Second Wind

The actual book advertised for sale had the jacket cover I wanted. With the artwork I love. When I received my favorite book it had no cover. Just a black book Very disappointing as I was adding to my book collection. Buyer beware

A friend had praised Dick Francis for years, finally handed me "Forfeit," which I enjoyed and reviewed (qv). Afterwards, another very intelligent friend thinks so highly of Dick Francis that, unbidden, he loaned me his entire Francis library! He lugged the box of books straight down the very long stairway from his fourth-floor high-ceiling loft, where he has lived forever in Old City, Philadelphia, and which is his professional photography headquarters. (You want pictures done anywhere in the world, he'll travel. But if studio shots are your call, you take those steep stairs.) I took up "Second Wind." Francis's prologue brings to mind the first three words of Melville's "Moby Dick": "Call me Ishmael." Much quoted, especially with shipwrecked Ishmael's attribution to Job: "And I only am escaped alone to tell thee." Dick Francis opens with his narrator Dr. Perry Stuart reflecting on a similar circumstance: "I tumbled like a rag-doll piece of flotsam in towering gale-driven seas that sucked unimaginable tons of water from the deeps and hurled them along in liquid mountains faster than a Derby gallop. Sometimes the colossal waves swept me inexorably with them. Sometimes they buried me until my agonized lungs begged the ultimate relief of inhaling anything, even water, when only air would keep the engine turning." Perry, with a PhD in physics, is a BBC meteorologist on daily television, forecasting the weather for the British Isles and farther, including the Continent, Florida, and the Caribbean. The racing world attends to his words about expected conditions at racecourses in France, Germany, and wherever. One of Perry's fellow meteorologists is the outstandingly handsome Kris Ironside, whose passion is flying his small Cherokee airplane. Although a good pilot, Kris has a rather wacky personality. Perry joined him in the wacky goal to experience flying through the eye of a hurricane in a light aircraft. So, off to Florida they go and end up in the crashing experience Perry describes. With a large cast of horse owners, trainers, assistants, and including a filly with a mysterious ailment, there are connections to terrorists, arms dealers, the flamboyant underworld, and British counterintelligence. The twists and turns are surprising, the love interests appealing. Francis's writing is excellent. He is suspenseful, informed, and funny. Incidentally, your memory bank is likely always to include the identity behind "second wind" of the title.

I am a Dick Francis fan. I have been reading his mysteries for years, own ALL of his (many) books, and have enjoyed reading every one. His absence from the annual publications list for the past few years, while he dealt with the passing of his wife, has now come to an end and Dick Francis is back again with a new book and is writing at the top of his form. The aptly named "Second Wind" is a great addition to the Dick Francis canon.

Maybe it's the lack of horseracing as a central plot element that makes some reviewers pan this book. I found the character development, storyline, tempo, suspense, action, and presentation of the mystery to be at least on par with the best of Francis' other works.Perry Stuart is a thoroughly believable and likeable character. The manner in which he becomes entangled in the mystery, his methods of surviving his brushes with death, and his ultimate unraveling the mystery made perfect sense and were wonderfully entertaining.I heartily recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good mystery.

From hurricanes to horseracing, I could hardly put this book down. The main character was more loveable than Francis' usual heroes. He cared a little more, showed a little more of his soft side, and loved a little more. One of Francis' quick-witted heroes strikes again! Loved it!

Kris Ironside and Perry Stuart enjoy working as BBC meteorologists who are personable, popular and well recognized. However, the similarities end as Kris is a maniac-depressant with a suicide wish while Stuart is a stable individual. Stuart does odd jobs to insure his beloved grandmother receives top of the line elderly care.The two men go on vacation at the same time during the hurricane season. Kris wants to fly through the eye of a hurricane and surprisingly Stuart agrees. When Odin strikes as a Class V storm, the two meteorologists, thanks to their host Robin Darcy begin their journey with a side stop on Trox Island. The hurricane destroys their plane. Stuart washes ashore on Trox Island where he finds a notebook that lists nuclear weapons and the clients who want to own them. After being rescued, Stuart returns to England. Stuart realizes that his life is in danger by unknown assailants who apparently want his knowledge buried with him.SECOND WIND is an understated British thriller in which legendary Dick Francis cleverly describes his violent scenes as if he wanted a PG 13 label placed in his novel. The tension mounts and the chill never eases, demonstrating Mr. Francis' abilities as a story teller. The friendship between Kris and Stuart seems enigmatic at first, especially since the former continually leads the duo into dangerous scenarios. Still, that angle augments Stuart's character by showing that beneath his loving concern for his grandmother beats a more reckless individual dying to get free. The flight through the eye of the storm adds to the overall feeling of being out of control that permeates much of the story line. This multi-layered story may provide Mr. Francis with his fourth Edgar.Harriet Klausner