To the Hilt

Rating:
Summary: Another spine-tingling, Francis mystery extraordinaire
Review: This one is yet another terrific Dick Francis mystery. I'm a huge fan of these novels, and "To the Hilt" was every bit as juicy, intriguing, complex, wry, etc. as all the others. But I think the time is ripe for a female protagonist in Francis' stories.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining to the Utmost!
Review: This was an entertaining and fun book. Recomended by my father, I knew it had to be good. It was a very plesant way to spend my free time. Much better than the other Francis books I have read in the past. Recomended to the casual mystery reader.

Rating:
Summary: Great, To The Hilt
Review: This was my first Dick Francis novel and I liked it a lot. It gave me an idea of what Francis was like. As other reviewers said, it was somewhat predictable and not quite descriptive enough. I'm lucky I have a mental picture mind that puts everything in mental picture because if I didn't, I would have hated it. Because of this book, I'm going to read some more Dick Francis and hope that there's more mystery to his plots. I loved the characters, especially Patsy and Sertes. They were hilariously obnoxious. And they fabricated and downright liars. Chris Young was great too. Read it, you'll be interested to see what other tricks Francis has up his sleeve.

Rating:
Summary: Another great mystery!
Review: To the Hilt is worthy of the repertoire of Mr. Francis; the characters will be comfortably familiar to his regular readers, but new enough too, to maintain your interest. The protagonist, 'Mad Alexander' is an instant favorite, and I hope that he'll be included in another story. The mystery itself is quite well done. For audiocassette fans, you will enjoy Tony Britton's reading, he is as usual magnificent.

Rating:
Summary: Always dependable, always enjoyable
Review: Usually if one said that an author and his novels were dependable that would be synonymous with dull and boring. Not so with Dick Francis. He always manages to create stories and characters that grab the reader and hold on until the end.

In "To the Hilt," we have Alexander Kinloch, a painter whose specialty is golf and the places and people that involves. He lives in a bothy in the Scottish highlands where the solitude makes his work not only possible, but extraordinarily wonderful. However, the world intrudes in the shape of four burly men who beat the pulp out of him. They want to know where "it" is, and when they realize he has no idea what they mean they throw him down the mountain to his fate.

Over the next few weeks, he finds out what they were seeking and why. When Ivan, his step-father, has a heart attack, the authority to protect the older man's empire is given to him, a responsibility he is both willing and loath to accept. His step-sister, who resents his interference, begins intruding on his life and that of their parents. As she struggles to wrest power from him her father dies, leaving Alexander with total authority. Part of that responsibility is a string of race horses, bringing into the story the one absolute certainty of a Francis story.

However, he really shines in this tale when describing the artist's passion and obsession. Alexander meets an older woman, an antiquities expert, bent on "saving" a precious heirloom, and becomes haunted by her face, to the point that he feels compelled to paint her portrait. The reader gets the brush strokes and the feelings as the work forms under his hands. Even a non-artist has to say, "Yes, that's how it is." When she sees the finished work, she says, "You have made me immortal."

Anyone who likes mysteries will enjoy the clean writing in a Dick Francis novel. For the most part both story and characters are unambiguous. This is a quick read and totally enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: Always dependable, always enjoyable
Review: Usually if one said that an author and his novels were dependable that would be synonymous with dull and boring. Not so with Dick Francis. He always manages to create stories and characters that grab the reader and hold on until the end.

In "To the Hilt," we have Alexander Kinloch, a painter whose specialty is golf and the places and people that involves. He lives in a bothy in the Scottish highlands where the solitude makes his work not only possible, but extraordinarily wonderful. However, the world intrudes in the shape of four burly men who beat the pulp out of him. They want to know where "it" is, and when they realize he has no idea what they mean they throw him down the mountain to his fate.

Over the next few weeks, he finds out what they were seeking and why. When Ivan, his step-father, has a heart attack, the authority to protect the older man's empire is given to him, a responsibility he is both willing and loath to accept. His step-sister, who resents his interference, begins intruding on his life and that of their parents. As she struggles to wrest power from him her father dies, leaving Alexander with total authority. Part of that responsibility is a string of race horses, bringing into the story the one absolute certainty of a Francis story.

However, he really shines in this tale when describing the artist's passion and obsession. Alexander meets an older woman, an antiquities expert, bent on "saving" a precious heirloom, and becomes haunted by her face, to the point that he feels compelled to paint her portrait. The reader gets the brush strokes and the feelings as the work forms under his hands. Even a non-artist has to say, "Yes, that's how it is." When she sees the finished work, she says, "You have made me immortal."

Anyone who likes mysteries will enjoy the clean writing in a Dick Francis novel. For the most part both story and characters are unambiguous. This is a quick read and totally enjoyable.