3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
non vrai, July 30, 2007
We've all seen designer knock-offs, those bits and pieces spread out on blankets on NYC sidewalks, around Paris Metro stops, in the entrances to Covent Garden alleyways, on Florentine bridges. The initials in Calvin Klein are a bit off, there's an extra n in Chanel or the stitching is wrong, the fabric flimsy.
OK. This novel. Well, the stitching is wrong and the fabric is dreck. This is my first Francome novel. It will also be my last.
Wandering the mystery sections in bookstores, I've always thought it was a bit fishy that another horse series comes so close in the alphabet to Dick Francis. Well, having read all of Francis and one of Francome, I must hand it to the latter - he knows how to make hay of a coincidence and a two-word title. If Francis's books were paintings, this would be like looking at a Xeroxed copy. The shapes are the same, but the detail is gone and the colors are off.
But that's not the worst thing. The estate of the late Josephine Tey has grounds for protest here, as Francome produces a clumsy re-make of the timeless favorite, Brat Farrar. This isn't just A missing heir story; it's THAT missing heir story, right down to climbing down sinkholes after the evidence and Westover changed merely to Westport. Even the sleazy almost-family-member coach is virtually identical.
If this were an attempt at a Tey tribute, it would be merely sad. As it stands, however, it's guaranteed a spot on the Ponte Vecchio.
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