In the main, Dick Francis books are an enjoyable read, follow a bit of a pattern but on the whole provide an entertaining few hours without stretching the brain too much, a restful read. This however was not a front runner, a bit below par, plot seemed a bit far fetched and left me feeling puzzled at the unsatisfactory ending

Although set among horse people, the story goes far afield with jumps to Florida, the Grand Caymans, and the path of a hurricane. Perry Stuart, a well known weather forecaster and his friend Kris, want to fly through the eye of a hurricane. Their desire lands them in considerable trouble. All is not as it seems with their new friends. Very different approach and story.

So clever...

Hrdina je typickým francisovským hrdinom, ale samotné prostredie je predsa len trošku vzdialené od bežného dostihového, hoci s ním súvisí. Začiatok bol pomalší, dlhšie som sa do knižky dostávala, ale napokon ma Perry Stuart strhol a posledná tretina už bola typickým dielom Dicka Francisa. Príjemná oddychovka.

Perry Stuart is a meteorologist for BBC. Maybe this is why he seems to be a little bland. There is a lot of weatherman type information and also scientific info as he is also a lecturing physicist. The character of his grandmother is great. His love-at-first-site story line is very reminiscent of former Dick Francis novels. The friend that he gets into difficulty with may be manic depressive and he helps his friend through some tough spots. Maybe there are too many themes in this book, uranium. meteorology, airplanes, depression.

Not so engaged with the characters of this one - although the thought that TV weather presenters might lead such lives is a curious one. Pretty good tale, just a bit of a leap this time. Easy reading but seems rather dated and unlikely.

Could not put it down.

The one with the meteorologist. I liked, but did not love. I enjoy DF so much, so I forgive this slightly convoluted plot. I read a review criticizing DF's deep dive into meteorology, but that is one of the things I love about him. He researches a profession for the protagonist and drops all that knowledge while a murder is solved. I love learning g about things I didn't know I wanted to know.

If you’re expecting a “Castaway” or “Lord of the Flies” stranded-on-an-island type book, you’re not going to get it with this. That part is actually very short.
The book has complicated phrasing at times and, for me at least, the characters were confusing and it was difficult to tell them apart, even by the end of the book.
Also, the love interest is so forced, it’s almost not even worth having in the story to begin with.
I picked this up, on and off, for months because it was difficult to get into. I thoroughly enjoy the occasional Dick Francis novel but this is definitely not one of his better ones. At least it’s a fairly short read, though.

I thought I had read all of Dick Francis books until I picked this one up at our holiday home.
This book is not predominantly set around racing as are his others but is based on weather and nuclear materials. The pace is good as with all his books with a twist at the end which I did not get.
Other whole a delightful read.

My dad had been a big fan of Dick Francis, so when I spotted a title that I hadn’t read on my brother’s bookshelf I grabbed it. “Second Wind”. like all Dick Francis books, has a connection to racing; in this case the connection seems extremely tenuous at the beginning of the story, and scarcely less so at the end. The hero is not a jockey or ex-jockey, but a meteorologist who has a PHD in Physics but earns his bread as a TV weatherman.

Francis has a lot of fun finding out about the life of a TV weatherman, and about meteorological phenomena, particularly hurricanes, and about flying small planes. The scene jumps about from Britain to Florida to the Caymans and back; there are a lot of interesting supporting cast members, and there is a McGuffin in the form of a brown file folder whose contents are very important to a lot of people.

There is a tepid love-interest, and the protagonist does NOT get his arm disc located this time. Not the best Francis, but perfectly satisfactory at the side of your sleeping bag on a camping trip.

Not as good as his ones where he is more involved in horse racing but still entertaining.