Dead Weight: A Thriller [Hardcover]

John Francome (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 2005

After a crashing fall, champion rider Phil Nicholas returns to racing, but though his body has healed, his mind has not. Flashbacks of his accident invade his dreams, rob him of his sleep - and freeze him in the saddle. While Phil is battling to overcome his fear, his weighing-room colleague Adrian Moore is viciously attacked after losing a race he should have won. It's the start of a vendetta by someone determined to hurt those who break the rules of racing. If Phil wants to save the sport - and the woman he loves - it's time for him to recover his nerve...

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Don't be deterred by flashbacks and abrupt scene shifts in British jockey-cum-journalist Francome's tale of the perilous world of steeplechase racing (after 2004's Inside Track), because the rapid pace creates a powerful, multifaceted thriller. "Jump jockey" Phil Nicholas, mostly recovered from a serious injury, believes he's "back on the victory trail," until his brother's death and marital problems lead him to seek solace from seductive therapist Simone Brown. Phil's suspicious wife, Julia, finds comfort in her devotion to racing steeds, whom she talks to while grooming them. Looming in the background is punter Keith Jeffries, driven since childhood by "the Beast" of implacable anger, and determined to stop the "cheating and lying to the betting public" after suffering substantial losses at the track. Keith's ever more sadistic rampages, beginning with a crossbow attack on a losing jockey, up the ante. Once again, Francome provides an exciting insider's view of this fascinating sport.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

This is the twelfth racing thriller from former British hurdle and steeplechase rider Francome, and it may be his best. In it, Francome has mastered the technique of weaving several stories together in an ever-tightening web, gradually building suspense for an inevitable but nonetheless harrowing showdown between the character we care about the most and the one we fear. The former is last season's champion jockey, Phil Nicholas, who is struggling to regain his form while trying to cope with the psychological effects from his first really serious spill. The latter is Keith Jeffries, a hulking psychopath who comes to believe that devious insiders are responsible for his lost bets and sets about to punish the cheats in progressively more gruesome ways. It's only a matter of time before Nicholas draws the monster's ire, and if the jockey is to survive, he will have to find reserves of resourcefulness and courage far beyond what is required on any racecourse. Francome will have readers turning the pages at breakneck speed. Dennis Dodge
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (September 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312329814
• ISBN-13: 978-0312329815
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,490,121 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Squeezes every drop of tension out of its plot, January 25, 2006

By 

Henry W. Wagner (Rockaway, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dead Weight: A Thriller (Hardcover)

Dead Weight examines the exotic world of horse racing from two basic perspectives, those of the rider and the fan.

The rider is Phil Nicholas, returning to racing mere months after a fall almost ended his career. To the casual observer, Phil exudes confidence. Despite his brave façade, however, Phil can't get the accident out of his head. Although few can sense the doubts inhibiting his performance, Phil realizes that he must purge himself of fear to continue racing.

The fan is Keith Jeffries. Abused as a child, Keith has grown into a dangerous young man who struggles with his darker side. Unfortunately for all concerned, that dark side, which Keith calls, "The Beast", has now emerged, intent on wreaking havoc to those in the racing world it perceives as having done him wrong. As his anger increases, so does the intensity of his attacks.

The buildup to a fateful meeting between the two forms the backbone of this fine book, as Francome provides his audience with telling insights into both his characters and the life of the stables and the track. Assembling a wide and varied cast from the world of horse racing, Francome provides telling glimpses into their personalities and pysches; readers will enjoy watching the cast being pushed to the limits of their mental and physical endurance as they struggle to cope with a world suddenly thrown out of kilter. Expertly paced to squeeze every drop of tension from its plot, Dead Weight's action and pathos make it a clear favorite.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fine INSIDE TRACK thriller, September 28, 2005

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dead Weight: A Thriller (Hardcover)

Three years ago, the brother of champion steeplechase jockey Phil Nicholas died in a show-jumping accident. That shook Phil, but he continued to perform as a top competitor until a few months ago when his steed May Queen leaped early; the horse walked way, but Phil suffered severe injuries to nerves in his back and three fractures on his left arm. Worse he still relives the nightmarish spill and as he is about to ride May Queen again now that he is physically healed, he wonders if he lost his nerve as mentally he still hurts. His fear costs him the victory as he hesitates just enough and worries if he does not find his courage will he lose his beloved wife Julie who treasures the sport as much as he once did.

Phil begins seeing a psychiatrist who "Jules" thinks is his lover until he explains his post traumatic stress syndrome problem. Suddenly Phil's racing troubles seem shallow when someone terrorizes the participants claiming wide spread cheating by jockeys and trainers. This villain starts off with assaulting people, but soon turns to kidnapping and murder. When Julia becomes a victim, a frightened outraged Phil knows he must find his courage to save the woman he loves.

Phil and his Jules make the tale as he struggles with his seemingly lost courage by seeing a psychiatrist while on the other hand the culprit comes out of the villain handbook as a stereotyped psycho. Still the steeplechase descriptions are clears wins that Dick Francis would appreciate and Phil's efforts to save Jules is fun to follow as John Francome provides anther INSIDE TRACK thriller.

Harriet Klausner