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When as part of his role he grows his hair and wears a black leather jacket, he turns out to be devilishly attractive to women. Obviously the money would come in handy.
The Earl belongs to the group that governs National Hunt racing in England. The Earl of October visits Daniel Roke, owner of a prosperous stud farm in Australia.
The Earl wants Dan to impersonate a stable hand and investigate - for 20,000 British pounds.Dan at 27 years old is the sole support of three young siblings who are still at school. They're having a problem with the doping of racehorses.
Some kind of substance or method is being used that's undetectable in testing. But he takes on the Earl's challenge, not because of the exorbitant pay, but because he feels trapped by his responsibilities and the dull predictability of his life.In England Dan finds himself living and working at the bottom of the social scale (a shock to his pride) and tangling with some truly horrible characters (a danger to his continued existence).
This adds to the difficulty of his undercover job.FOR KICKS rises above its corny title, and is a fun read from beginning to end.
Dick Francis is one of my very favorite writers and therefore, you guessed it, it was great. I am always looking and waiting for one of his books to come out. I recommend it.
Daniel Roke has spent his life being responsible for his siblings after the death of their parents. He is seduced by the Earl of October to leave Australia and enter to world of English racing to uncover a ring who are fixing races with an undetectable substance.Dick Francis in FOR KICKS digs deep into the working arena of stakes racing for a look at the grueling life of a stable lad. The road isn't easy for Daniel as in the end he fights for his life.Frances's characters are set as self-reliant beings who slough off adversity and get the job done. A great read for the thriller fan.Nash Black, author of SINS OF THE FATHERS and QUALIFYING LAPS.
His earlier books (like this one) are the best, as far as I am concerned, and the most recent one or two are not worth reading.p.s. This is a terrific suspense novel that happens to give insight into British racing, the class system and each and every character. I agree completely with the other reviewers. On a visit to England, I took great joy in going to Newmarket and watching the horses out for practice early in the morning. While I have read all the Dick Francis books, this is the one that I go back to and reread every year or so. Its quiet, understated tone still builds up to suspense and excitement. It felt as if I was in the middle of a Dick Francis book. My husband and daughter, also fans, felt the same.
In a way he stands alone, for as far as I can tell he has not overtly used other writers styles and no contemporary writer has used Francis as a primary influence. It tells the story of Daniel Roke, a trainer from Australia who is hired to uncover a doping ring that is not being detected through traditional meathods. He only uses the same character for a second time once. I would highly recommend Francis to anyone. But in a strange way, this is not bothersome, instead it is like revisiting an old familiar and comfortable place. Francis' books are not in a series format. You have to have read a couple of Dick Francis' novels before you understand the author. With James Patterson and Patricia Cornwells mamoth body counts and terrorising serial killers, or end of the world scenarios ala Tom Clancy and too many others influencing todays reading lists, its amazing to see how much quiet tension builds up in Francis' stories.
I remember how much I loathed the idea of Francis before I first read him and I laugh now at my perception of what his books would be about. Its a pretty simple story, and like all of Francis' work it is refreshingly understated. I mean, how can one author base a huge series of mysteries on racing horses. And later he finds people of different professions that have racing interests to center stories around. All of Francis' books follow a similar arc, from one to the next, you know exactly what you will get. Its a fun world to live in for a while, where all of England revolves around the racing world.
In his first ten or so books, he uses a particular jockey to set his story around. This book, "For Kicks" is from the transitional phase, the late 60's, early 70's. every other profesion comes second. Dick Francis does so quite well.
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