This book is definitely my type. I put off reading this for a few months (due to school works) but I must say, this is worth your time. It made me rethink about things like horse racing (I once thought it was a stupid sport for gambling addicts) and animal cruelty (I never condoned it but the book does give it more perspective.) Here's me wishing I could get a hold of the other books in the Sid Halley series, nearly a year after reading this one.

I love Dick Francis's books. The Sid Halley books are the only series that he wrote. All the rest of his books are stand alone. All of his books involve horses, many of them are set in the racing world...particularly jump races. In this book, someone is cutting off the left front hoof of young horses. The mother of a little girl with cancer hires Sid to find out who is doing it. His relationship with the little girl is really great. Sid was injured in a racing accident and eventually lost his hand. The trauma of that is often part of the story. Francis's characters are always complex and well developed. One of those stories where you feel like you'd like to meet the "hero".

I love Dick Francis's books, and Sid Halley is my favorite character. Sid is so calm in the face of danger and so completely reliable, you fall in love. The story is a good mystery, with just enough clues that you THINK you know how it will end, but still manages to surprise you.

I think this might actually be a collaboration with Dick Francis' son Felix, but it's a little unclear. No mantter, I like the series and thought the writing in this one was a bit more muscular. I liked the series protagonist Sid Halley, a somewhat disabled ex-jockey, who believes his best friend might be the perpetrator of a series of horrendous mutilation of reaching horses. Ths is less a mystery, more an examination of the Sid's grappling with losing one of his hands at the same time he is dealing with complex emotions regarding his friend.

The third in the Sid Halley series, and probably the best, which is no mean feat.
An investigation into horse maimings leads Sid to suspect a dear friend and former racing rival. The man is widely loved and respected; as Sid's investigation becomes public knowledge, he faces scorn and ridicule from all sides.
This is a more personal story than the first two in the series, and sadder. This melancholy is aided by the use of in media res; we know a great deal from the off, and are frustrated by the rest of the characters being blind. This dramatic irony lends a sense of inevitability and tragedy to the betrayal and loss at the core of the story.
As usual, the characters are fantastic, and the humor, though muted, is spot-on. The plot is wonderfully constructed, and the villains are fantastic.
Dick Francis was a fantastic mystery author, and I have been slowly making my way through his works. Thus far, this is the best of the lot. Highly recommended.

This takes the standard mystery plot and turns it inside out. The reader knows whodunit from the beginning. The "howdunit" is distressingly clear very early on and even the "whydunit" is straight from the culprit's mouth before the book is even halfway through. So, what's left to discover? Here we have an inside look at how a British prosecuting case is made and developed, against an aggressive (and expensive!) defense. Another departure for a mystery novel, is that there is no murder, only horrific horse maiming. The only death in the book is a suicide.
Former jockey, Sid Halley, turned private investigator, has been called in to find the perpetrator of an especially horrible animal cruelty act...that of cutting off of a pony's foot. The pony's owner is a nine-year-old girl who also has leukemia. As the atrocities continue, Sid is reluctantly and incredulously forced to realize that it is a former jockey colleague and friend of his who is responsible. The book details the care taken to gather ironclad evidence and we meet a number of interesting characters along the way. The arrest of the accused backfires into a media tirade against Sid rather than against Ellis, who has now found national fame as a talk-show host and TV darling.
The story then delves into some deeper motivations and complications than were apparent in the beginning. Sid gamely puts himself in harm's way a number of times, testing how far friendship can be tried. It isn't often that mystery books consider the more philosophic questions in life, but Dick Francis has always used his tales as vehicles for more serious looks at the vagaries of life. That is why I sometimes give his books a five-star rating, which is what this one has earned through its musings on what makes one person a criminal and another, in much the same circumstances, a hero.

In his long and very successful career as a writer of crime fiction, Dick Francis only used two protagonists in more than one book. One of them was Sid Halley who appears here for the third time, following Odds Against and Whip Hand. Halley was a former champion jockey who had a terrible accident that basically destroyed his left hand and ended his career. He then became a private investigator and, in the course of an earlier case, a psychopath further damaged the hand, rendering it completely useless. Halley now wears a prosthesis and has nightmares about possibly losing the use of his other hand.

In this case, Halley has been hired to track down a sadistic monster who has been lopping off the hooves of young horses, leaving them crippled and useless. The attacker usually chooses the left front hoof, and although there's no mention of it, one has to wonder if Halley, who has lost his own left hand, might feel an especial affinity for the poor horses who are thus damaged.

Sid's client is the mother of a young girl whose horse was thus attacked. To complicate matters, the little girl is suffering from a rare disease and needs a bone marrow transplant if she is to survive. She and Halley develop a special bond, and some of the best scenes in the book are of the two characters together.

As his investigation progresses, Halley is shocked to discover that the attacker is, almost certainly, one of his best friends, another former jockey who has become a very popular television interviewer. Indeed, the friend, Ellis Quint, did a very heart-warming program about Rachel, the sick little girl whose horse he had effectively destroyed himself. (This gives nothing away; the reader learns very early on who the villain is.)

Sid's discovery causes him an enormous amount of personal pain and anxiety. It also subjects him to savage personal attacks in the press and elsewhere. Quint is an enormously popular public figure, and even Sid's own client can't believe that he would be guilty of such horrendous crimes. People insist that Halley is jealous of Quint's success and is attempting to destroy his reputation.

In consequence, Halley will be up against the wall for most of the book, unable to effectively defend his actions and his reputation. As is often the case in a Dick Francis novel, there are other, larger forces lurking behind the scenes and before it's all over, poor Sid Halley will be subjected to some very extreme tests.

This is one of the better of the later books in the series. It moves along quickly and has all of the hallmarks that readers of the series expect. Fans of the series should be sure to look for it.

