Shattered

Rating:
Summary: Maybe the last and the least
Review: Shattered by Dick Francis Michael Jordan London, 2000

Maybe the last and the least.

Over the years I have read and enjoyed the racing mysteries of Dick Francis. While the main character in each book seems to be the same person with a different name and often a different job, the stories have been exciting and beautifully written. In this mystery Gerard Logan, young, fit and handsome, is a glass blower of renown who befriends a jockey, Martin Stuckely. Martin has been given a video tape which is said to contain information worth millions for safe keeping and before he can pass it on to Gerard dies in a race accident. When the tape is passed on to Gerard, it is stolen before he has a chance to view it.

The plot revolves around Gerard trying to find out what the tape contains and to try and stay clear of those who are trying to recover it. As usual the protagonist is severely beaten but refuses to knuckle under to the criminals. In the end Gerard solves the puzzle and recovers the tape.

This book is well written but the story is a bit contrived. Dick Francis has given us a close look inside the art of glass blowing and describes the process beautifully. The cast of characters is numerous but thinly fleshed out and not up to the usual standards set by Dick Francis. While I enjoyed the read, I was, on the whole, disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Another great one from the Master
Review: I first discovered Dick Francis's mysteries with "Reflex" (about halfway through his now extensive current series). One of the joys of discovering a mystery writer who already has an extensive backlist of books is being able to read all those older books immediately; I must have taken no more than two weeks to devour Francis's entire backlist. One of the even greater joys is when that writer keeps on creating and publishing a new book every year. The greatest joy of all is when the one published in 2000 is as exciting and strongly written as the ones he wrote in the 1960s.

I often joke to my friends that Dick Francis writes the same book year after year after year, but if you're reading this, Mr. Francis, I mean that as the highest compliment: there is no one as dependable and consistent to turn our a strong mystery adventure with every new book. As in previous books, "Shattered" features a likeable first-person male protagonist caught up in a mystery involving the horse racing world, a mystery that threatens him with physical danger but which is never a deterrent to our hero to see justice done and the mystery solved.

Francis continues to impress me as one of the best researchers in the mystery world: many of his novels shows off his detailed knowledge of not only the racing field but also an additional expertise. In "Shattered" hero Gerard Logan is a glass-blower; I've learned more about the intricacies of the craft from this book than I ever imagined. Better yet, Francis makes learned about it interesting and vital to the plot. In previous books he's focused on such diverse subjects as meteorology, wine and spirits, flying, filmmaking, diamonds, delivery trucking, and much more--all with a detailed expertise that's vital to the plot and a light touch that never hammers you over the head. The search for a valuable videotape leads Logan in conflict with a ruthless woman and a murderous doctor...threatening his livelihood, his friends, and his life. Still, my favorite aspect of a Dick Francis novel is that his heroes--from jockeys to breeders, investigators and painters, film stars and glassblowers--are likeable, immensely personable, and always determined to do what's right. They come off as ordinary men caught in extraordinary situations that would have most of us hiding behind the sofa. I've never had to face a band of murderous thugs or face physical threats, but if I did, I'd hope I'd be able to deal with it as forthrightly and matter-of-factly as Francis's regular-joe heroes. (Now, Mr. Francis, how about a novel about a guy who works for a publishing company, writes reviews for an online bookseller, and gets caught up in horse-racing mystery...?)

Rating:
Summary: kept me entertained
Review: I would give this three and a half stars for the story and one-half star for the bonus of learning a little about glass blowing. I enjoyed the book, but was a little confused about why he didn't have the police arrest the ones that he knew who assaulted him. It would have saved him a lot of trouble, but, I know it's just a book. Never the less, I did enjoy the book. It was just long enough that I could read it in one sitting and it moved right along. The main character's friend dies in a freak accident while riding in a horse race. The friend leaves a tape for Gerard and before he can watch it, it is stolen. Other tapes have been stolen from the home of the victim and more of Gerards. Solving the mystery of the tapes leads to many adventures that keep your interest until the end of the book.

