Date first published	26/09/2024
ISBN Number	9781 80418 328 1
Page Count	389 h/b
h/b= hardback : p/b= paperback

Storyline

Chester Newton is a successful racehourse syndicate organiser and his company Victrix Racing is having its best year yet.

When his prized horse, Potassium, wins the Epsom Derb, Chester is set to become the next big thing in British horse racing.

But one phone call changes everything.

Someone hiding behind a voice scrambler and an untraceable phone is demanding he fixes a race - and they're willing to go after Chester's family if he fails to comply.

Chester's business is the only thing in life that isn't falling apart. With his marriage on the rocks and his children growing increasingly distant, he is not willing to let someone destroy the success he's spent his life building.

The his daughter is kidnapped and, very suddenly, it's not just his livelihood that's on the line. Now Chester must discover just how far he will go to protect his family...

Review

The premise of the story is very good. The hero going about his daily business, enjoying his success etc, until something happens to cut short the joy. After all this is the basis for every single Dick/Felix Francis novel.

The structure of the novel is there, and the characters background filled out a bit more than usual. Chester seems to have it all, a wife, nice house and two grown up children. The only downsides, an unhappy marriage, and a disreputable boyfriend for his daughter.

Having read the book, I came away feeling slightly disappointed, but couldn't put my finger on it. All the elements are there, hero, facing a risk, the usual background to explain some of the racing jargon, and in this case a bit extra curricular sex, and not being fully co-operative with the police. Yet something was missing, and it took me quite a while to pin down what I think lets the story down.

What I think lets the novel down, is the sheer pasivity of the lead character. Chester takes a threatening phone, and tells the caller to go away, and thats it. He does very little in the way of trying to find out who/what is behind the sudden attack on his business, and this is how the bulk of the book carries on. It is only very late in the book, that a minor, almost throw away clue is given as to what is happening.

The final comes in a mad rush of two or three phone calls and all is revealed, and the big reveal is done in the classic who dunnit mould, with all the characters gathered in one room for the hero to explain what has been going on. Needless to say in this instance, an already fractured family is heading for oblivion. The fact that the meeting doesn't go quite as planned and ends in violence not seen in the rest of the book, tries I think to perk up a slightly weak ending.

Is the book bad? No, just a bit weak, partly I think because the lead character is so passive for much of the book. With slightly tighter editing, and perhaps a few more pointers to show the way it could have been much better. So I think a score of 3 is fully justified.

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