Review: CRISIS, Felix Francis

• this edition (large print) published by Gale 2018
• ISBN 978-1-4328-5521-5
• 517 pages
• source: my local library

Synopsis (Amazon)

Harrison Foster is a lawyer by training but works as a crisis manager for a London firm that specializes in such matters. Summoned to Newmarket after a fire in the Chadwick Stables slaughters six very valuable horses, including the short-priced favourite for the Derby, Harry (as he is known) finds there is far more to the ‘simple’ fire than initially meets the eye. For a start, human remains are found amongst the equestrian ones in the burnt-out shell. All the stable staff are accounted for, so who is the mystery victim?

Harry knows very little about horses, indeed he positively dislikes them, but he is thrust unwillingly into the world of Thoroughbred racing where the standard of care of the equine stars is far higher than that of the humans who attend to them.

The Chadwick family are a dysfunctional racing dynasty, with the emphasis being on the nasty. Resentment between the generations is rife and sibling rivalry bubbles away like volcanic magma beneath a thin crust of respectability.

Harry represents the Middle-Eastern owner of the Derby favourite and, as he delves deeper into the unanswered questions surrounding the horse’s demise, he ignites a fuse that blows the volcano sky-high, putting him in grave jeopardy. Can Harry solve the riddle before he is overcome by the toxic emissions from the eruption and is bumped off by the fallout?

My Take

This novel operates as a stand-alone, introducing a new investigator.

It enters the racing industry from a new perspective with a very likeable central character. In part the novel is a romance, which increases the audience sympathy for Harrison Foster.

The source of this crisis comes from the past, biting back at Oliver Chadwick, head of a very dysfunctional family, and there is not one of the family who is not really responsible for something.

There is some good detail in the background given for the thoroughbred racing industry based at Newmarket.

Very readable and up to Felix Francis' usual standard.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read
Francis, Dick & Felix
DEAD HEAT
SILKS
4.5, TO THE HILT
4.5, REFUSAL
4.5, DAMAGE, Felix Francis
4.4, FRONT RUNNER, Felix Francis  

Review: FRONT RUNNER, Felix Francis

• this edition published by Penguin Group Australia 2015
• ISBN 978-0-7181-7885-7
• 428 pages

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

Things are hotting up in this latest thriller from best-selling author Felix Francis, in his fifth solo novel Front Runner.

Jefferson Hinkley is back. In his role as an undercover investigator for the British Horseracing Authority, Jeff is approached by the multi-time champion jockey, Dave Swinton, to discuss the delicate matter of losing races on purpose. Little does Jeff realise that the call would result in an attempt on his life, locked in a sauna with the temperature well above boiling point.

Dave Swinton is then found dead, burnt beyond recognition in his car at a deserted beauty spot. The police think it's a suicide but Jeff is not so sure. He starts to investigate the possible races that Swinton could have intentionally lost but discovers instead that others are out to prevent him from doing so, at any cost.

My Take

I think it is high time that we admitted that Felix Francis isn't just his father's son, that he writes a cracking good novel all on his own. Publishers could take " A Dick Francis novel" byline off the cover.

Jeff Hinkley first appeared in DAMAGE  His work with the BHA involves hunting down gradt and corruption in the British Horseracing industry. The BHA gets a phone call tip that someone is putting on bets for a banned person and in checking this out Hinkley works out that the scheme also involves jockeys deliberately losing races. In the course of a day he is invited to a private room at the race course where he sees two men having an argument. He does not realise the significance of his observation at the time, but takes a photo of them on his phone.  This will eventually have serious consequences.

The characters in this story are well drawn and the plot quite believable, with the action fairly racing along. Certainly if you enjoyed the novels written by Dick Francis you will enjoy this one.

My rating: 4.4

I've also read
4.5, REFUSAL
4.5, DAMAGE

Also by Felix Francis
1. Gamble (2011)
2. Bloodline (2012)
3. Refusal (2013)
4. Damage (2014)
5. Front Runner (2015)
6. Triple Crown (2016)

Review: DAMAGE, Felix Francis

• first published Penguin Books 2014
• ISBN 978-0-7181-7883-3
• 437 pages
• source: My TBR pile

Synopsis (Penguin Australia)

Jeff Hinkley, undercover investigator for the British Horseracing Authority, is looking into the shady activities of a racehorse trainer. But as he's tailing his quarry through the Cheltenham Racing Festival, the last thing he expects to witness is a gruesome murder. Could it have something to do with the reason the trainer was banned in the first place - the administration of illegal drugs to his horses?

Days later, it's discovered that many more horses test positive for prohibited stimulants, a scandal that could throw horse-racing into disrepute. It's no surprise when the BHA receives a demand - pay up or face the consequences. In order to limit the damage to the sport, it's critical that Jeff find the perpetrator . . . but he'll soon learn he's up against someone who will stop at nothing to prevail. Jeff's mental and physical well-being is tested to the very limit, even his life is put on the line.

