Dick Francis's Gamble (A Dick Francis Novel)

The Francis formula lives on! A bright and competent man falls into a situation that is dangerous and unfamiliar to him and triumphs. Nicholas Foxton was standing next to a work colleague at the races when the colleague is murdered by an unknown assailant. Both men are Independent Financial Advisors for the same firm - Lyall and Black. Nicholas was a former race jockey who had to find a new career after he broke his neck in a riding accident and lost his jockey license at age 21. He still very much misses the excitement and thrills of his old career and believes that his new one is boring.But he is soon proved very wrong as he delves into his colleague's life and also into the affairs of his company. Foxton soon becomes the target of the same unknown killers who killed his friend. He has to struggle to find out what he knows that is so dangerous. His colleague was also the front man for an online gambling scheme and Nicholas has to straighten that out too. He was named Kovak's executer and is in charge of settling his estate. At first he thinks the murder attempts might be related to that scheme but it is just a "red herring."Nicholas also has to deal with personal issues in the story. His live-in girlfriend Claudia has become distant and isn't picking up phone calls. Nicholas has to wonder if she is seeing someone else and if their relationship is breaking up. He is torn because he doesn't want the relationship to end. When he finds out that she has ovarian cancer, he isn't relieved but at least he and Claudia are together. He is trying to protect her from the danger she faces because of the murder attempts and support her in her illness.What I like about Francis books is that the characters are always interesting and honorable. Nicholas Foxton is in over his head but he doesn't stop fighting for what is right until he triumphs (or, at least, survives.) The mystery was well-done. I didn't correctly identify the villain until Nicholas did. I couldn't put the book down. I was frantically turning pages until the wee hours because I couldn't rest until I knew how things were going to work out for Nicholas.Mystery lovers won't be disappointed in this suspenseful story.

Hard to out this one down once started! Kept me on the edge of my seat all the way! Felix has done his father proud!

In an interview with second son Felix that I read online while waiting for this, his first solo thriller, to arrive from Amazon, I learned that the Dick Francis mysteries have always been a family affair, with Dick (the late Queen Mother's former jockey) creating the plots, his wife doing much if not most of the writing and second son Felix, the science teacher, contributing the tech aspects and other off-the-racetrack story elements. After Mrs. Francis died in 2000, Dick called it quits. When, after several years, the cry for more from readers and publishers had failed to die down, Felix gave up his teaching career to join "the family business" full time, the annual Dick Francis thriller was reborn and the second son's secondary byline began appearing on the book jackets. Now Dick is gone and the last surviving collaborator is going it alone for the first time. So how's he doing? Spectacularly well, I'd say.That wasn't my take on it at first. The first couple dozen pages or so, involving an execution-style murder at the Grand National, seemed sort of same old/same old. But once the tale left the track and jumped into the world of international internet gambling, Bulgarian hit men and independent financial advisors (the current profession of our hero, a former jockey who'd broken his neck near the finish line a few years ago and could never ride again), we were off to the races with a fresh, complex and cleverly crafted nail-biter of a thriller. "Couldn't put it down" has become such a cliché on these pages and I'm a bit embarrassed to see myself using it, except that it really and truly does apply here for me and I suspect it will do the same for you.The Francis family business seems to be in very good hands indeed.

I enjoyed the book very much. My wife has been an avid Dick Francis reader plus the books he wrote with Felix. This was my first Francis book. Even though I liked the book and found it a page turner (even with the Kindle) I wonder about the title "Dick Francis's Gamble". The book also ended abruptly. I won't say why because maybe a potential reader might see this. The way it ended, aside from the abruptness, according to my wife, was like the l ending of a book that Felix and Dick wrote together, which seems odd. I gave it 5 stars because it was an exciting book to read and very suspensful. I would read another Felix Francis book in a heart beat. I plan on getting all of Dick Francis's books and the ones they wrote together put on my Kindle eventually. I can understand why my wife loved all of the books so much and she did read them all over the years. I don't mean for this review to be negative, but I just like things sewed up at the end. It was kind of like the movies made in the 70s. We would be enjoyying the movie and all of a sudden the titles would run and we didn't really know how the movie ended. I do recommend the book to potential readers but they just have to understand they really have to decide the final details themselves. My wife and I have discussed and decided how things worked out. So there Felix Francis we finished writing your book in our minds.

This appeared to be a new pbk of the "Dick Francis" series. When it came I was furious to discover it was an AMERICAN edition of a book that came out in 2011. I was alerted when I read "trunk" where it should have been "boot". I can't see the point of it. Can't Americans learn British English? If I read an American novel, I expect to take americanisms on board! It went straight back for a refund. Amazon - be more careful with your marketing! Please. I then found I already had a British paperback of this title on my shelves and reread it with pleasure.

I've read most Dick Francis novels and also the more recent books co-authored by Felix Francis.I was somewhat disappointed in 'Crossfire' and did not expect too much from this, but I was wrong!This is an excellent novel with interesting characters and a well thought out plot-line with some very original ideas. It even makes the job of financial advisor sound exciting! The slighly menacing sense of danger throughout the book kept me riveted as to the conclusion of the story.I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and am now looking forward to further good work from Felix Francis, who is turning into a very worthy successor to his great father.

We love the Dick / Felix Francis books but find the paperback version print too small for a comfortable read. Also the Dick Francis books are un-put-down-able - so you don't want to strain your eyes. Also we like to re read them.

Good read

Felix is every bit as good a story teller as his father. Look forward to many more in the future.