Customer Reviews

High Stakes

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As usual Dick Francis crafted a tight plot with plenty of character development. Story is about a young, wealthy, toy designer who discovers that his racehorse trainer is cheating him in a big way. The rest of the story involves recovery of the owners property and retribution to the theives. Francis at his best!

Dick Francis has got to be the best mystery writer to come along in a long time. I never tire of his books. I've read High Stakes and listened to it on cassette many times. High Stakes is an enjoyable read with suspense and even romance. As always, Francis writes about horses. Horses are the thread that hold his books together, but none of his books are the same. He always manages to put a different spin on things and he's never boring! I mean, the man's written about so many different professions I'm wondering what he's gonna write about next. He's got jockeys, toy makers (High Stakes), teachers, negotiators for kidnap victims, painters, politicians, detectives, government agents, pilots, truck drivers, survival guide writers. You name it, he's got it. His characters are always ordinary yet extraordinary in what they can accomplish when they set their minds to. They discover strength they didn't know they had--Sid Halley for instance in Come to Grief. I hesitate to say this, but I, as a woman, find it true that many of his characters have an underlying sexiness to them. Francis is not one of those authors who feel the need to use explicit language or sex scenes, but the sexiness is definitely there! I could go on all night about Francis' wonderful plots and characters, so I'll just satisfy myself with saying they are all great and you won't regret reading any of his books.

This vintage (1975) Dick Francis thriller/mystery centers on Steven Scott who supports his race horse owning hobby by inventing toys, very expensive and very popular toys. When he finally realizes that his trainer has been stealing from him - stealing for a long time and on a grand scale he announces that he will be changing trainers immediately his life begins to get complicated. First he discovers that he had been taken for even more money than he had thought, then is shocked when the now former trainer steals his horse and tries to run him over in the process. He then discovers that public opinion is firmly on the trainers side! The complications continue at a rapid pace, involve a romance and expand from England to Florida.

When you purchase a Dick Francis novel you get a known product. The heroes are all young men, attached in some way or another to the racing world, who get caught up in intrigue and romance. The other known quantity of a Francis novel is that they are well written, the plots are clever with the clues fairly laid out for the reader to follow, the characters become real and sympathetic and the reader is in for a few very enjoyable hours.

A horse owner fires his trainer and finds himself the villian.
It's hard to find a bad Dick Francis book and this is no exception. The story is fast-paced. The characters are interesting.

High Stakes is like all of Fancis' books. If you have read one, you pretty much know the plot of every other. But the way that Francis tells a story is classy and the stories just don't get old. As long as you give a little time between two of the authors books, and don't over dose on them like I have in the past, all of Francis' books except for those most recently published are enjoyable to the extreem.

High Stakes is a bit of a caper. Sort of a double switch when an inventor is taken for a ride by his trainer. As always the protagonist manages to fall in love and rallies in the cloak of the decent against the ravages of evil.

If you have not read a Francis before, I highly recommend him as an author. I remember putting him off for years thinking that they would be kind of hoaky, but they are not. Instead they are understated and quiet.

HIGH STAKES is another of Dick Francis's delft forays into unusual professions that support the love of horses and racing. Successful inventor Steven Scott enjoys the sport of kings until he discovers that he has been betrayed and removes his stable from his trainer Jody Leeds.
Jody thought he had a sucker to lead him into big time racing with a little gratuity on the side, but Jody gets even by casting Steven as the baddy who is out to ruin him.
A love story intertwines it way through the novel with love and sex presented as normal, a relief from sensationalism.
The climax to this novel is one of the most gruesome of all of Ms. Francis's stories, the ending satisfying.
Nash Black, author of SINS OF THE FATHERS and QUALIFYING LAPS.

A fine thriller, craftsmanly done, with Francis's usual amount of twists and a wealth of brief but strong characterisations. I realise this can be said about nearly all of his novels, but "High Stakes" stands out through the central character's unusual background -he's a toy-designer- and his astute perceptions of the racing world through the eyes of someone who's not part of it. Horses actually come under 'also ran...' on this occasion, in a novel focussed on human interaction, emotion and intrigue more than anything else.

Just discovering this author and am delighted to read anything he writes so far. This one is another great title I highly recommend.

Text reviewed is from Fawcett Crest/Ballantine - this edition from 1993; original copyright is 1975.

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?

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. A definite recommend from this reader!

Another gem from Dick Francis. Though it may be vintage, it was new to me and I enjoyed every bit of it! I listened to the audio production and was interested the whole time. Francis' clever use of language is as much a part of of the entertainment as the plot. Clever, quick, descriptive, concise-- never a dull moment.