My Take

I was a long time reader of Dick Francis' thrillers, and don't mind saying that, even though I knew he was a collaborator in his father's final books, that I did not really believe that his son Felix would amount to much. But DAMAGE proves that Felix Francis has made it on his own.

This novel continues in the tradition of tight thriller, with a believable plot, and clues for the reader to work on.  Management of the British racing industry by an independent authority comes under threat as the BHA discovers that at one particular carnival 66 out of 69 horses have tested positive to a banned substance. Blackmail demands for five million pounds arrive with an injunction that the police are to be kept in the dark.

Tightly plotted, believable, and well written.

My rating: 4.5


I've also read
Francis, Dick & Felix
DEAD HEAT
SILKS
4.5, TO THE HILT
4.5, REFUSAL 
 

Review: REFUSAL, Felix Francis

• published by Michael Joseph 2013
  
• ISBN 978-0-7181-5937-5
• 419 pages
• library book

Synopsis (Amazon)

Sir Richard Stewart, chairman of the horse racing authority, wants Sid Halley to look into some suspicious race results, but Sid gave up the investigating business six years ago and he thought nothing could make him go back.

He thought wrong.

The following day, Sir Richard is found dead and Sid receives a threatening call from a man with an Irish accent. The man insists that Sid Halley should investigate the alleged race-fixing and it is only when his six-year-old daughter goes missing that Sid realises that he may pay the ultimate price for his refusal. With his life in tatters and his family in mortal danger, Sid is forced to act.

Maybe he has underestimated the evilness of his foe, but has his foe underestimated the guile and determination of Sid Halley? Extreme situations demand extreme solutions and Sid is desperate to get his life back, or die trying...

My Take

I've always enjoyed the racing novels by Dick Francis, and now we have his son Felix carrying on the name.  For me this novel hits the spot.

Perhaps it is that tomorrow is Melbourne Cup Day here in Australia, said to be "the race that stops the nation". Anyway a well written novel about race fixing combined with murder mystery will always get me in. And Sid Halley's return is seamless. I am very willing to believe he is the same Sid Halley that Dick Francis wrote about all those years ago. Sid Halley was the jockey/sleuth who featured in Dick Francis' first novel in 1965: ODDS AGAINST.

The author Dick Francis died in 2010 and before then his son Felix appeared on the dust covers of a number of novels as co-author. The titles on a number make you think that the original idea was the father's while the actual writing is the son's. I'm usually a bit scathing about what I call coat-tail connections, newer authors who are trying to build their writing careers through connection with a famous person, but in this case it doesn't worry me at all. The writing is good enough. REFUSAL is the 7th novel to bear Felix's name. (I have already read two: DEAD HEAT and  SILKS)

REFUSAL is a bit longer than Dick's novels used to be, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is really a cozy on horseback although there is a little bit of violence as Sid Halley gets beaten up. There are other themes that I'm sure will connect to future novels featuring Sid.

My rating: 4.5

Review: SILKS, Dick Francis & Felix Francis

Penguin, 2008, ISBN 978-0-718-15457-8, 368 pages

When defence barrister Geoffrey Mason's client, a really nasty spoilt brat called Julian Trent, gets convicted on 8 counts of assault and bodily harm that Geoffrey knows he is guilty of, he is not disappointed with the result. Julian Trent gets 8 years, but within months the conviction is overturned in the appeal court. Significantly the jury spokesman has reported a miscarriage of justice, that he was threatened by the prosecuting lawyer.

Geoffrey is also an amateur jumps jockey, riding half a ton of horse over five foot fences at 30 miles an hour. Geoffrey and his horse have just become a force to be reckoned with, a successful amateur team. Geoffrey witnesses an altercation between two professional jockeys, and then Scot Barlow is dead and Steve Mitchell is accused of the murder.

Geoffrey does not want to take the case on but finds himself the barrister defending Steve Mitchell. And now a voice on the phone, whom he thinks is Julian Trent, wants him to make sure that his client is found guilty, or else.

This story is interesting on two levels: first of all it is the second novel where Felix Francis has joined his more famous father, Dick. Secondly, much of the action is set in the future, and all of it would have been in the future when the novel was at the publishers waiting to see the light.

SILKS has the appeal that all Dick Francis novels have always had for me. It flows easily with plenty of action and tension. There's a touch of human interest with the developing relationship between Geoffrey and the vet Eleanor. People have been threatened, others have disappeared, one has committed suicide, and its all wrapped around the racing world. This is the stuff that Dick Francis has always been good at and it makes SILKS worth looking for.

My rating: 4.6

Check all the Dick Francis titles at Fantastic Fiction.