Date first published	1985
ISBN Number	0330 29380 X
Page Count	272 p/b
h/b= hardback : p/b= paperback

Storyline

Family ties mean trouble, chains and fatal obligations. When champion steeplechase jockey Kit Fielding comes to the aid of his twin sister and her husband, Bobby Allardeck, even death threatens.

A vicious newspaper campaign jeopardises Bobby's career as a racehorse trainer. Putting behind him the age-old Allardeck-Fielding feud, Kit tries to find out who is behind it all. Combining his investigations with riding winners for the Princess - whose beautiful niece becomes more than a friend - he makes some startling discoveries.

Caught up in the intrigue are powerful people who think a jockey should mind his own business and are prepared to use violence to make sure he does...

Review

I would say that this story is a pure classical Dick Francis. Family member in trouble, sibling/older brother comes to help and becomes embroiled in a full scale war. As the story progresses it becomes clear that Bobby is not the target of the attack, but a casualty of a more bitter battle, involving legally questionable take over tactics. I won't say more as it would spoil the story.

The story is set in a world where mobile phones don't exist, and there is no internet, so communication is via the local newspapers (now nearly extinct in the UK), and the rumour mill.

The story is about power, and the lengths that some will go to, to get power, and get more power, to lord it over other people. In some ways the story dates a bit as social attitudes have changed, and the world has become more cynical, but it does cover an era which was perhaps simpler, and you knew where you stood.

The Fielding- Allardeck feud, is an interesting additional complication, do families now engage in such blood feuds? Whilst a truce of sorts is reached, it's obvious that it is not a permanent solution, and that it might just fall apart at some point.

The story takes place in several parts of the country, but you hardly notice it, which is in comparison to the Bell novels from Clive Cussler, where all the dashing around becomes almost too much. Perhaps it's because there is a sound reason for the travel and not in there just to fill the pages.

Like many Francis stories, there is the hero who is prepared to stand up to the bully, and in the end win out, although I have to say that in this story it is a close run thing. The characters are all pen pics, and it's left to your imagination to picture what they look like. As with all the books the story is set around the racetrack, and it's interesting to see how the horses which Kit rides have better descriptions than the human counterparts.

I often wonder why I enjoy Francis novels, as I have no interest in racing even with the Cheltenham race track only a few miles away, the thought of spending a day watching horses race around a track leaves me cold. So the setting is not that important, it is the story that shines through. The racing world is just a different setting for the stories, and does make a change from the doctors, police, spy settings most often chosen.

A real first class novel, a straight linear story with a few read herrings to keep you on your toes! Go read it!

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