Date first published	02/09/2010
ISBN Number	978 0718 15663 3
Page Count	326 h/b
h/b= hardback : p/b= paperback

Storyline

Captain Thomas Forsyth's tour of Afghanistan is cut short when he's badly wounded by an Improvised Explosive Device, a roadside bomb. Tom's world is torn apart by the injury - the army is his life, his family. Six months of recuperation leave is a daunting prospect - but not as bleak as the probability of never rejoining his regiment.

Tom returns to Lambourn, to his childhood home, where his mother is a racecourse trainer and the 'First Lady' of racing. Never having seen eye to eye with his parents, Tom doesn't expect a hero's welcome - but even he's not prepared for the reception that awaits him.

When his mother's prize horse finishes a disappointing last place in a race he should have won, Tom discovers that the training business is on the edge, and facing a threat more dangerous than a run of bad form. Tom finds himself on a very different, but just as deadly battlefield, where his military skills are tested to their limits.

Review

I have to admit that I have read the book twice, having got the book in last Christmas. For one reason or another I just didn't get round to doing a review after the first read. So this review is based on a second read which doesn't normally happen for 1-2 years.

Since Dick's return from retirement, the books have been ok, and the first couple a bit off key. I thought that he was getting back into his stride with the last book, and having read this story, think he hit the ground running with this one.

Like the best of Dick's books with a have a hero - who in this case has some very professional skills, but like Sid Halley (one of his best creations) a man trying to work out what his life will be like, after life changing circumstances.

It's not immediately obvious, who Tom's enemy is, with quite a major red herring in the form of the crooked accountant, as it turns out that he is facing not one but two foes, one of whom will stop at nothing to protect his interests.

The book shows strong evidence of some serious research, into the injuries and capabilities of wounded and their treatment.

As always the characters are lightly sketched, but you get a good idea of the person beind the sketch, his mother sounds ghastly from the outset, and only becomes human after her kidnapping when she realises her son is her only hope. Yet it is these sort of people that keep the country running when veryone else is running around like headless chickens. His mother of course has to work hard for her fame, for she is one of the few women in what is still a male dominated sport.

Like many of his books, the central theme is greed, and this comes in the form of a crooked Hedge fund, which takes the money, but never invests in it, and then goes bankrupt leaving the invester with nothing. The blackmail is just another tale of greed, enabling the blackmailers to live the life of Riley, not caring about the damage that they cause. Yet the blackmail is a simple issue, hiding the malevolent forces behind the Hedge fund to come to the fore when Tom starts digging around.

I really think that this story was Francis back to form, fast paced narration, good characters, who grow on you as the story gets going. The only downer was Tom taking on the stables at the end. Left as a free agent, this could have made a good series. It could be of course that Francis did not want a series as it would perhaps be to much like the Sid Halley tales.

A really good novel, and a suitable epitaph to a great author who will be greatly missed. I look forwad to his sons first novel. As they say the King is dead, long live the King!

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