Slightly different to the usual Francis novels, this one takes place over a number of years mainly due to the nature of horsebreeding. Tim Ekaterin is a merchant banker whose bank has lent Oliver Knowles money for the purchase of stud stallion, Sandcastle. Tim keeps a close eye on the bank's investment & when things start to go wrong he's right in the thick of it. There are some interesting relationships in this one & I think I'd have happily done without Tim's inappropriate desire for the wrong woman. I found what the nasty person was doing absolutely horrifying but believable, the depths to which humans can sink holds no bounds.

[This is actually a comment I just wrote to a five-star reviewer as to why I couldn't quite agree the book was "great" but noting that we had both strongly and similarly reacted to how Banker differed from other Francis writings.] Maybe if household duties hadn't broken up my reading of the last part of the book, and with more time to ponder than the half hour since I finished it, I'd have your same conclusion of greatness about this one. Instead I feel frustrated and dissatisfied. You certainly reacted to the same things I did—the widows created, the father's loss and a young life we cared about so unexpectedly cut short—and even more sadness, the off-camera rapes and murders, and the horrifying horse deformities and deaths. As I write this I'll admit this broadens, and deepens, Francis's writing and yes, that's really all to the good. But then the semi-typical ending doesn't satisfy; with the protagonist likely riding off into the sunset with his true love (and why not Pen? by that time, I liked her more), couldn't we at least know that the rapist-murderer had been caught? And with all the detail about banking (which I thoroughly enjoyed) and how other things worked and resolved, how about whether there might be a future claim from the victims of the first scam against the villain's estate for setting up the illness and then purchase of their champion horse? Too much still up in the air for me to have a tidy ending, and one I wasn't really on board for by then. But basically I agree with your review; I'd say it itself is pretty great and profound...

I did like the change to a protagonist who is not a jockey, but instead a merchant banker. The novel clicks along as do all of Dick Francis' novels and I always like learning about a world different than my own. The only problem is that the villian/murderer is obvious and it seems to take too long a time for the characters to figure this out.

Tim Ekaterin is an investment banker who takes what seems an acceptable risk using £5 million to stud a champion racing stallion. The investment looks shaky, however, when the resultant foals have birth defects. Something is not right and Tim is left to investigate what has happened. It’s always a good idea to turn to at least one or books you are sure you are going to like over the Holiday period and Dick Francis is a certain banker in that regard. A solid and entertaining read.