Come to Grief

Rating:
Summary: Ex-jockey turned PI Sid Halley bravely faces demons & ghosts
Review: Francis addicts will cheer on "friend" Sid Halley as he faces old ghosts (first wife), old demons (as in WHIP HAND), and new demons (his friend & that of a little girl's fatal disease). The best part of any Dick Francis book are his characters. You always LIKE them. The action keeps you turning the pages, but the characters have you on their side cheering for them. COME TO GRIEF is no different. There are mixed feelings at the end of every Dick Francis book: good, the character is OK; and nuts, now the character is gone away because the book is finished. It has been nice to welcome back Sid Halley for the third time.

Rating:
Summary: Very disappointing Edgar winner
Review: Given that for virtually every book one can purchase, there are at least a dozen excerpts from reviews somewhere inside stating "never better" and "top of form," one needs other avenues to discern which books are indeed a given author's best. Normally for crime novels the Edgar (and other) Awards is a good reference point. With this one, though, one has to wonder what happened. Sid Halley, the star of two previous first-rate novels, is here not only a saint, a giant among men, but in the second half of the book, is relentlessly referred to as such by the other characters, for no reason having to do with the story. There is little mystery; instead the structure follows the prove-he-did-it format. In addition, the story is driven forward by one wild, implausible mistake made by the culprit, and a fight (also unnecessary) in which Halley, effectively zero-armed, uses judo to defeat a couple security guards. I have never been the least bit disappointed in an Edgar-winner before now, but this one is a head-scratcher. Perhaps Francis was very ill at the time. Read Whip Hand and call it a day for Halley.

Rating:
Summary: Francis' Deepest Character rides again
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed "Come to Grief," as I enjoyed "Whip Hand," the second of Francis' three Sid Haley novels. Insomuch as all of Francis' main characters are essentially the same person, Sid Haley fits his bill, but - perhaps by simple virtue of being ressurected through three novels now - Haley is a much deeper, more real person than some of the others. Francis really threw himself into writing Haley, exploring his motivations, fears, bravery, and tenaciousness to a far greater extent than his typical character, and you end up caring about the outcome quite a lot. I listened to this book (narrated by Simon Preebles) simultaneously to reading "Hot Money," and there's really no comparison in quality. "Hot Money" is average, "Come to Grief" is well above the norm.
The other reviewers' comments about this being a darker, more disturbing book than Francis' average are all true, of course, but in my opinion this improves the read.