Like riding a wild horse along a quiet beach, this book is a quick escape for a lazy day! Expect lots of twists and turns with Hollywood movie scandals and deep secrets set in a horse racing environment for Dick Francis's 33rd thriller. I won't spoil the ending but really? I would have never guessed it! A couple of details seemed far-fetched but otherwise well-researched and well-written.

3 1/2 stars really. I enjoy a Dick Francis book now and again. I liked the movie angle a lot. Demystification of the process was fascinating and left me wondering how the actors do what they do at all.

Dick Francis always wrote about horse racing since he had been a jockey for the queen. His wife always did the research iron the other topic the books would be on... in this case, making films. His books are always easy to read with compelling plots. I would have rated this 3.5 if there was such a thing, a good solid read but. Or life changing.

I've always liked Dick Francis' books. They all have some connection to horse racing (as he was a former jockey in England) and all his main characters have good hearts and bad luck..........and usually get banged up a few times before getting the bad guy. In this one, the main character is a former jockey who becomes a movie director at a young age and is filming a movie in England that is a fictional account based on an old scandal involving the unsolved mystery of a trainer's wife found hanged in one of the stables. Obviously, someone does not want anyone looking deeper into this unsolved mystery and more murder and mayhem ensue.

I've enjoyed many of Dick Francis's mysteries over the years, although I haven't yet included all of them in my Goodreads listings. They are usually interesting, quick reads; I do not tend to read them as analytically as some of the other reviewers seem to. All I wrote fourteen years ago was that this was a good mystery featuring Thomas Lyon, a film director who needs to figure out who is stabbing people now, and what happened 26 years ago when a young woman was found hanged.

Thomas Lyon making a movie from a book about a young woman who was apparently hanged 26 years earlier. The death was never satisfactorily solved and considered a suicide. Making the movie dredges up old issues from families involved, and there is an attempted stabbing during filming. Thomas wonders if he can figure out what really happened while making the movie. Different from other horsey books, written in the 90s. But still pretty similar. Seemed like this went too far into the weeds about the whole movie making thing. Less focus on the characters. Lyons infatuation with an 18 year old was a little off putting. Probably 2 1/2. Nothing great to see here, even though the movie won two oscars :)

This is another Francis book about someone involved in the movie business -- but this time from the other side of the lens. The main character here is an up-and-coming movie director who grew up in a racing stable and is currently directing a movie about an old racing scandal. As usual, he is forced by events to turn amateur sleuth. This book seems to be fairly typical Francis fare, this one with a fairly insubstantial plot line and some nice visual descriptions.

Dick Francis is one of my favorite authors. I loved the tone of this book, told in first person. I liked the protagonist, who was always a step ahead of me in figuring things out. The plot pulled me in and held me, not allowing me to put the book down until I was done. It left me guessing until the end, and I like that. The ephemeral part at the end was a nice way to finish the story. a very satisfying read.

Wild Horses

My second Dick Francis novel (after Proof). I’m very impressed by the level of research that has gone into both novels (details about wine retail in Proof and filming a movie in Wild Horses). The main character’s role as a film director was completely believable. I felt like I was on set watching the movie being made. Details about the lighting, script changes, rehearsals, supplies. It was fascinating. I could have just read about the making of the movie and been happy. The mystery (a never solved cold case on which the film was loosely based) added some spice, but I’m not sure I would have missed it. It was a frame for all of the fun characters and amazing setting. Although, it did add an element of danger/conflict that kept the plot at a run instead of an amble. A fun read and an extra 0.5 stars for the side plot of the disgruntled author wailing about the movie ruining his book.

I loved it. As always for Dick Francis, the need for suspension of disbelief is high. I do love the way his novels always pick an interesting profession, immerse you in it, and make you (somewhat) believe you now know something about it.

Unfortunately, when he chose my profession I learned that his portrayal can be very wide of the mark. But for all the professions I cannot try - his books are terrific.

The mystery was, as usual, not really the main point of the book. Like a lot of authors, he uses them more to add a reason for the bits of excitement and to provide a little structure for the storytelling.

Without the mysteries, I think I would still read his books. They are entertaining. As others have mentioned, his portrayal of women is a bit outdated, but Dick Francis is not a young man. I make allowances.

Wild Horses is an outstanding read. From beginning to end, we learn more about our lead character, Thomas Lyon, and even more about the community whose decades-old secrets Thomas is threatening to expose for all the world to see.

Thomas Lyon is a film director, and his latest project, Unstable Times, is set in the world of English horse racing. No surprise there, in a Dick Francis novel, nor is the fact that Thomas was once an amateur jockey. The setting is a typical Francis setting, but the action is totally different. Thomas is trying to make a movie, and he has a number of problems: the Hollywood moguls have set a minder over Thomas, indicating they don't trust him; some of the locals, upon whose lives the story is based, want the film stopped; the author of the novel, although he is also the scriptwriter, doesn't like what Thomas is doing to his story; and, above all, someone is trying to kill Thomas.

The roots of all this malevolence lie twenty-six years in the past, and there may be clues in the mass of books and papers left to Thomas by his friend Valentine. At his death, Valentine confesses to Thomas some ancient crime, but Thomas can make no sense of it. Now, as violence tracks his steps, Thomas may have to solve this riddle in order to save his own life.

Enjoy!

Cinema, Horses and Believable Characters. Dick Francis at his best!

Dick Francis never disappoints. Delving into the film industry this time, his protagonist, Thomas Lyon, is directing a film based on a book that tells the story of an unsolved hanging of a young married woman 26 years ago. Was it a suicide? Police ruled that out and believe her husband did it but never could find proof. It remains unsolved. Then Thomas hears a deathbed confession from a man who had been a friend of his father's. Alastaire's brief and puzzling confession prompts T. Lyon to begin a search for the truth. There are some who do not want the truth to surface and try to sabotage the filming in several ways including attacks and even murder.
Impossible to put down and wonderfully written.