Riders Down [Paperback]

John McEvoy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 2008

No one really notices that a fix may be in until Matt O'Connor, a Chicago-based columnist for a national racing newspaper, gets a call from Moe Kellman, a horse-owning acquaintance. Kellmans question for Matt: Was the death of ninety-two-year-old Bernard Glockner, Chicago's oldest active bookmaker, suicide or murder? Glockner was Kellman's late uncle and Kellman, a man not unfamiliar with the Chicago mob, wants Matt to check it out.Matt quickly comes to believe that the fate of the bookie is tied to a series of races whose outcomes have been manipulated. His quest is aided by horse trainer Maggie Collins and Dave Zimmer, a professional gambler known as The Fount for his reputation as an encyclopedic source of information. Eventually, going as far afield as Las Vegas and Madison, Wisconsin, they fix their sights on a brilliant sociopath. But why would this psycho have plotted a race-fixing scheme? Spiced with the kind of lively language that marked Blind Switch, the author's debut novel (2004), Riders Down offers striking insights into the world of horse racing and the possibilities of its corruption.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The death of 98-year-old Chicago bookie Bernie Glockner is ruled a suicide at the start of McEvoy's fine second horse-racing mystery (after 2004's Blind Switch), but Glockner's nephew, mob-connected Moe Kellman, knows better and asks racing columnist Matt O'Connor to sniff around a bit. Glockner's demise proves merely the first of many as a brilliant, eccentric and ruthless villain embarks on a twisted path to claiming a fortune. Horse racing has always attracted a wide range of colorful characters, and McEvoy portrays them all with an obvious affection and a sharp eye, from jockeys, trainers and touts to fans, newsmen and suckers. O'Connor has few illusions about the sport, but even he is unprepared for the kind of peril unleashed by his probing a race-fixing scam. Unlike Jack Doyle, the reluctant sleuth in Blind Switch, O'Connor is a natural with all the makings of a series hero. He combines charm, racing expertise and a willingness to go the distance that will carry the reader all the way to the finish line. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* McEvoy has created a winning protagonist in Chicago turf writer Matt O'Connor, who has an abundance of friends in mostly low places and his finger firmly on the pulse of the national horse-racing scene. He has created an even better villain in Claude "the professor" Bledsoe, whose cushy life as a perpetual student will come to an abrupt end unless he can produce $1 million before his trust fund expires in a few months' time. No $1 million, and it's straight to the job market at the age of 50, sans resume, but if he can come up with that much money, he'll inherit Grandma Bledsoe's fortune and be set for life. Bledsoe, a brilliant if monstrously egomaniacal psychopath, hatches an ingenious plot to amass the needed dough by betting on fixed races. The scent of something rotten at the track attracts O'Connor, however, and soon the writer and his girlfriend, trainer Maggie Collins, are scheduled to share the fate of nine other racetrackers who have been sacrificed for the greater good of Bledsoe's financial security. McEvoy, who was himself a correspondent for the Daily Racing Form for many years, is dead-on in his descriptions and accounts of Thoroughbred racing. He also gives us characters we can care about and suspense enough to make the blood race like a stakes-winning sprinter. That's all we ask of a racetrack thriller, and McEvoy delivers. Dennis Dodge
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 254 pages
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press (March 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159058497X
• ISBN-13: 978-1590584972
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 7.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,504,566 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

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Thriller, May 5, 2006

By 

Rachel Klein (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Riders Down (Hardcover)

In John McEvoy's second novel, also set in the idiosyncratic world of horse racing, you know whodunit and it's still a thriller. The villain, Claude Bledsoe, has to come up with a million dollars in order to inherit his grandmother's money. Since it's too hard to fix horse races the old fashioned way, using his superhuman strength and knowledge of nearly every skill acquirable through literally dozens of undergraduate and master's degree programs, the maniacal Bledsoe starts intimidating, blackmailing and murdering jockeys to throw races. McEvoy limns the life of jockeys and their families, whom he so clearly respects. The percipient protagonist Matt O'Connor (don't we all wish we had a boyfriend like that), a journalist following his hunches, finally catches up with Bledsoe - or the other way around. Think Grace Kelly in Rear Window. For fans of Chicago and Madison, these places are rendered lovingly. Fast paced and funny, Riders Down is satisfying in every way.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars top notch horse racing mystery, March 30, 2006

By 

Julia Mcevoy "Nature is the Place" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Riders Down (Hardcover)

I have worked at race tracks and the writer makes this world within our world come alive--we learn stuff. The characters, from Glockner the bookmaker to Maggie the trainer, are strong. You're easily drawn into them and their lives. The plot is suspenseful and the ending delivers. If you love Chicago, the world of horseracing or just a strong mystery, you'll go for this book. Hope McEvoy's got another one up his sleave.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fast Track Tale, April 18, 2006

By 

Kirk Borland (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Riders Down (Hardcover)

John McEvoy's Riders Down is like two books within a single cover---the first full of insights into the world of horse racing which then becomes the backdrop for the second, a fast paced detective drama. McEvoy tells a good story with style, drawing on a closet full of colorful characters reminiscent of a Damon Runyon novel. And by the time the last page is turned, the reader can not help but be infected not only by the author's passion for `the sport of kings' but by his abiding love for the racetrack community that brings it to life.