I hated this book, though I read it quickly start to finish. Four horses dead. It seems an after thought to the plot. As a horse person I was appalled at the cavaleir treatment of their death. Maybe one to heighten the intringue. But 4? And one right in the last few pages. As a person of the horse world, I was shocked that Francis had so little feeling as to treat them as pawns.

Now I know this was fiction. But even imagined? I have several other Francis books -- I had always enjoyed his writing -- but I'm not sure whether I want to risk reading any of them. Sad,

Nice ending, would have liked to have seen more descriptions on the characters and locations particularly on Allardeck.

Dick Francis returns us to the world of jockey Kit Fielding, who we met in an earlier novel. Kit is engaged to the beautiful Danielle, but their relationship seems to be on the rocks. Lately, Danielle seems rather distant to Kit, and he worries he may be losing her to another man. The story begins at the races, where Kit is riding for Princess Casilia deBrescou, a fine woman who owns several racehorses she enjoys watching at various racetracks. Kit and the princess are fairly close, and after the races he finds her speaking with a very rude man. At her request, Kit comes home with her, to the palatial London house where she lives with her businessman husband Roland and Kit’s fiancée Danielle. Another cousin, Prince Litsi, an apparent rival for Danielle’s affections, and Beatrice Bunt, Roland’s unpleasant sister, are also in residence. Kit talks with the princess and her husband and finds that the rude man is Roland deBrescou’s business partner from France, Henri Nanterre, who wants Roland to sign papers agreeing to use a plastic they had developed in the making of firearms. Roland is highly opposed to the idea and refuses, and that’s when the trouble starts.

In the middle of the night, someone goes to the stable where the princess’ horses are kept and shoots two of them with a bolt, a humane killer used by veterinarians. One of the horses was a particularly fine prospect for the Grand National. Additionally, a man follows Danielle on her way out of work one night, and she flees to call Kit for help. Henri Nanterre is behind the attacks, and even Roland’s sister Beatrice is a spy. Beatrice wants the money Nanterre promised her, if she could get Roland to sign the papers enabling his company to make guns. Nanterre calls the deBrescou house often, making dire threats. Roland is near to signing off on the guns, but Kit persuades him not to. Instead, Kit hires a guard and a dog to patrol the stable where the princess’ horses are kept, and also hires a bodyguard for Roland for the times when he and Litsi aren’t at home. Nanterre plans an attack on Litsi that almost kills him, and then Kit and Litsi decide to make plans of their own to trap Nanterre.

Nanterre falls into their trap, and they effectively save the future of the deBrescou family. It seems like life is about to go back to normal, but Francis throws in one more twist at the finish, neatly tying up the last loose end.
Like all Dick Francis books, Bolt was delightfully English, peopled with likeable characters. While there wasn’t a great mystery for us to solve, he leaves us waiting breathlessly for something to happen at every turn. We know who the villain is from the very beginning in this book, and it’s the reaction of our hero that keeps us turning pages. The delicate social balance between the characters is intriguing, as well. There just aren’t any bad Dick Francis books.

3.5 Continuing to re-read Dick Francis from my collection. This is the second book featuring Kit Fielding (only the second recurring character in his books), and while I enjoyed the read, I thought it not as good as the first one.

Sequel to ‘Break In’, returning us to the world of crime-solving jockey Kit Fielding. Princess Casilia, Kit’s primary employer, is facing a hostile takeover of her and her husband’s business. The man concerned, Henri Nanterre, is not above threats and violence to get what he wants – people the princess cares about are being attacked, and her racehorses are being killed. Kit is determined to put an end to all this, whilst also struggling with romantic issues of his own. Can the heroic jockey ride to the rescue again?

I found this book a very enjoyable read, perhaps even more so than the first one, though the horse deaths were obviously unpleasant to read about.

In his sequel to Break In, Francis shows his old racing colors to advantage. Champion jockey Kit Fielding whom I've come to hugely admire. He's awesome--again proves his mettle when Henri Nanterre, the ruthless business partner of his fiancee's uncle, tries to convert their road construction company into an armaments enterprise. Nanterre threatens the life of Princess Casilia, his partner's wife, who also owns many of Kit's mounts. Nanterre is foiled, but then some of the princess's horses are found dead, killed, ironically, by captive-bullet bolt guns designed for ""humane'' deaths. This makes my blood boil when they damage and kill the horses.

Next come several near-lethal attacks against humans, including Kit's Danielle, and our Kit must devise a plan to thwart Nanterre for good. Soon Danielle has second thoughts about sharing the dangers of a steeplechaser's life. Maynard Allardeck, racing steward and hereditary enemy of the Fielding family, reappears and makes Kit's life even more difficult. The characterization isn't especially profound, but the plot races along wonderfully well, right up to a jolting twist at the end.
Really good book. Highly recommend.

Atraktívne pokračovanie s tradičnými postavami, ale aj zápletkami, ktoré narušujú vývoj z prvého dielu. Šablóna príbehu sa trochu opakuje a zakončenie je trochu predvídateľné. Ale inak je to stará známa dobre vygradovaná klasika.

I loved this book!

Kit Fielding was (and still is) one of my favourite Francis characters. The fact that there are two books written about him only makes it better, as it allows for more growth and development of his personality. And, as usual, the mystery and plot are up to the gold standard. Who knows how many times I have read this? I certainly don't, but I'm sure I will again.

I always enjoy reading a good Dick Francis novel. They are pretty clean, the language isn't too bad, and not a lot of sex.... Sometimes I even reread the books, because it's like being with a friend you haven't seen in several years. I really enjoy the characters he uses, and also enjoy the series he writes about too. I love to watch a good horse race, even more fun to attend them live. No I'm not a gambler, but it's still fun to go.

Awesome. Almost everything Dick Francis wrote is great. To me, he is the best and got me reading again after not having time for the last twenty years. He also inspired my first novel, "The Killer's Co-op". I have a whole shelf of DF novels and I look forward to putting a shelf full of my own right next to his.

3.5 Stars

Bolt is the second book in the Kit Fielding series by Dick Francis. This is an interesting crime and investigation story with action, tension, mystery, suspense, horse racing, intensity, and drama.
->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.

This book is confusing if you haven't read the preceding book Break In (which I hadn't.) The horses are killed rather hideously, which was chilling to read and became gratuitously violent by the book's end. However, the horses would probably have hideous deaths anyway during the races. Kit Fielding is not as likeable as other Francis protagonists. Skip this.