Rating:
Summary: ANOTHER PLEASANT RUN AROUND THE TRACK
Review: As a mystery writer with my first novel in its initial release, I am literally amazed by every new mystery from Dick Francis. Even though SHATTERED may be his last book, Mr. Francis has not lost his touch in over forty full-length works. All of his standard elements are here. There is the horse racing backdrop. There is a decent man who finds himself forced into reluctant heroism. There is evil that must be defeated. In SHATTERED, Mr. Francis introduces us to glass-blowing. Gerard Logan is a close friend of Martin Stukely, a jockey who died in a bad fall a Cheltenham. Gerard is beaten terribly in his glass-blowing studio. A gang is responsible. The gang includes the daughter of the late Martin's valet, and they are convinced that Gerard has in his possession a video tape. The gang is willing to kill Gerard to get the tape. The story flows from there, and it features a fine romance between Gerard and a policewoman. SHATTERED is a winner. I hope Mr. Francis writes forty more novels, though we all doubt if he now will. If SHATTERED is the end of his career, he has ended on top.

Rating:
Summary: Another solid entry from Dick Francis
Review: Dick Francis doesn't change much, and thank goodness.

His hero, though never the same name, is always the same person. He is always mid - thirties, quiet, competent, moral, and full of steely resolve. Gerard Logan is all of these, and one thing more - he blows glass for a living.

Of course, as always, there is a race track tie in. This story includes what Hitchcock used to call "The McGuffin" - the thing that everyone in the story wants but the audience doesn't much care what it is. In this case the McGuffin is a video cassette given to Logan by the valet of jockey who has just been killed in a race. The tape is therafter stolen from Logan's shop, but several nasty types don't believe it and want Logan to give the tape to them.

The plot is simple, as it usually is with Francis, but the smooth writing, well etched characters, and wonderful inner voice of the protagonist always make Francis a pleasure to read, and this is one is no exception. And details about glass blowing make this one extra fun.

Rating:
Summary: Shattered or just lame?
Review: Diok Francis, as I guess everyone knows, is a former jumps jockey who rode horses for the Queen Mother and then became a thriller writer in a second career after he retired from riding.

Most of his books, maybe all, follow a formula. The single male hero follows some occupation that in the earlier books is usually connected with horse racing, but in the later books his heroes branch out. The details of that profession are well researched, as for example with the photographer in Reflex, and usually in some way the knowledge of the hero's trade is woven into the plot.

The hero gets involved accidentally in some criminal conspiracy. As he tries to find out what is going on, he is invariably knocked unconscious at least one time and beaten up another time. Fortunately he never suffers permanent neurological damage.

Somewhere along the line he gets laid. Franciscan heroes do not have time for erectile dysfunction, or Viagra. Francis is not that kind of writer. His heroes' girlfriends get satisfied and they stay satisfied, though we don't get a lot of detail about how this trick is done.

In the end, the villain, who is someone unexpected, is unmasked and all is well with the world.

There--I have just written a precis of all of Dick Francis' novels.

How good is this example of the genre? Not very. What the other reviews here don't tell you is that the plot is extremely lame. If you wanted a horseracing title for this book, there it is--lame.

The stuff about the glass blowing is quite interesting, and is actually the best feature of the book.

The twist here is that we have a violent, psychopathic, homicidal villainess named Rose. Why she is this way is never really explained. Right at the end of the story she murders an inoffensive police officer, who has done her no harm, in a very nasty way. His death is partly caused by the actions of the hero, though I won't reveal any more so as not to spoil everything. However the hero is hardly concerned as he is more interested in getting nookie from the dead cop's partner.

A lot of the plot concerns itself with a highly absurd strand about a videotape that contains stolen scientific secrets that may lead to a cure for cancer. It is all very improbable.

Still Francis was somewhere around 80 years old when he wrote this, so it is remarkable that he is still trying to entertain his fans. Good on him. I hope I will be doing as well if I ever reach that age.

However, I would recommend reading the earlier books in the series first, rather than this one, if this is your introduction to Francis.

Rating:
Summary: Failed to hold my attention too often
Review: I'm not a huge mystery reader but do enjoy listening to them on my long drive to and from work. This unabridged audiobook had my attention, lost it, gained it backed and would then lose it again. Could be my distracted mind or it could be that it was just wasn't an interesting mystery? That said, there were several things to like. The protagonist Jarrod, an accomplished glassblower, was enjoyable ~ he's this regular guy with a very interesting (to me) profession who finds himself accosted by dangerous types and suddenly smack dab in the middle of mystery concerning a missing video cassette tape. His character and that of his off beat co-workers and surrounding support system were interesting and the detailed look into the world of professional glassblowing was fascinating. Unfortunately, the facts surrounding the missing tape and the sleuthing that follows to discover what the tape contains just didn't hold my attention and I repeatedly found myself drifting off into my own little world and having to rewind the tape during these sections. Maybe a true mystery aficionado would appreciate this one more than I.

