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Post by Claire on Oct 20, 2012 11:14:28 GMT 1
Don't think we've ever had a thread for this and its quite a big genre, populated by quite a few jocks or trainers turned authors! Do you like the genre or not? Who are your favs and what, if any, are the worst ones?
My favs are Dick Francis, Lyndon Stacey, Mark Daniels and The Richard Pitman ones are quite good too, as are the Simon Drake books by Michael Maguire (of Mylor fame). My all time fav has to be the Sid Halley trilogy (I don't include the fourth book writtten later as it wasn't in the same league) by Dick Francis. I did start to read the first Jenny Pitman one but found it a bit dull.
Oh and has anyone who liked Dick Francis read Felix's books and if so what do you think?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2012 12:44:21 GMT 1
Not my cup of tea at all. But having said that I absolutely loved reading all about Brown Jack. What an amazing horse I also found it interesting as I know the area where he trained and also it's illustred by Lionel Edwards Which is nothing to so with racing thrillers...
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Post by susanb on Oct 20, 2012 22:03:32 GMT 1
Francis and Stacey are my two favorites as well. Of the Francis books, the Sid Halley ones are my joint first place, with Blood Sport and Reflex finishing a respectable place and show. Cut Throat (though not a racing book) is my favorite of the Stacey books. I read and enjoyed one of Bill Shoemaker's books, the second lurks in the staggering tbr pile, not helped by the fact that its a mass-market paperback with tiny print (time to get the eyesight checked, methinks). I read the first of the Kit Ehrman books and liked it, and the first of John Francome's books, which I didn't care for. Your racing question spured me on to a wicked morning of ebook shopping (aided and abetted by the fact that I'm a bit under the weather and curled up in bed), and I got the second of the Kit Ehrman books, the first in another series that I'd not previously heard of, Blind Switch by John McEvoy and a horse title in the long running Spenser series by Robert Parker called Hugger Mugger. Both the Parker and McEvoy books appear available in the UK, but only the McEvoy one is out as an ebook.....deal on for 77p too. (The US edition had a sale for 99 cents) Blind Switch www.amazon.co.uk/Blind-Switch-Doyle-Mystery-ebook/dp/B003VD22AE/ref=sr_1_1_title_1_kin?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1350766726&sr=1-1Hugger Mugger www.amazon.co.uk/Hugger-Mugger-Robert-B-Parker/dp/1842433253/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1350766797&sr=1-1No idea what to expect from the McEvoy book, but have really enjoyed earlier, non-horse, titles in the Spenser series.
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Post by Claire on Oct 21, 2012 1:19:28 GMT 1
Hope you feel better soon Susan - nothing like a bit of book buying to cheer you up is there?
I haven't read quite a few of those. I have read a few Francome ones, they are so so, not bad but not in the same league as Dick Francis or Lyndon Stacy. I wonder if he actually writes them or if he had a ghost writer....?
There was also a controversy a while back over whether it was Dick F or his wife who actually wrote the books. I wonder what other people think of that? So it could be a moot point about Felix being as good as dad, could still be Mrs F doing them! Allegedly...... ;D
I do have 2 quibbles with the Dick Francis books: 1) There is often something fairly unpleasant happening to the horses in the books, probably the worst being the horrific foot incident in Come to Grief (which I'll not go into details about in case I upset anyone). I think in racing thrillers they should stick to killing off jockeys, trainers and other humans but leave the horses alone! 2) The rather stock romances in most of the books are, for me, fairly irritating and in most cases seem almost devoid of any electricity between the man and woman. One of the exceptions is the book (forgot which it is - help susan!) in which the hero falls in love with a woman married to a friend of his. This romance comes across as pretty realistic. Also I do like a bit of unrequited love in my books!
I haven't yet got round to reading the Felix solo efforts. I've read all the ones he wrote with his father. I thought Silks and Even Money were pretty good, but not so much Crossfire, although not sure how much Dick actually would have contributed to this latter one as he died during the writing of the book.
Rosie - why is it they aren't your cup of tea, is it the racing angle or do you not like thrillers/crime novels - just interested!
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Post by susanb on Oct 21, 2012 2:11:45 GMT 1
Realized I'd forgotten to answer your Felix Francis question! No, I haven't tackled any of his....either with Dick or without. Will have to try one of the two you liked and see.
Re Mrs. Francis helping Felix write them....unlikely, unless she's come back from beyond to do it....she died several years before Dick.
Re the horses getting hurt or killed....yes, it is horrific, but unfortunately realistic......someone looking to fix a race is far more likely to attack a horse than a human, as (sadly) it attracts far fewer police.
Re the romances.....can't say they irritate me, but yes, for the most part they absolutely are stock characters/relationships. I suppose it doesn't bother me because I don't read the books for the romance?
I know the one you mean with the guy in love with friend's wife, but can't for the life of me remember which one it is! One of the earlier titles, I think....maybe Dead Cert or For Kicks? He did a few unrequited loves in the early days.....Nerve, where hero is in love with his first cousin, Blood Sport, where he's in love with a girl too young for him (that one is backwards, the girl chases the hero, who refuses her).
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2012 7:11:54 GMT 1
I'm not really interested in racing.
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Post by Claire on Oct 21, 2012 10:03:49 GMT 1
Re Mrs. Francis helping Felix write them....unlikely, unless she's come back from beyond to do it....she died several years before Dick. Lol for some reason thought she was still alive. I guess Felix'd need a ouija board for her to write them! I grew up with racing, before I even got into ponies. I used to watch the racing on TV with my grandad from being a very tiny tot. And I used to go to the races a lot at one time. So I guess it was inevitable that I would love racing stories.
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Post by darkhorse on Oct 22, 2012 22:02:08 GMT 1
I'not mad keen on racing or thrillers but I have read the odd Dick Francis book and I quite enjoyed them. I haven't read any of the Felix Francis books either.
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Post by susanb on Oct 23, 2012 14:48:00 GMT 1
I grew up with racing on TV....it was just the only horse sport ever shown, so it was that or nothing!
And then again I grew up on children's racing books too.....the Bonnie series by Pat Johnson and Barbara van Tuyl, Walter Farley's books, Vian Smith's racing titles (esp The Lord Mayor's Show), C.W. Anderson's books....etc.
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Post by Claire on Oct 24, 2012 20:31:12 GMT 1
Sadly racing stories for children were almost non-existant in the UK until the 1980s or later (and even then weren't exactly common). Point to points featured occaisionally but I can't really think of many offhand apart from National Velvet and the Michael Hardcastle books, and Vian Smith whom you mentioned Susan. Thankfully the Black Stallion books were widely available over here! You are lucky in that there was a much greater variety of different horse stories in the USA, ours tended to be much narrower in theme.
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vera
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Post by vera on Jan 1, 2013 21:53:08 GMT 1
Not exactly a thriller, but I just read "The Dark Horse" by Rumer Godden. It is an enchanting story, set in India in the early half of last century and apparently based on a true story
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vera
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Post by vera on Jan 1, 2013 21:53:28 GMT 1
Not exactly a thriller, but I just read "The Dark Horse" by Rumer Godden. It is an enchanting story, set in India in the early half of last century and apparently based on a true story
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