The Hero in this book, John Kendall is no different from other Dick Francis's Heroes. He is a struggling author who has written survival guides for travel magazines. He agrees reluctantly to write the biography of the horse trainer, Tremayne Vickers, just so that he gets a shelter for a month. The adventure starts the moment he lands in Vickers's farm, when he saves the lives of others travelling with him. In no time, everyone in the estate trust him and ready to pour their inner-most feelings with him, and they are all surprised why they are telling him things they wouldn't even tell their old friends. But I could totally believe their implicit trust in Kendall because he is a great listener (he himself says so). Sigh! Where can I find a friend like one of Dick Francis's Heroes?

As in other Dick Francis books, there is a murder mystery, which the Hero has to solve. But the murder was in the past and John hadn't even known the victim. However the detective (like other characters in the book) rely on John's intuition and observation skills to find the killer. John finds himself in danger and attempts on his life as he gets closer to the killer's identity. And, we all know his experience in writing survival guides helps him get out of danger.

I enjoyed the book, the description of survival stories and the characters. This falls short of 5*, because of some unbelievable elements like John Kendall becoming an amateur jockey and his extra goodness in the end.

Tony Britton's audible narration was brilliant. Though I have some paperback and kindle version of Dick Francis's book, I would prefer listening to Tony Britton.

A solid Dick Francis book. John is an author of survival guides for a touring company and trying to become a novelist so he accepts a job from Tremayne, a horse trainer, to write his biography. Ensconced at the family home, he meets Tremayne's children, Perkins and Gareth, and Perkins's wife, Mackie. He also meets horse owners, Fiona and Henry, and their jockey cousin, Nolan, who has recently been on trial for the death of a girl at one of Tremayne's parties. There is no question that Nolan has a quick temper, as is seen when he fights with fellow jockey, Sam, who threatens to take some of Nolan's mounts. Things come to a head when the body of Angela, a former groom, is found in the woods. She went missing a year ago after one of Fiona's horses failed a drug test and suspicion was placed on Angela for giving the horse a banned substance. The police immediately suspect Henry for the death when his belt and sunglasses are found nearby the naked body and his picture is found in the girl's bag. But when someone tries to kill Henry using a trap described in one of John's books, it is obvious that he is innocent. John saves Henry's life using the survival skills that he has honed over his years with the touring company and becomes an instant hero and the latest target. When he is alone in the woods, someone again uses his own survival guide against him and shoots him with arrows that his books taught them how to make. He manages to crawl out to the road and is found and that is where we learn that Perkins is the killer. He had an affair with Angela and killed her when he found out that she was pregnant. But rather than be arrested and put his now pregnant wife through a trial, he kills himself by making it look like an accident when woodworking. I enjoyed this story even if it was a bit strange. It did not have the token romance common in most Francis books, which I appreciated, but Perkins was such a non-character, always hiding in the background, that I found it hard to reconcile that he was the killer. Also, John had a very strange and long list of jobs, from pilot to novelist to survivalist, for a guy still in his thirties.

Another great protagonist by Francis. Thrilling, with a unique angle.

A blast from the past. I found this on the bookshelf when looking for another book. As a teen-ager I read loads of Dick Francis novels. I enjoyed revisiting this but it was a bit formulaic and predictable.

This book was a absolutely pleasure to read.

"Longshot" by top-notch Dick Francis is an arrow that just misses the heart. Narrator John Kendal meticulously details directions for constructing such, bows, traps, diagram of arteries guarding life blood, in six glossy white hardcover survival guides "Return Safe from the Wilderness" (Jungle, Desert, Sea, Ice, or Safari). Generous large racehorse trainer Tremayne Vickers invites John to leave starving in an frigid garret for a month live-in biography commission.

Daughter-in-law Mackie skids their jeep into a deep water-filled ditch, where our hero saves her, the head lad Bob Watson, client Fiona Goodhaven, and respective spouses quiet Ingrid and happy Harry, from "ice-cubery" p47. We get drawn into the family circle with sons friendly Gareth 15 (pal appropriately nicknamed Coconut 14), and otherworldly woodworker Perkin. Fiona's cousin violent jockey Nolan, arrested for strangling a party girl there the previous April, publicly attacks and threatens John.

Interspersed are third-person accounts of Berkshire-lilting local Inspector Doone finding the bones of missing strangled sleeparound stable girl Angela Brickell. Her murderer keeps on trying, inspired by the guides. John needs a strong will to save his own skin.

I'd forgotten the title, but I've enjoyed this at least thrice now. I knew the perpetrator and fate at first meeting, but I wallow in expressions like still mornings "as rare as honest beggars" p 64, that bring eccentric character voices to life, my new friends. I still fear huge horses, even after moving to the country and learning to ride Western along with new neighbors. But I read everything I can find by Francis, edge of the seat suspense. Surprise endings twist our perception of justice.

At the end, John is the loner cowboy riding off in the sunset, but the people have been more finely delineated than in modern book series that drag on too long. I mourn the author, not alive to write more; his son has not yet achieved the same pinnacle of talent.

Dick Frances’ protagonists are always likeable! The area of expertise I learned on the side this time was survival skills. Such fun!

An excellent tale. John Kendall goes to stay with the Vickers family in Berkshire to write the biography of Tremayne Vickers, racehorse trainer extraordinaire. John fits in well, but soon after his arrival the bones of a missing girl are found nearby & the family is implicated. People talk to John easily, revealing more of themselves than usual, & he soon finds himself in some extremely dangerous situations. I enjoyed this yarn once again.

Normal great Dick Francis...but I could have written a better ending!

A freelance writer, specializing in survival guides decides to write the biography of a horse trainer. There's a murder in the background, not really connected to the trainer, but everybody in the trainer's orbit is worried about it.

As usual, one murder isn't the last. Can the writer figure out who did it before he gets killed?

A lot of tension.

Maybe my favorite Dick Francis book. Then again, there's Twice Shy, The Danger, Straight, To The Hilt...so maybe it's a multi way tie...Shattered, Decider...

Not the absolute worst of Francis' books, but pretty darn close. It takes a very long half of the book for anything much to happen, and the first crime is poorly not-woven into the rest of the story. There is no way the first-person narrator and MC could be privy to what was said and done at police headquarters while he was miles away riding out at first lot! I figured out who the killer was in very short order, perhaps because the first half of the book has nothing to do with anything much. Oh, the hero this time around is a total Gary Stu who can do anything he sets his mind to, from surviving in the wild to cooking for a large family to becoming a jockey, while everyone around him spills their guts at the slightest provocation and the police turn to him for facts and answers as if he had them.

If that weren't enough, we are treated once again to Planet Francis' dictum that all real women see reproduction as the be-all and end-all of existence. We have not one but three women who are all about getting int' Pudding Club in one yarn! One can't, one didn't and one is all stars and unicorns because she manages it, like the good little uppah middle clahss gel she is. The only thing missing in this book is a labrador.

None of this was helped by David Case's dreadful, bored reading of the book. Half the time he forgets the voices and intonations he's assigned to different characters, so suddenly the MC speaks in the die-away gasp he started using for most of the women (and as a woman myself, I take umbrage) and when he tries to infuse a sense of urgency into his reading of Our Hero's dreadful brush with death, he only manages to whine.

I could have forgiven some of the book's shortcomings if Francis hadn't actually said in so many words in the text, "Someone should write a book about this and call it Long Shot." Which, by the way, is two words, not one. I remember reading this in the 1980s and remembering scraps of unimportant material, which is most of the book, anyway.

A shaky two stars, more like a star and a half given the dire audio book reader. Not a fun experience, by a very, very long shot.