Customer Reviews

Bolt

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

With its companion volume, Break In, Bolt is one of Dick Francis' best! Kit Fielding, a hero with depth, who has recently become engaged to Danielle, is struggling to understand why her feelings for him seem to have cooled. At the same time, the Princess' horses are being killed, apparently by a bombastic and violent Frenchman who wants to take control of a business still half-owned by the Princess' husband. How Kit thwarts the evidoer, as well as the apricot-haired and very funny Beatrice, while re-winning his love and riding his races, is an involving and well-plotted story. I love Dick Francis' work anyway, but this book starts with a bang and doesn't slow down, unlike some others which are a bit slow to get going. Definitely read Bolt, but read Break In first. Wonderful!

I have to say that out of all of the Dick Francis books that I've read this one really made an impact on me. I enjoyed the plot so much in Break In, which featured Kit Fielding, that I immediately picked up a copy of this book which once again had him as the main character.

Kit Fielding is a steeplechase jockey, who's a little too tall and a little too old to continue racing, but he has his own agenda. Kit's friend, Princess Cassilia, has always been there for him and she's very much involved with the racing world as an owner of a very large horse farm. When she's threatened and her racehorses begin turning up dead, Kit takes it on himself to investigate, even with her personal life in turmoil. As he investigates, it seems as if everyone in the wealthy class of racing is a suspect and this puts Kit in danger himself.

Stretching the boundaries of his writing style, Francis has written a great "who dun it" and created a variety of possible villains along the way. There is the unknown enemy who is determined to ruin Kit's family, a rival in the romantic arena, a weapons dealer who is the King of the underworld black market, and then the horse murderer who uses a bolt to kill horses.

For those who have little knowledge of horses, a bolt is a weapon that is similar to a gun, but instead of a bullet being fired, it shoots a heavy metal slide (bolt) against the horse's head which immediately kills it. I'm told that this is a humane way to put down horses and usually administered by a veterinarian in extreme cases. Just the thought of such a weapon left chills up and down my spine, and leave it to Francis to use such a weapon in one of his books.

Bolt left me feeling uneasy about the method in which these horses were destroyed, but I guess murder of any kind should never be viewed with complacency! The character of Kit Fielding is one with which many can easily identify and the action is non-stop until the last page. There are even a few twists and turns along the way, just so you don't get over confident that you have figured out the murderer's true identity.

Bolt is definitely not for the faint of heart, but an excellent mystery with lots of adventure and wonderful descriptions of the English countryside.

I really did enjoy it - and I own all of Francis's books. They're like old friends to me - I visit all of them about every 5th year. The only disappointment I've ever had with Dick Francis is Shattered - his last novel. It seemed hurried and the characters not as well developed in comparison to his others.

In Bolt, Dick Francis continues the misadventures of Kit Fielding, jockey and all-round good guy. Francis' heroes are nearly always good and honest and brave, but never boring. They're the sort of men women would love to love and men should want to be like.

This time, however, Kit seems on the verge of losing, Danielle, his fiance and the love of his life. As he wrestles with these feelings, he is struck with the murder of the Princess' horses, first one, then two, then one more. Henri Nonterre is out to make the Princess and her husband turn to gun manufacturing, but Kit will do anything in his power to keep that from happening, as long as the family chooses to resist.

Meantime, Kit's old enemy, Maynard Allerdeck, looms in the background with renewed malice. What can possibly have increased his hatred for this particular Fielding? Fully occupied in helping the Princess and her family (which includes Danielle)avoid Nonterre's machinations, Kit merely tries to avoid any adverse contact with Maynard. But that may not be possible.

In typically honest, straight forward fashion, Kit strives to protect his employers and friends, and the horses he loves so much. In the meantime, he waits for Danielle to make up her mind about whether she wants to spend the rest of her life with him. A first rate story and most pleasant narrator.

This book was so good I can't even think of words to describe it. The characters were so well developed and the plot was full of intrigue and surprise! It is one of the best! Once you start reading this book, you won't be able to put it down. Some books have a couple spots in them where nothing happens and it is so boring you just want to stop reading it, but this book just has one big thing after another! I would suggest reading this book to anyone who hasn't read it yet! It is so good!

This was a really good book! It has it all- horses, romance, action, murder, mystery, and a suprising twist at the end that you would never expect!!!!!!

As all of his stories this one has its ties to the racing world. Former jockey turned detective investigates a series of pony maimings that turns into a series of misadventures that lead to a person you would have never guessed. The media is the media and things go from bad to worse. It all comes out in the end which is one of the reasons Dick Francis is one of my favorites.

I am always pleased after I finish a Dick Francis novel. Kit Fielding is the leading man Francis loves to give us. He's charming, unflappable, and a little out of place in his profession, yet isn't invincible, and isn't the luckiest in love. We have three storylines here that are woven together expertly and in unexpected ways. Kit is asked by his friend that he rides for, Princess Casilia, to help them fend off an over-exuberant business partner who says he'll do anything to get what he wants. As if that weren't enough, a racing rival is out to get him, and he's pretty sure his fiancé is going to leave him for the Princess's nephew. Just when we are sure the story is going one way, everything takes a left turn. This is an author that will always be on my to-read list.

This sequel to BREAK IN has steeplechase jockey Kit Fielding, the princess, the pretty girl, the twin, and the baddies but it's darker. Still a great read, I never would have guessed who done it.

Bolt is the sequel to Break In, and they should be read in order for greatest enjoyment.

Both these books contain amazing descriptions of races. Dick Francis portrays so beautifully the ability of Kit Fielding, an inspired jump jockey, to tune into the moods and idiosyncrasies of his mount - and the challenges of the course.

Riding to win at breakneck speed, Kit throws caution to the winds, thinking joyfully to himself, "This is living."

Kit's patron, the elegant Princess Casilia, stands in need of Kit's drive to win. Her husband Roland de Brescon is in partnership with the Nanterre family, and their venerable old company in France has a high reputation for integrity. When Louis Nanterre dies, their new partner is Henri Nanterre, who turns out to be an unscrupulous money-grubber. He wants to manufacture plastic guns.

Roland de Brescon refuses to give his consent to an expansion into gun manufacture. Plastic guns, favored by terrorists, are especially abhorrent. To force his partner's consent, Nanterre begins to wage a terrorist campaign of his own. He will not hesitate to maim or kill to achieve his ends. The princess and her family turn for help to Kit, who has demonstrated his ability to out-maneuver thugs.

In the course of the story some of the Princess's horses are killed with a bolt gun (thus the title of the book). Kit is kept pretty busy trying to protect both people and horses, while competing in multiple races and struggling to win back his fiancée's wavering affections.

I recommend this book for its lively plot, perfect dialog, admirable protagonist, out-of-control villains - and the life lessons just below the surface.