Rating:
Summary: "Shattered", A Dick Francis Mystery Thriller
Review: Gerard Logan is a glass artisan, more generally called a glass-blower. He has what you might call a normal life. But things are just about to get hot when his jockey friend, Martin Stukely, dies in steeplechase accident. From then on, Gerard finds himself involved in a deadly search for a valuable videotape. Martin was the last person who had the tape, now the bad guys think that Gerard have it. And they would do anything to get it. The thing is, Gerard has no idea what the videotape contains, let alone understand the priceless information it contains. Gerard must try to solve the mystery of the videotape, while at the same time trying to survive...

I was very surprised to see the low ratings this book was getting from other reviewers. For my part, I enjoyed this book immensely! It might have something to do with this being only my third book to read of Dick Francis' while others have read many of his books. But still, I just thoroughly enjoy the flavor of Dick Francis' books. Especially when you read the first line of his book:

"Four of us drove together to Cheltenham races on the day that Martin Stukely died there from a fall in a steeplechase."

Francis just cuts right to the point and begins the story right off, which for me, immediately grabs my attention. From then on, he plunges you into a story worth the read with intrigue, mystery, romance, action, and wit.

Gerard Logan is the usual Francis character; young, bright, likable, and clearly a very nice chap. He also is as curious as anyone can be. There is also the usual love interest, in this book the detective constable Catherine Dodd. Beautiful and also very smart, she too is incredibly likable. In "Shattered", there is one magical moment where Gerard is captivated and inspired by Catherine's beauty to make a dynamic glass sculpture. I thought that Francis wrote that part very well.

And of course there are the bad guys, whom I won't reveal except that 'beware of Blackmask 4'! But the few of the most enjoyable characters whom I liked were Gerard's bodyguards. There's Worthington a chauffeur who watches over Gerard, the actual 'bodyguard' Tom Pigeon with his three Dobermans, and Gerard's taxi driver, Jim.

My only complaint of the book is the bit disappointing ending, I wish it was a bit different. But "Shattered" is still satisfying. As usual, Dick Francis cleverly weaves into the tale a bit of horse racing, steeple chasing. And adding glass blowing into the plot was pretty cool. I must admit that I now find glass making a bit more interesting and fascinating than, I was at first skeptical as to whether you can actual put glass blowing into a mystery thriller.

So if you've never read any of Dick Francis' books, I suggest you to pick up "Shattered" if you get a chance. But if you've read any of Francis' other books, I can't honestly tell you how good it is compared to them. You'll just have to see. "Shattered" is mostly for older teenagers and adults, due to some violence, some language, and some innuendo.

Rating:
Summary: Unfolds like a B-grade movie
Review: As I was reading Shattered, I kept envisioning the book being made into a B movie. I could picture the scene changes, particularly those that involve "the relationship," which seemed not to add much to the plot, and the awkward dialog. I am a Dick Francis fan, and as another reviewer said, I await his books. I enjoyed reading this one, but it was not up to his usual standard.

Rating:
Summary: Review
Review: This is, said to be, the last in a long line of thrillers from author Dick Francis. This story centers around a middle-aged glassblower living in England. He is, early in the book, troubled by the death of his friend Martin. The jockey dies in a freak accident right in the middle of a race he was shore to win. MArtin leaves behind family, friends, and an entire community of race-goers only days before the turn of the second millenium. But to Gerard Logan's suprise he i sleft a mysterious package that is, within one night, stolen from him along with a large sum of money.
Francis offers us an array of multidimensional characters. Most fit into the typical "thriller" genre mold. Throw in a couple of nice, seemingly innocent people, with a love intrest and a gang of criminals and you have Shattered.
most of the characters are not without their faults, even the main character Gerard Logan has an air of confidence that can easily come off as arrogance. Let's just say some of them wouldn't make it through the final cut of a Walt Disney rendition.

Gerard Logan: Main character, has a nack for doing a little investigating on his own

Martin Stuckley: A jockey who dies leaving behind a mysterious videotape that a lot of people seem to want. He has an attractive wife that pleads for the attention of Gerard throughout the bnook.

Catherine Dodd: A rugged street cop who quickly becomes Gerard's love intrest.

Rose: A pretty bitter woman out for only her own good. Watch out for this one.

The plot is nothing you've never seen beofre, Gerard finds a clue, cracks it, and finds another one, it's basically one long search for a videotape, but inbetween there are some good plot twist that keep you reading.All in all the book was an exciting escape, but I would only recommend it to those who find themselves with too much time on the weekends. Other than that I'd leave this one to the self.