This book starts in a typically Dick Francis-ian manner: humble yet capable and brave young man (Henry Gray) involved in the business of horse racing but with another job as well. It veers off (literally) from there to an action packed thrilling, that I kept wishing would be over, but continued to read as fast as possible. Most detective novels start slow and pick up speed, but this book was extreme in that regard.

Fantastic, just enough tension though pretty hairy the last 30%.

This is one of my favorite of Dick Francis's books. Written in the 1960s, we meet Henry Gray, heir to an impoverished title. He is struggling to find his way in a world and, to the horror of his family, has gotten a job! (Mercy Maud! His noble ancestors are either rolling in their graves or cheering him on.)

Bored with his first job, he eventually becomes one of the grooms that takes care of racehorses shipped all over the world for breeding purposes. The trips were a delight until one of the new hires becomes an issue. Then, men start disappearing. Then, things get worse.

Henry, however, has a secret, and it might be the one thing that will save his life.

This is one of my favorite Francis books, even though the protagonist is initially nearly unlikeable and definitely more low-key than some of his others. But the plot, the twists, the glimpses into so many different background professions, and the love story all keep it going nicely. I thought he did a particularly good job of painting the secondary characters with a vivid brush, both the nice ones and the bad guys. My only quibble is where he ended the story, with one thing that I badly wanted to know left open for the reader to decide.

Another solid novel from Francis. In this one, Henry is in the aristocracy and doesn't really want people to know it. He rides in the steeplechase but that is a small part of the story. He is also an amateur pilot and gets a job as a groom for a company that transports horses by air. He works with Billy, who hates the aristocracy and is a bully to Henry in the air, playing childish pranks and hitting, kicking or tripping him at every opportunity. Henry becomes friendly with one of the pilots, Partick, and he introduces him to Gabriella on a layover in Italy and there is insta-love. But when another man involved with the operation, Simon, goes missing, Henry starts to investigate and gets himself into hot water. He first figures out that Simon was transporting the same horses, back and forth, in a scam that got him paid bonuses from the government. But Henry doesn't think that is why Simon went missing. He finds a clue and soon figures out that they aren't just transporting horses but they are transporting men who are defecting to the Communists. Simon found out and was killed. Henry and Gabriella are shot by Billy and Henry is kidnapped after he sees Gabriella to the hospital. Then a ridiculous series of events ensue where Henry isn't killed right away because Billy wants to toy with him but, of course, Henry gets the upper hand and instead killed Billy and makes his escape with the plane. All completely implausible but enjoyable nonetheless.

Flying Finish is one of Francis' odder books as the main character is the son of an Earl who seems to be drifting through life. At the beginning of the book, he takes a job helping to transport horses by plane which no one who knows him can understand. During this job he learns about a smuggling ring and falls in love before being pulled into an incredibly dangerous situation. As this is an older book of Francis', some of the language used can be harsh in terms of class and race perspectives. The main character's growth as he figures out what he wants to make of his life adds to the story because the plot is a good gripping thriller with some Cold War overtones.

An interesting early Dick Francis thriller, better than I expected. Some of the early ones seem a little crude in retrospect. This has some decent characters and the aviation colour is interesting.

Henry Grey is the only son of an earl--and he hates it. A loner, with a bit of an inferiority complex and a chip on his shoulders, Henry lives his life in boxes. He has few friends and is coldly shut off from his family. His two pleasures in life are riding as an amateur steeplechase jockey and flying. At the airfield where he learned to fly he's managed to keep his rank a secret and it's here he feels most at home. He has a boring 9-5 job desk job at a bloodstock agency handling paperwork on high-bred horses.

When he refuses to be home for a posh weekend, his sister rages at him, calling him "a spoiled, bad-tempered bastard." Those words from the kindest member of his family shake Henry out of his rut and he gives up his desk job and takes a menial position at a horse transportation firm, perhaps to prove to himself that he's not too spoiled to do a hard day's work. The work involves shipping horses around Europe and to America by air. It is tough and takes skill and a lot of horse know-how. His co-workers are a rough and tumble lot and when one of them finds out Henry is an aristocrat he sets out to make Henry's life hell. Then odd things start happening at the transport firm....

I liked the way Henry matures and learns to open himself up to others; by the end he is a changed man. The plot is overly complicated and almost doesn't work, but the final chapters were so believably terrifying that I found my heart pounding right up to the Flying Finish.

