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sophiecrook's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
b00kdragon's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
theogb451's review against another edition
2.5
Not great, not terrible (barring a few 'interesting' bits). Published in '97 it seems the upcoming general election and host of by-elections in the preceding years made Dick and Mary decide to write a political thriller, but the result is excessively simplistic and really loses pace in much of the second half. There are also a number of run-on sentences that didn't help at times and made me wonder if they were struggling keep up the yearly output (the next year was a short story collection including a number of previously published pieces). I don't believe I ever read this one before because at that point in my life (university) I had read so many of his that I didn't really bother with the new ones much.
The main story is of our protagonist's youthful father getting picked by the party to run in a marginal by-election. He is the perfect politician and while this is in-line with the classic Francis setup, that our hero and his familial allies are good people, which is part of the draw of these books, when you merge it with the harsh realities of politics it becomes hard to really keep disbelief suspended. When we add into the antagonist a sort of strawman tabloid journo and a 'behind the scenes' puppet master with nothing at all to explain him or what he's about, it all lacks any real edge of excitement.
While it stays away from huge levels of weird sexism and the like, there's still time for the writing to be wildly out of touch: A boy is referenced as having 'left to join a rap group and grew a beard and got AIDS'. Like, what?! Then there's Hudson Hurst, a high up politician who apparently sported a pony tail and goatee (described as 'one of those silly little moustache and beard combinations that frame a man's mouth and distract you from what he's saying'), which is definitely something that's not happening in UK political circles even now. It's not even like this guy is put up as part of some hippie party, in fact it seems more likely he's in the Tories, based on the other cues we get.
Alongside those howlers is the usual hobby horses of explaining why someone should want to do a sport like horse racing and how great it is generally, as well as sticking the knife into tabloid journalism. The latter leads to an analogy of tabloid journalism being caused by demand that lands so oddly I'll reproduce it here:
<blockquote>
I said, ‘Drug dealers would be out of business if people didn’t want drugs.’
‘What?’
‘The so-called war on drugs is fought against the wrong people. Lock up the users. Lock up the demand. Lock up human nature.’
</blockquote>
The 'war on drugs' is actually fought against users primarily but I can only read this as Francis believing it's fighting supply and, moreover, advocating for all drug users to be flung in jail so drug dealers weep about their lack of customers. Truly a wild piece of philosophy!
The main story is of our protagonist's youthful father getting picked by the party to run in a marginal by-election. He is the perfect politician and while this is in-line with the classic Francis setup, that our hero and his familial allies are good people, which is part of the draw of these books, when you merge it with the harsh realities of politics it becomes hard to really keep disbelief suspended. When we add into the antagonist a sort of strawman tabloid journo and a 'behind the scenes' puppet master with nothing at all to explain him or what he's about, it all lacks any real edge of excitement.
While it stays away from huge levels of weird sexism and the like, there's still time for the writing to be wildly out of touch: A boy is referenced as having 'left to join a rap group and grew a beard and got AIDS'. Like, what?! Then there's Hudson Hurst, a high up politician who apparently sported a pony tail and goatee (described as 'one of those silly little moustache and beard combinations that frame a man's mouth and distract you from what he's saying'), which is definitely something that's not happening in UK political circles even now. It's not even like this guy is put up as part of some hippie party, in fact it seems more likely he's in the Tories, based on the other cues we get.
Alongside those howlers is the usual hobby horses of explaining why someone should want to do a sport like horse racing and how great it is generally, as well as sticking the knife into tabloid journalism. The latter leads to an analogy of tabloid journalism being caused by demand that lands so oddly I'll reproduce it here:
<blockquote>
I said, ‘Drug dealers would be out of business if people didn’t want drugs.’
‘What?’
‘The so-called war on drugs is fought against the wrong people. Lock up the users. Lock up the demand. Lock up human nature.’
</blockquote>
The 'war on drugs' is actually fought against users primarily but I can only read this as Francis believing it's fighting supply and, moreover, advocating for all drug users to be flung in jail so drug dealers weep about their lack of customers. Truly a wild piece of philosophy!
breeanglin's review against another edition
Not what I expected, it was my own fault. More politics than mystery.
400mom's review against another edition
4.0
I have read almost all of Dick Francis’ books and this one was a little different. You still learn something about horse racing and another occupation but the focus in this story was more about Ben and his relationship with his father. Not as suspenseful as some of the other books but still satisfying. I listened to the audiobook read by Simon Preble and think the British accent and pronunciations added to my enjoyment.
deano_13's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
rwarner's review against another edition
3.0
I liked it well enough, though it seemed far-fetched in several places and isn't as gripping as some of his other works. Still, I didn't put it down until I was done, and it kept me guessing most of the way. Solid read.
latas's review against another edition
5.0
Not so much about horses, but it was an enjoyable read. In this book too, we have a very loveable hero. Ben seemed very mature for his age. Though it was repeatedly mentioned that Ben was only 18 years old, the way he behaved, i kept picturing him as at least 30 years old and his father as a 60 + yr old ! George Julliard came across a very selfish person. But Ben was a son any parent would be proud of.
There were interesting details about British politics, horse insurance, some lessons in physics ...
There were interesting details about British politics, horse insurance, some lessons in physics ...
kristenjane's review against another edition
2.0
Uh, okay. So, not to be too harsh, but there was little plot and character development, very little action, and, honestly, it was pretty boring.