Whenever I need a little pick-me-up, I know I can always count on Dick Francis. First of all, I always fall for his heroes. They are invariably good, honest guys with a core of toughness, an iron-clad determination to do the right thing. In For Kicks the hero is Daniel Roke, an Australian owner of a prosperous stud farm. But even a successful stable takes a huge amount of work--the day starts at dawn and all-night sessions are not uncommon in foaling season. Dan is stuck in a rut, raising his younger orphaned brothers and sisters, worrying about tuition fees, dealing with too many responsibilities thrust on him too early.A British racing official, in Australia on business, meets Roke and seizes on him as the perfect answer to a problem: horses that have a history of running out of steam in the final furlongs of races have been suddenly winning. They look like they've been doped, but the blood tests are all negative. The investigator the racing officials hired has died in a suspicious auto accident. They need someone to go under cover as a stable lad to ferret out the crooks. Why Roke? He looks the part--young looking and bearing a distinct resemblance to an Italian peasant. Plus he's Australian and British racing is too small a world for someone local to stay hidden. Roke is offered twenty thousand pounds to take on the job--he's tempted not only because he needs the money, but because the chance to do something different, someplace else, just for a few months, is irresistible. Dick Francis, a former steeplechase jockey, knows horses, stable life and racing inside and out. He makes you feel the pre-dawn chill, the damp of English winters; the aching muscles after hours of mucking out stalls, grooming horses, cleaning tack; the endless grubbiness and petty humiliation of doing a hard, dirty, menial job. You can practically smell the manure.And then there are the other stable lads. Francis can make even minor characters come alive with just a few quick lines of dialog or description and he has a real sense of the camaraderie and rivalries that are an inevitable part of stable life. His novels are always psychologically astute. Roke chafes not just because he is accustomed to respect and he's now doing thankless work, but also because he has to make himself disliked. To set an effective trap he needs to seem disreputable...the kind of lad who might be tempted to fix a race.The mystery was really clever and had me guessing right up until the end and then I was horrified at how the race fixing was done. The villains were believable and I longed to see their nasty tricks stopped forever. It was all very satisfying. There was just one plot twist too many at the end and I knocked off a star for that. Content rating PG: Some violence (Francis was a jockey and so he knows how to describe pain so you really feel it). Occasional non-explicit sex. Some mild cursing.
What is there to say about Dick Francis? As I think about all of his books (yes, this review covers all of his books, and yes I've read them all) I think about a moral ethical hero, steeped in intelligence and goodness embroiled in evil machinations within British horse racing society - either directly or indirectly. The heroes aren't always horse jockies, they can be film producers, or involve heroes engaged in peripheral professions that somehow always touch the horse racing world.But more than that, Francis's heroes are rational human beings. The choices made are rational choices directed by a firm objective philosophy that belies all of Francis's novels. The dialogue is clear and touched with humor no matter the intensity of evil that the hero faces. The hero's thoughts reveal a vulnerability that is touching, while his actions are always based on doing the right thing to achieve justice. Causing the reader to deeply care about the characters in a novel is a difficult thing to do. No such worries in a Francis novel. The point of view is first person, you are the main character as you read the story (usually the character of Mr. Douglas). The hero is personable, like able, non-violent but delivering swift justice with his mind rather than through physical means. This is not to say that violence is a stranger to our hero. Some of it staggering and often delivered by what we would think of normal persons living in British society.You will come to love the world of Steeple Chase racing, you will grow a fondness for horses, stables, trainers and the people who live in that world. You will read the books, devouring one after the other and trust me Dick Francis has a lot of novels (over 40 by my last count).There are several series woven into the fabric of Francis's work: notably the Sid Halley and Kit Fielding series.Assessment: Dick Francis is one of my favorite writers. I read his books with a fierce hunger that remains insatiable and I mourn his death.
What do You think about For Kicks (2004)?
One of my favorite Dick Francis books. Daniel Rork (is that right?) at a very young age has to take care of his younger siblings when his parents are killed. He makes a great success of breeding horses at his home in Australia but feels that weight of being too tied down and grown up at 28. He is approached by a Lord from England who is looking for someone to come and be an inside man in the racing world and to investigate why horses are winning and looking "doped" but not testing as doped. He decides to take the challenge and comes on as a stable lad which is far different from his every day job as boss at his stable. I find this a very interesting study of characters and how we treat people differently based on how they look and what their jobs are. It is a good one.
—Melissa
Narrated by Tony Britton -- doing a great Australian accent to match the Australian main character.This can be seen as a story about identity, if you want to read anything deep into it, or just an entertaining book about a spy in the world of racing if you don't. I'm a big fan of character stories, so I like the way that Francis always focuses on the character and his life; unfortunately, in this case I didn't believe the choices that his character makes at the end of the book. Fortunately, that didn't ruin the rest of the book for me. ;)
—Contrarius
Library audible OutlineProprietor of a stud farm in Australia's Snowy Mountains or muck-raking stable boy in Yorkshire? Danny Roke decides on the latter. It is the change of scene and the challenge that pushes Danny Roke undercover, on the scent of a suspected racehorse dope scandal.Daniel Roke, had to raise orphaned siblings, accepts undercover stable lad job from the Earl of October, investigating steeplechase doping in England. At least ten horses win adrenalin-high stimulated, but regular la
—John Marsh