Content PG: Horses and people get badly hurt.

4 Stars

Flying Finish by Dick Francis is an engaging mystery with danger, drama, suspense, tension, and complexity- makes for a very intriguing read.
->2023 Reading Challenge.
->Glennie's Collection
Dick Francis novels were a familiar fixture in our household when I was growing up, as both my parents loved his books. He was amongst the first ‘adult’ reads that I explored at the time, and over the years I have read everything he’s written. I remember every time my mother read one of his books, she'd tell me about him and how he'd gone from being an RAF pilot to being the Queen Mother's favourite jockey, before retiring to become a journalist/writer.
Since my mother passed away over a year ago, I have been making my way through her book collection, finally. I decided to make reading her entire collection a part of my reading challenge for the next couple of years (she has a HUGE collection), as well as a way to pay tribute to my mum, who was such a voracious reader..... Reading her collection of books has stirred up a lot of memories, mostly of our shared love of reading. I am forever grateful that she passed on her love of reading to me.

Gripping story

I read this first about twenty years ago but enjoyed it again recently. Dick Francis had a unique talent in his writing and Felix has kept the family skill alive. There are some references which date the script but it’s still a great story and well written!

Jeden z těch nejstarších Francisů, pátý v pořadí, před revolucí u nás ale nikdy nevyšel. Z celkem pochopitelných důvodů – padouši jsou tu komunisté.

Tahle kniha mě překvapila jednou zásadní věcí. Měla by být špatná a komická – Francis se totiž pouští do světa mezinárodní špionáže. A bývá pravidlem, že pokaždé, když se nějaký klasický autor vytasí s agenty nebo teroristy, dopadne to spíš jako parodie. Ale tady ne. Hlavně tím, že to autor opět podehrává, nepatlá se v tom, vlastně se tím skoro vůbec nezabývá, a i když se chvílema mluví o vědeckých udělátcích, jde spíš o hrdinu a lidi, co ho chtějí zabít. Je to tlumený a díky tomu to funguje.

Přijde mi, že francisovky vlastně ani nejsou moc detektivky, jsou to komorní thrillery šmrncuté romantickým dramatem o hledání sama sebe. Alespoň, co zatím čtu, jsou hrdinové na začátku příběhu nespokojení, zničení, zmrzačení, nešťastní – a v jeho průběhu dostanou přes držku a najdou smysl života.

I když je francisovský hrdina vlastně pokaždé stejný, tak tady má trochu jiný nátěr. Je to šlechtic, který závodí na dostizích, a kromě toho se stará o leteckou přepravu závodních koní a pilotuje letadlo. A sám se nemůže rozhodnout, co by vlastně chtěl. Plus by mohl být, z dnešního pohledu, označovaný za mírného autistu. Je pedantický, pečlivý, pořádný, studený čumák, který si těžko hledá přátele. A na Francise je schopný i drsnějších činů – jak zabití splašeného koně, tak zastřelení neozbrojeného člověka. To je po předchozích, spíše smířlivějších postavách, docela šok.

Na Francisovi je vidět, že dobrý vypravěč nepotřebuje velkou akci. Dokáže udělat drama jen z toho, že je hrdina uvázaný. I finální akce je vlastně taková minimalistická... ale možná proto pořád funguje. Plus, velké uznání za to, že romány končí obvykle tím, když se hrdinovi podaří překonat poslední nebezpečí, je konec – často aniž by se vůbec řešilo, jestli některé postavy přežily a jestli byli padouši po právu potrestáni.

Není to důležité.

Hrdina uspěl a posunul se dál. O to jde u Francisovek především.

Wow! Horsing around with Henry Grey (Lord Grey, laying low) while he rides as an amateur in steeplechase events for a hobby, and also works in an air transport capacity was pure escapism until...
the mystery part kicks in. Missing employees and run-ins with various sketchy blokes, well, all is not as ordinary as was first apparent. I loved the aviation aspects of this tale though the casual use or absence of use of passports for the equine air transport staff was a stark reminder of our pre-9/11 naivety since this was after all written decades before that.

(Note: Rereading the Dick Francis mysteries is my go-to pleasure and I have a shelf full of his works to prove it. Horse racing, steeplechase, Britishness (is that a word?) all captured my interest years ago when my mother first introduced me to this in my teens. She passed away 18 months ago and in some way I feel her presence as I revisit the books she and I both loved. )