-hero fashions, persists to the end, come what may.
I have the impression that Francis modelled Lord Farringford on some of the horsey members of the Windsor clan, such as Princess Anne and Mark Phillips. Farringford may be a great rider, but he's as dense as a block of concrete. Fortunately, the story revolves around Randall Drew, whose bad health is nearly the death of him in wintertime Moscow, but who, in true Francis-hero fashions, persists to the end, come what may.
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An old school Cold War/KGB plot, set in 1978. Loved it, and finished it in two days. Must recommend.
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I love Francis, and this book happens to have been first published the year I was born (1978) and so it was a natural selection for the reading challenge we did at work (a book bingo) in which one selection was a book published in your birth year.
And while I appreciate the whole Cold War slant, I have to say, this just wasn't a favorite. It was fine, and there's plenty of the "hero in peril" and loveable and annoying characters, but it just never quite clicked with me. But I'm glad I read it, because it's Francis.
And while I appreciate the whole Cold War slant, I have to say, this just wasn't a favorite. It was fine, and there's plenty of the "hero in peril" and loveable and annoying characters, but it just never quite clicked with me. But I'm glad I read it, because it's Francis.
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Not my favorite perhaps because it takes place in the winter.
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It’s been a long time since I’ve read a Dick Francis book. I’d forgotten how fun and well written they can be. This one was particularly interesting because it was written in ‘78 during the Cold War.
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