Customer Reviews

Wild Horses

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Dick Francis, Wild Horses (Jove, 1994)

Wild Horses is Dick Francis on top of his game. It stands as one of the highlights of the long and somewhat distinguished career of one of Britain's best-known mystery novelists.

The tale is that of Thomas Lyon, ex-jumps jockey and presently filmmaker. He's been signed on to make a movie based on a novel based on a twenty-six- year-old police case regarding the alleged suicide of a trainer's wife. In the small British racing world, Lyon and the trainer are connected through various channels, and Lyon, along with the film's reluctant producer O'Hara, idly speculate that maybe, in the making of the film, they might actually solve the case. As all this is going on, an old friend of Lyon's dies, leaving Lyon all of his racing-related books and ephemera. A number of others want to get their hands on this material, and will stop at nothing to do so, including viciously beating the man's elderly sister. Lyon realizes that everything's tied in a lot closer than it seems, and the chase is on.

Wild Horses has a readability factor that some of Francis' less consistent books lack. He puts everything in front of the reader in a non-nonsense fashion, adding enough deception to keep the reader wondering what's a clue and what's a falsity, throws in suspects by the score, and lets Lyon go on about making his movie. (Perhaps the fact that the sleuth not only has another job, but actually pays attention to it as the mystery is going on, is one of the book's strongest points; too often it seems amateur detectives suddenly find themselves with more than enough hours in the day when things get underway.) Them's good reads, folks!

A must for any fan of Francis (or any other writer of racing mysteries), and a good intro to him for other mystery readers who haven't yet discovered his work. ****

Great nostalgia for me here as I recall hearing Dick Francis novels serialized on BBC Radio 4 back in the 1970s. Evidently he remains master of his unique genre of mysteries set to a horse-racing background. And what a career--this is his 33rd novel!
"Wild Horses" satisfyingly has no loose ends. The pacing is excellent. At no point was I bored. The characters of Thomas Lyon, the director; O'Hara, the producer; Nash, the star, and Valentine, Lyon's old friend are all nicely developed (one gets a good feel for Valentine even though he dies early in the book as we continue to see him through Lyon's memory). The movie-making is well done. The one race scene is great.
Thoroughly entertaining. Good, clean fun.

This is my 7th Francis mystery novel. It departs from what seemed to be his standard formula a bit. Often his hero is battered taking an unnecessary risk. Here, he actually has a reasonable plan--but gets battered anyway! So much for planning. In addition the reader has a better chance at analyzing the mystery than some of Francis' other works. As usual the hero slides into the mystery almost without volition, & as usual Francis spotlights a particular field of interest--in this case film making. He also has an element of horse racing per his own professional background. I liked this book & thought it one of the best of the few I've read (though I've read less than 1/4 of his works). I think his description of the film in process was excellent, even more in-depth than he usually provides. His characterizations, especially viewed from the Director's perspective, were very fine indeed. His hero and several supporting characters are very likable, and some others not very likable at all. Some of his ploys--such as the help of the doctor in protecting the hero--were very clever. This is a fine, enjoyable, even educational read. Enjoy!

If you were an ordinary person faced with something intriguing, you don't immediately run out and suddenly become a detective. You try to discover what you can on your own, without much fanfare and without calling attention to yourself. MOst of all, your life remains almost normal. If you're lucky, you solve the mystery. Once you do, you keep quiet about it because the solution probably won't benefit anyone but you. So it is with this book. Thomas Lyon is just an ordinary guy trying to find out the answer to a puzzling revelation. He goes on being a movie director while doing his investigation on the side, inviting a little unwarranted attention from various killers as a result. When he does find the solution, he doesn't tell the police or anybody else, letting them make their own conclusions. After all, the answer would never benefit anyone except his own self-satisfaction.

Okay, both were good, but as a movie fan, I found the portrayal of movie making from the director's view especially engrossing. The conflict between the director and the screenwriter who was adapting his own novel to the screen was truly fascinating to me.This was still good Dick Francis, maybe less violent than much of his work, and little romantic interest, but overall the equivalent of a "cold case" tale in which the director seeks, for his own edification, the truth behind a woman's death which is the focal point of the movie he's making. The racetrack angle, as always, is also there.However, I do believe that a reader unfailiar with Dick Francis would do better reading his early work first.

I've been a fan of Dick Francis for over 10 years, and find this to be one of his best. (Probably because my daughter recently graduated from film school and wants to be a director) I am always amazed at the depth of research he does to really know his character's world. Having seen some of the film world myself, I can say that the setting is spot-on, and the thoughts of his hero are very believable. If you like Dick Francis, you will love this book. If you are in the film industry you might find a few nit-picks, but then few people can write very good novels! Enjoy this work from the master!!

We're avid Dick Francis fans and thought we had read his entire booklist, but somehow missed this novel when it was new in 1994. What a delight awaited! It's what we'd call one of his "research" books - while there is a minor backdrop of horse racing, it's really about the making of a major motion picture about the (unsolved) mystery of a woman's death some 25 years ago in a small English town setting. While the most desired familiar aspects of Francis' work were surely on display, from the leading man who is nothing but admirable in every way, to mild sexual tension from the women that he meets - to us the real prize, in addition to the clever plot and irresistible whodunit, was that the story told from the eyes of the film's director gave us an incredible insight into movie making. Indeed the roles of the director were explained in a way we hadn't encountered before, as well as the importance of physical scene selection, lighting, the acting abilities of the players, and the ability of the director to coordinate diverse activities into a whole way greater than the sum of its parts.

The plot is equally compelling, beginning with the death of a sick man befriended by our director who on his deathbed makes a mysterious confession. That provides clues about the very mystery being addressed in the movie, and we wonder all book long whether that actual whodunit might be solved, on top of the villainy that emerges as various real life players in the old story get increasingly agitated over the pursuit of their tale. A series of knifings along the way add to the suspense, and kept us on edge till the end.

All-in-all, we'd rank "Wild Horses" among the author's very best, high praise considering we're talking a booklist some fifty titles long! Obviously, very highly recommended!!

The Kindle edition of the book has LOTS of errors in spelling that make it sort of hard to decipher at times.
The book itself is great!

I listened to this audio a long time ago. I enjoyed it then and again when I listened to it.

There's the plot conceived by a bestselling author, the plot made cinematic by a film director and the true story of the hanging twenty-six years previously of the pretty young wife of a racehorse trainer - inspiration for the book and the movie. Dick Francis's eventful plot makes four. The successful reader will need a good head for detail!

Our hero is young film director Thomas Lyon who, like other Francis heroes I've encountered, is likeable, clever and coolheaded under attack. He's also an ex-jockey, which assures us of plenty of horsy scenes.

The reluctant recipient of a deathbed confession, Thomas accidentally acquires a piece of the puzzle of the unsolved murder mystery. Since knowing the truth may help him resolve the ending of his own film, he's motivated to investigate. But several people are intent on stopping the film, along with any further speculation about the crime, including family, author and no doubt the murderer.

Key players are attacked by exotic knives (possession of such knives is against the law in England). Thomas turns out to be a better detective than the police, because of his understanding of character.

I didn't enjoy this book as much as others by Dick Francis, perhaps because certain characters seemed a bit stereotyped. But if you're interested in how movies are made, you might like Wild Horses a lot.