This was a bit different than many of the other Francis mysteries that I have read. And not for the better. First, part of the Francis method is to have the story’s hero face physical distress. Here, our detective is beaten in the first 10 pages. Sid Halley, former jockey turned detective, is handicapped with a missing hand. And as in the earlier two Sid Halley stories, he faces the prospect of injury to his remaining hand. Francis writes well, and this is difficult to read. Second, in this book, horses are repeatedly maimed. This I also found distressing. This one also had a few unanswered questions that are not typical of a Francis book. The detective repeatedly wonders how the horses behave so trustingly when being maimed, yet as I recall this wasn’t determined. This is one of those mysteries where  the bad guy is determined pretty early and the bulk of the book is to prove the conjectures of the detective. But in the end, the results aren’t satisfying as there is little new to discover and the bad guys actions really aren’t explained beyond saying he’s crazy.  Another weakness in this one is the additional topic. Francis always includes some additional topics beyond horse racing in his book that reflect research he must have done on the topic. These topics are melded into the story and in the past have included glass blowing, movie production, artistic careers, etc. In this one, he (re)visits computer security, having Sid upgrade to a digital cell phone and describing Sid’s protections from hacking. But in the big scene, Sid steals data from some bad guys and his basic hacking is well described. However,  this stolen data, while mentioned once in passing, has no bearing on the case and is not followed up on ! Overall, this seems a bit more scattered than many of the Francis books I’ve read. Still interesting, but you need to be a fan to enjoy it.

I love Dick Francis mysteries. They’re predictable in some ways—usually connected to horse racing, main characters who, like Philip Marlowe, have a strong moral compass, and are strong mentally, usually able to bear beatings and other awful things done to them as they search for the truth. This one is the third to feature Sid Halley, an ex-jump jockey, who was very successful u til he had to have his hand amputated. He has become a private inquiry agent, this time investigating why some deranged person has started amputating one leg off yearlings and two-year-olds about once a month in the dead of night. The more Sid investigates, the clearer it becomes that Ellis Quint, former champion amateur jockey and now beloved tv personality, is involved, it how and why is a mystery. In the meantime a newspaper has being smearing Sid’s reputation every week, Ellis’s father is trying to kill him, and Sid feels guilty that a man he thought was his friend is doing something so cruel to horses, including one belonging to a little girl with leukemia that Sid has become fond of. Sid survives by his wits, but ends in a hospital. A great read.

I've read many (GE 15) of Dick Francis's novels, reviewed some. This is one of the best. They are formulaic, and often have badly contrived crimes with bizarre unrealistic motivations. Yet the protagonist is always someone you like and admire -- stoic but big-hearted, brave, resourceful and giving. Idealized, not realistic. I won't talk more about the formula. That would give away too much if you haven't read this author at all and are starting with this book. If you've read more than three you know what the formula is, but will be carried through each new one by the sharp suspense and the anticipation of a happy or at worse, bittersweet ending. I'm impressed that the writer could do so many variations on a theme and never go stale.

A real page turner. Someone is chopping off the legs of horses and Sid finds out its golden boy Ellis Quint who is also his friend. But Sid has to find proof and in the interim he is castigated by the press.

He is without his sidekick Chico so does it solo. Who knew there was millions in horse nuts. He has to bring down a megalomaniac Yorkshire horse nut manufacturer and aristocratic newspaper owner.

Sid also meets a new possible woman and undergoes capture, torture and an impressive escape. For a one armed private investigator he is incredible.

An enjoyable read of good versus evil.

"Come to Grief" by Dick Francis describes the final result - everyone mourns many lost lives, friendships, loyalties. "I had this friend, you see, that everyone loved." I thought narrator Sid was starting with his previous case, but no, the friend and connected relationships - parents, social group, public - are the current problems. We wait pages for friend Lochinvar's real name, and others breaking down - mother Ginnie's suicides, father Gordon tries to murder Sid - only the last pages answer why. Alround sad, recurring cancer obsession implies personal tragedy, none of the trademark humor that keeps me going back for more Francis. Rating is for compelling, not "liked".

Take cute feisty wide-eyed cuddler Rachel, having nightmares after sadistic mutilation of her beloved big-eyed pet Silverboy. Girl is frail, dying of leukemia. Colt is delicate fast future champion racer. Accused is popular ex-jockey TV celebrity, handsome endearing funny laughing lovable Ellis Quint, who publicized the dastardly foot amputations, repeated on full moon for months. Sid has nighmares too, fearing for surviving hand, after first crushed and torn in accident riding and by criminal torture when detecting.

From page one we know the perpetrator. Suspense depends on unfolding details tantalizingly, slowly - questioning motivation why, revelation of how discovered, and resenting harsh treatment of the hero. If I hate the plot - the cruel sadistic deed, the frustration and denial knowing who, the nightmares - why read on?

Dick Francis compels my curiosity, draws me into strange new worlds - horses strong, heavy; Britain high and low; a man's world of physicality, where women are periphral whiners, criers, and objects of beauty, admiration, or pity, and men willingly break and bloody bodies in fights. Stories told in the first person enable us, even if weak of body and untested in spirit, to identify with the protagonist, who has physical and moral courage, then needs to demonstrate those qualities. But he gets little praise, all private - maybe an old-fashioned kind of reward?

These days, I'd think the written confession would have been front page in the tabloids. Like in the book, even today, publicity has the same ability to destroy reputations and lives, the "justice" system the same inability to deal out "justice". The resolutions Francis finds to dispose of his villains is both satisfying and disappointing. Twists are clever, such as the thirty-second delay that saves Sid's life. Books deserve higher ratings when I'm hooked in spite of misgivings or nightmares afterward.

1996 Mystery Writers of America Grand Master for lifetime achievement