Why is it that a Dick Francis novel has me pondering about human nature, and the big questions of life - even more than a biography I am reading atm??
This time I learned about biological chemistry, and running a transport business. And I picked the baddie! :-)

As I read this book, I was in absolute shock and awe! When they were revealing the overall scandal, I just kept thinking WTF! What kind of person does this! It was appalling to me. I was forced to do research on the disease discussed in the book. I was even more shocked to find out that it was real, and that it was the equivalent of polio to a human being. Scary, I don’t know where Dick Francis comes up with his ideas. But they are real, not in the sense that they actually happened, but similar events have occurred in the industry.

This is a well written mystery. I did not suspect the killer until near the end. The central character is Freddie Croft, a retired race jockey who now runs a horse transport business. One of his drivers picks up a hitchhiker(strictly forbidden by Freddie) who dies of a heart attack. This starts a chain of events that include murder, attempted murder, computer viruses and more.

Like many Dick Francis thrillers, Driving Force starts with a pun. On the one hand, Freddie Croft, our hero, is the owner of a fleet of horse vans, so his driving force is carrying horses all over England, as well as to Ireland, France, and Italy. On the other hand, as mentioned several times, villainy breaks out into violence when there is a driving force compelling the perpetrator. When strange things start happening around Freddie's garages, the discovery of the driving force becomes the key to the mystery.

The chain of events is kicked off when two of Freddie's drivers pick up a hitchhiker, strictly against orders, and the man dies on them. One thing leads to another, as Freddie figures out that someone is using his trucks and drivers for their own, nefarious purposes.

The scene that really kicks the suspense into high gear is when Freddie visits his yard late one night, and it bashed on the head. Next thing he knows, he's been dumped into the ocean off the Portsmouth Docks. Once he manages to get himself out of the water and onto dry land, he has to start thinking about who might dislike him that much or be that threatened by him.

As always, Dick Francis entertains with insights into the racing scene and the cast of unique and eccentric characters who inhabit it. But who, among these happy, hoarse-loving people, might "smile and smile and be a villain?"

You just can’t go wrong with a Dick Francis book. I started it late on a Saturday night and read much between short bouts of fitful sleep, finishing it early on a Sunday morning. It was nearly impossible to put down, and the mystery is typical Dick Francis genius stuff.

Freddy Croft is a former jockey turned horse transporter. I never thought much about the need for people who specialize in horse transportation among racetracks, but you’ll learn about that work in this book in addition to the excellent mystery.

Croft constantly warned his drivers against picking up hitchhikers. Despite is frequent warning about that, two of his drivers picked up a hitchhiker who died in the van. That’s bad public relations for Freddy’s business, as you can imagine, and that’s one of the reasons Croft so vehemently warned against picking up such people. But the beer money was too much of an alure for the driver.

Sadly, the hitchhiker isn’t the only guy who dies in this book. Croft’s mechanic discovers something about the vans he’s afraid to tell the boss about openly. The message he leaves on the answering machine feels encrypted to Croft. Someone murders the mechanic to keep him from talking.

Not long after that, someone assaults Croft, drives him miles away to the docks, and dumps him in the ocean with the assumption that he will drown.

The suspense in the book is topflight, and you won’t see the end coming even if you guess the villain.

If you’ve never read this or if it’s been years since you did, now may be a great time to delve in. I enjoyed every page.

Dick Francis is one of my cozy mystery favorites

A good story about the transporting of horses from their homes to various races around England, France, Italy and Ireland. Found all the information quite interesting.
Enjoyed the characters especially the owner of the horse transporting company, Freddy Croft. He ran his company well and tried hard to keep everything topnotch for the owner of the horse, the horses themselves and his employees. His management skills were good, his knowledge of the computer growing, he was not a procrastinator; a good businessman.
Found the idea of liquid that could used as a transporter of a virus infection and the spreading of ticks to a horse ranch to cripple their race horses fascinating. I had no idea who the culprits and killers were until the end of the book....strange reasons for wanting to ruin Freddy's business.

One of Francis' best.

Definitely not a favorite Francis novel of mine.

Sometimes it seems that every new Dick Francis novel is my new favourite, but this one definitely is one of the tops. There is a very engaging mystery, a little romance, and some very poignant fatherly stuff.

I thought the stuff about the horse transports was really interesting they way he described them. And that they're sometimes off to Ireland or France or Italy. I always forget how close every country is in Europe, and it's fun to imagine living in Pixhill and then seeing the Italian countryside and then being back. It's like, no matter how small and podunk your English countryside town is, these (to me, at least) exotic places are so incredibly close. At least geographically!

Anyway this is a somewhat rambling review but this one is really good.

A good easy read

As always a good book by Dick Francis. A steady , easy to follow , plot with ,as usual, well researched characters and jobs. Mr Francis is a much missed author and his son has taken up the batten writing good story lines in the mould of his father.

I wasn't too sure it made sense who the "bad guy" turned out to be, but maybe I missed something.
Still love Dick Francis and I love his hero, although now that I'm reading them all back-to-back it's interesting to pick out all the things the heroes have in common with each other.