Rereading all of Dick Francis' novels in publication order. This is another winner. Interesting character, complex and engaging plot. As with most of Francis' novels, it doesn't ALL come out hunky dory in the end. Prices have to be paid.

Moje první kniha od tohoto spisovatele, a musím říct, že mě příjemně překvapila :). Detektivní příběh z dostihového prostředí, mě bavil, protože miluju koně a zajímám se o jezdectví. Určitě si přečtu další knihy od Dicka Francise.

4/5 <3

High Stakes begins with Steven, owner of 12 racehorses, abruptly pulling his horses from the training of his long time trainer. He has found that he has been cheating on the billing, and even worse, been defrauding Steven by collusion with a bookmaker. The scheme - let the horse win on medium and small bets but when Steven bets big, make sure the horse looses.

We find that Steven is an inventor of popular children's toys and it is interesting to read about how he makes them and the process he goes through in his mind when inventing them. The parallel is drawn between a specific toy and how one person can manipulate a group of others.

The challenge in the story is for Steven to be able to catch the trainer and bookmaker in their theivery without being sued for lible and to be able to clear his current bad reputation of a rich owner who has left his perfectly wonderful trainer over some mistakes in billing!

My Dick Francis reading binge continues. This time Steven Scott the owner of several racehorses finds out his trainer is swindling him. He fires him and then finds out the horses he bought have been switched. He then embarks on getting his horse Energise back. Along the way he meets Allie an American woman and goes to Miami in the States.

Jody the trainer is a nasty character along with his bookmaker partner. The switch and tension of the final scenes are exciting. Overall a great adventure with twists and turns.

I haven't read a Dick Francis book in years. I guess I thought of them as Enid Blyton books for grown-ups (with lashings of horse poop), but I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this book. A good old-fashioned horseracing mystery. No real surprises with the plot - but just a good captivating, easy-to-follow, and enjoyable mystery. I am definitely considering seeking out more Dick Francis books in the future. A pleasant re-discovery!

I thought the book dragged a bit at the beginning, but the last third was quite exciting & I couldn't put it down. I liked the main character & the rest were well done. The romantic thread was a nice touch, not over done. The rest was thrilling & pretty twisty, although it was obvious what was coming. Still, he managed to add yet another.

I was quite surprised by one bit of information I hadn't realized that tattoos weren't required on all racing horses in the US & UK for ages, certainly before this book was written by decades. I'll keep my faith that an ex-jockey like Francis knows more than I do, though.

I haven't read any of his books in a long time. It was nice to catch up with another.

I re-read this book while trying to find out how to get an overdrive media audiobook downloaded onto my Zune from a public library. Although I have read it twice before, Dick Francis never seems to pall. On the other hand, I know lots of people who think if you've read one Dick Francis, you've read them all. All I can say is, if it ain't busted, don't fix it. It helps that I love horses. There are always horses in every Dick Francis book, which immediately makes each book lovable.

As always, an idealistic underdog.
Lots of gyrations with three black horses and some severely vindictive men.
Hated that the bookie destroyed all Scott's toys and plans.
Scott gave Energize to his friends and as Dick Francis said, not fairy tale endings in horse racing.

Dick Francis is a solid if somewhat formulaic mystery/thriller/horse-themed writer. Very clever and always the underdog with friends winning against bad guys against the apparent odds. So too in this book--where a relatively non-horse experienced owner of horses takes on a cabal of crooked trainers/gambling shop owner and veterinarian, to frustrate their greedy exploitation of horse race gambling. Without going into all the details, Francis develops an intricate plot, comes up with a satisfying and sophisticated set of solutions full of double and triple turns, and has the hero win the girl.

As satisfying and fast paced as the book was, I was disappointed that the hero beds the girl without any apparent future commitment--seems very Sixties to me and the most dated and unsatisfactory part of the book. Other than that, I would say this is one of his better novels.

High Stakes Dick Francis now I know more about gambling on horses than I wanted too. The rush excitement of winning was described so well. Almost rushed out to a betting agency lucky I recovered my sanity. Back to the story you got naive new comer Steve, single woohoo, independently wealthy toy developer, is that such a thing, apparently it is...anyway he buys a stable of horses a staggering amount of money, listens and learns, the "TRADE" overtime he becomes involved with the excitement of gambling, horse training, trainers, horse management, jockey management, dealing with fellow horse owners on and on it goes but thats in the guts of the story, but bang at the start he fires his trainer absolutely unheard of among that type people in that type of world. Presto the backlash isn't straight away but intensifies as you learn just how corrupt and negative everything is, how Steve has been duped and it all leads to a tense moment of nearly getting murdered by an evil gang that are involved behind the shadows to shutdown, to hide this world of trickery and skull duggery, but I can't figure how on earth was Steve so tough well tougher than he portrays, and slippery and sliding everywhich way, and even getting a girlfriend along the way...while dealing with a gang and in the end winning, heck nearly fell of my imaginary horse with Steve but he wins in the end, yay.....

I have read several of Francis' work, but certainly not in order. I enjoy them, but this one was different, it was more absorbing.

It is from the viewpoint of the (within the story) presumed 'bad guy', who really isn't. As a movie, it would be a thriller, maybe, but is actually a caper.... and it's beautiful.

Owner discovers fraud by trainer.... calls him on it, but of course, since he's the rich guy, it's all his fault. What ensues shows a much deeper, more widespread fraud..... and how do you beat a fraud - you outgame him. Let the games begin!

Dick Francis’s fourteenth thriller, published in 1976. With Francis, like John Buchan and Ian Fleming, the writing style is so bracing that premise and plot matter less, but here the bad blood toward narrator-hero Steven Scott (also horse owner) from the horse trainer he has dismissed is a fearful thing. The first sentence provides the conflict: “I looked at my friend and saw a man who had robbed me.”