High Stakes

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!

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.

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.

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.

High Stakes was an excellent novel. I chose to read it because it focuses on horses and because I have read other books by this author. This novel was a page-turner because there were several twists in the plot. It was easy to relate to the main character and feel what he was feeling, as if his life was yours. The book had certain sections that the reader really had to think about, because the plot was complicated at times. Also, the author has a way of not describing something until the last possible moment. For example, the characters discussed a critically important plan, and the reader themselves did not know what it was until the plan was executed. At times this made the novel some-what confusing, but did not result in the book being misunderstood. In the future I would read another book by this author.