Trial Run

Rating:
Summary: Interesting relic of the cold war
Review: I do like Dick Francis novels, and I do admit, as many other reviewers have said, that there is a certain predictability to the plots of many of them. What I find myself looking for, in mancy cases, is the philosophy beyond the plot. In this case, the plot is about an attempt to sabotage the Moscow Olympics. The plot holds together well, but what I enjoyed about this book is that it is a glimpse of the end of cold war Russia (of course from a British perspective) and it is an attempt to think about the personal decisions that humans make which shape of our lives and about personal freedom.

I think Francis does a good job with these rather weighty themes, within the framework of the mystery/thriller genre that he has perfected over time.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting relic of the cold war
Review: I do like Dick Francis novels, and I do admit, as many other reviewers have said, that there is a certain predictability to the plots of many of them. What I find myself looking for, in mancy cases, is the philosophy beyond the plot. In this case, the plot is about an attempt to sabotage the Moscow Olympics. The plot holds together well, but what I enjoyed about this book is that it is a glimpse of the end of cold war Russia (of course from a British perspective) and it is an attempt to think about the personal decisions that humans make which shape of our lives and about personal freedom.

I think Francis does a good job with these rather weighty themes, within the framework of the mystery/thriller genre that he has perfected over time.

Rating:
Summary: Perfectly average Francis thriller
Review: I'm not sure I believe it, but there it is: amazon has Trial Run listed as out of print. Amazing.

By now I should be inured to the pace of a Dick Francis novel, which is roughly equivalent to that of a marathon turf stakes at Ascot: in order to conserve energy, the horses start off slow, knowing they have a couple of thousand meters ahead of them; the pace picks up after you get round to the backstretch the first time, and the finish is furious. Francis spent too much time on the backs of nags at Royal Ascot to forget that, I guess. And thus you know that the first three or four chapters of a Francis mystery are likely to bog down. Stick with it; it's almost always worth the trip.

Randall Drew has been forced into retirement (like many of Francis' jockeys). In this case, it's because the jockey club has seen fit to outlaw riding with glasses, and contacts and Drew don't mix well. Drew, friend and lover to English royalty, is tabbed by the Prince to investigate shadowy claims of threats to a Royal who wants to ride in the 1980 Moscow olympics, threats that are backed up by the death of a German olympic rider, supposedly of a heart attack-- but foul play is suspected. Drew heads off to Moscow, and the fun begins.

If you know Francis, you already know whether you're going to buy this or not, I suspect. Francis mysteries are basically formulaic. Ex-jockey becomes amateur detective, ex-jockey discovers something nasty is happening at a track somewhere, ex-jockey investigates, ex-jockey gets into scrapes, ex-jockey gets out of scrapes, ex-jockey solves crime. It's good clean mindless fun, and this one has nothing about it that stands out from the others, save its rather odd location (which seems quaint given the collapse of the cold war nowadays). Good if you like Francis, bad if you don't, and not a book I'd suggest as a jumping-off point if you don't know his work (try Odds Against or Enquiry instead, where Francis is on his home turf).

Rating:
Summary: One of the most unassuming fiction heroes that I've found.
Review: Randall Drew is not the sort of person that comes to mind when you imagine someone who sets out to almost single-handidly stop a terrorist plot. He's quiet, unassuming, bespectacled and prone to chesty illnesses. He's also an event rider (steeplechaser) who has attained some notoriety in England until he was forced to stop racing with the introduction of a sight-restriction rule. Since Randall can't see at all without his glasses, the British Racing Society says that he can't race anymore. Randall is selected though by royalty to pursue an inquiry behind "the iron curtain". This secret exposes him to all sorts of danger in communist Russia. This book handles the Cold War situation quite well. I have read a number of Dick Francis books, and I think this one was one of the best I've read. Tony Britton does a wonderful job of reading the book and that helped set the stage for the espionage and danger.