High Stakes [Import] [Paperback]

Dick Francis (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Fawcett Crest; 1St Edition edition (1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 033033459X
• ISBN-13: 978-0330334594
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.4 x 3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,333,981 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Great set of books, lots of fun to read!, August 25, 2008

By 

K. Sozaeva "Obsessive bibliophile" (Athens, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: High Stakes (Paperback)

I find the works of Dick Francis quite to my liking. They are fairly slow to build, with great character development and a lot of story involved, rather than a lot of shoot-`em-up, bang-bang. I have nothing against the high-adrenaline thriller, it is just nice now and again to read these slower-paced works and enjoy a nice story, and the complex webs that Francis weaves around his characters. Nothing is ever quite as it seems, and you better believe you will eventually end up with a surprise or two staring you in the face. This foursome of tales is sure to please!

High Stakes: Steven Scott is a wealthy inventor who has taken to horse racing as a hobby. He doesn't know much about horses, but he does know about finances, so when he discovers that his horse trainer has been stealing large amounts of money from him, he fires the trainer. Not one to take such things lying down, his trainer (Jody Leeds) sets out to keep Steven's best jumper - a nice black horse named Energise - through the simple expedient of simply driving away with him. He has also given instructions to the driver to not stop for anything - even if that thing is Steven in the path of the truck. First attempt thwarted, Jody refuses to relent and takes Energise anyway.

As Steven digs further into the scam that Jody was running on him, he discovers it was not just he who was being hurt by this; apparently many of the small betting firms who worked at the horse races were being run out of business. Refusing to relent, Steven inevitably finds himself on the firing line. Can he find a way to stop the scam without ending up dead himself?

Smokescreen: Francis, in the Introduction to this book, tells the reader that he had recently been to South Africa when the idea to write this book came to him. Furthermore, once he decided his main character was going to be a celebrity - an actor - he decided to gain background by visiting the British film studios at Pinewood to see how movies are made. Apparently his wife used to work behind the scenes in the movie business, so they have a number of friends who are actors, giving him a good, solid understanding of the acting business.

All this preparation and knowledge paid off in a particularly solid book, where you really feel like you are there while reading the story. Edward Lincoln is a well-known actor who has just finished filming a movie called "Man in a Car" (or something similar) where the basic story is that he has been handcuffed in a car and left to die. After this particularly draining experience, he is looking forward to some time with his family, but when his godmother, Nerissa, calls he immediately goes to see her. Startled by her appearance - she had always been very robust - he discovers she is very ill with lymphoma and is probably not going to last very much longer. She asks him to go to South Africa and look into her horses there as they have been performing badly in the races; she wants to leave them to her nephew, but she doesn't want him to end up with duds. Link is happy to comply.

However, once he arrives in South Africa, the attempts on his life almost immediately begin and he is soon drawn into a desperate struggle to both understand the problem with Nerissa's horses, and to protect himself from harm.

Beautifully detailed descriptions of the African vistas visited by Link bring us into the book fully - Francis seems to be particularly good at this sort of thing. I have definitely enjoyed reading books by this author and I believe I'll look into getting a few more.

Rat Race: The Dick Francis stories are slower moving than modern mystery/thrillers, and I rather enjoy that. It's not a constant shoot-'em-up action and as a result there's more time to get to know the characters. In this book, Matt Shore has been hired on to replace an air taxi pilot who is leaving the country. It's just his good luck to have for his first major taxi job several people who appear to be at one another's throats, a terribly moody jockey and - from a stop along the way - one of the most famous jockeys in England. Things just go from bad to worse when, on the flight back he notices a problem with steering the plane and puts down to check it out - only to have the plane explode. Soon Matt finds himself in the middle of a complex web of schemes and secrets - with people who aren't afraid to kill to keep the schemes secret.

An excellent read - highly recommended!

Bonecrack: Neil Griffon grew up in the world of horse racing - his father owning a racing stable and all - but he had left his father's domineering shadow and gone his own way as soon as he could, and made a success of himself. However, when his father is injured in a serious accident and finds himself in hospital, Neil is left with no choice but to take over running the stable - at least until he can find someone else to do it in the interim. His plans of turning the stable over to someone more qualified are quickly kibashed, however, when he is abducted and told that he will be getting a new apprentice, whom he WILL allow to ride the most valuable racehorse in the most important race. If these things are not done, the stable WILL be destroyed. Now Neil must stay and run the stable to make sure that Alessandro Rivera, the son of mobster Enso Rivera, is kept somewhat mollified while still keeping the stable functional and doing his best to make sure everything is kept ready for the upcoming racing season.

This was my first Dick Francis book, and while I wouldn't exactly call it pulse-pounding exciting, it is a decent little book. It is fairly slow moving at time, but I don't really mind that, because it provides us with good character development and that's always a plus. So, I would recommend this for those who are fans of Dick Francis, books about horse racing, thrillers, etc.