Dick Francis's Refusal (Sid Halley series Book 5)

Sid Halley retired from being a private investigator and is now living near his ex-father-in-law with his wife and six-year-old daughter. He is working as an investor and telling himself that his life if satisfying. When someone high in command of British horse racing asks Sid to investigate what looks like race fixing, Sid refuses. When that person is found dead of an apparent suicide the next day, Sid is interested but still unwilling to be involved.It takes a threatening phone call that demands Sid sign off on a report indicating that nothing is going one and the kidnapping of his young daughter before Sid gets involved. Luckily, Saskia is home almost before Sid knew she was missing but the threat is very clear. Sid isn't the type to let threats keep him from doing what he knows is right but threats to the safety of his wife and child do give him pause.When Sid starts to investigate, the villain throws more trouble Sid's way. This time Sid is accused of abusing his child and taking pornographic pictures which were found in his garden shed. While that does cause a lot of trouble including the loss of his computer and cell phone and the necessity of moving to the Admiral's house, Sid perseveres. He feels that the only way his family will ever be safe is for him to get rid of the villain who is causing all the trouble.Many of Sid's old colleagues are no longer available to assist him but Chico Barnes still is. Chico is a great character and very helpful to Sid. Together the two of them investigate and come up with a plan to end the threat to Sid's life and family.Also in this story, Sid learns of hand and arm transplants and sees an opportunity to finally get rid of the prosthesis that has been a part of his life for fourteen years. He has always hated it and is willing to take the risk of the surgery for the possibility of having a flesh and blood left arm.The story was exciting, the villain looked to be invincible, and Sid Halley was as courageous and stubborn as always in this book. I recommend it to fans of mysteries and especially to those who have read the other books about Sid Halley by Dick Francis.

The early Sid Halley books were interesting and suspenseful with the trademark Francis bad-guy on good-guy scenes and and Jenny the ex-wife who gave Sid grief. Now Sid's life seems dull and the new wife isn't happy with him. The situation may be realistic, I'd be unhappy if my husband put me or our child in danger, but that doesn't mean it's fun to read about! I'd be willing to suspend disbelief enough for Marina and Saskia to be off somewhere until the story ends happily.

I have been reading Dick Francis since the late '70s. I invariably bought each book within a week of its release, relishing the newest plot. What I especially liked about his books, besides the horse racing themes, was that I always learned something new about other subjects in each novel -- about photography in "Reflex," for example. I also really liked his Everyman hero with his underlying quality of goodness. What I did not like about the earliest books was the extent of the physical violence they contained. I was very happy to see that aspect greatly mitigated in those that followed the first 6-7 [or less].I am amazed at how well his son Felix's "voice" replicates that of his father; I am hard pressed to tell the difference. Hence, I'm again first in line when a new book is released. [Thank you, Amazon, for pre-orders!] The latest book "Dick Francis's Refusal" is another great read .... except for one thing. This book harkens back to some of the earliest novels that I felt contained too much intense violence. I can understand when the hero puts himself at risk and generally suffers as a result; however when harm is also threatened or meted out to children, family pets, and elderly loved ones, I am both disappointed and afraid for future books in the series.Now, this is my personal opinion and your mileage may vary. Maybe because we tend to avoid violence in movies and TV shows, I am less inured to it and thus more sensitive when it appears in the book I've been looking forward to reading. This is my reason for deducting one star. I still recommend this book to both those familiar with the series or to new readers. It is well written and his father would be proud of how well Felix is extending the legacy.

I have read some of the reviews of this book, saying that it is not as strong as the other Sid Halley books by Dick and Dick / Felix Francis.The first in the series, Odds Against, was fantastic and, in my opinion, the best of the series, but i believe this effort by Felix is certainly the equal of Whip Hand and Odds Against, if not betterI found the pace excellent, kept my interest throughout and was an enjoyable read.I think the criticisms that Sid is now married with a daughter are fair but times move on and the reader should understand that characters have to have lived and moved on from the last time that we met them, particularly when there is a gap of about 10 years between each appearance of Sid Halley.Overall, i would recommend this book and it certainly would not put me off form purchasing another book by Felix.

Not the best Sid Halley book, the usual suspicion of the police and a rather ludicrous villain who would surely be on MI5's radar. Felix is attempting to give a little more depth to his heroes but this fails, we don't need it, it's an airport thriler not literature, especially as it takes the form of whining about his artificial arm (after 14 years shouldn't he have got over it?) and a long, overly-sentimental passage regarding the death of one of his ill-trained dogs.A major plot flaw is that Halley should surely just have packed his half-witted nag of a wife and spoilt brat of a child off to his in-laws in Holland for the week or so it takes him to bring down the villain.Readable but not great.

These are written as sort of "from the stable of Dick Francis" but they are really just hopeless pale imitations. the characters don't act within character, the dialogue is simplistic - two weeks after buying it I can't remember the plot easily. Buy a book written by Dick Francis and you'll see the difference. It annoys me that Felix Francis books bang on about the Dick Francis connection, but they just disappoint. A poor book, that could be written by anyone with GCSE English; poor characterisation, poor dialogue, weak and insufficient descriptive passages. Implausible and frankly, don't waste your money.

In the past, I have read most of the genuine Dick Francis books. The Sid Halley stories being in among the best of them. I was tempted into this one by while doing some research for a story.Sadly, Felix is not his father. The book moves forward in leaps and pauses. The character of Sid has changed, much more than marriage and fatherhood alone should have done.The secondary characters get very little development, even Chico becomes a cypher of his former self. If you are new to the Francis canon, it is a perfectly acceptable ripping yarn, but ....

Readers who are already familiar with the novels of Dick and Felix Francis will decide for themselves whether to buy `Refusal', so this review is aimed at those who have only read one or two of the books, or are considering dipping a toe in the water for the first time.Dick Francis was born in 1920, and following war service was a popular and successful jockey between 1946 and 1957, when the cumulative effect of racing injuries forced him to retire. He was Champion Jockey in 1953/54 and published his autobiography - `The Sport of Queens' - in 1957. His first novel, `Dead Cert' was published in 1962, and he wrote 42 more before his death in 2010. He also wrote a best-selling biography of Lester Piggott (published as `A Jockey's Life' in 1986, but later re-issued as `Lester') and published a collection of short stories, `Field of Thirteen' in 1998.The last four novels were written in collaboration with his younger son, Felix Francis, and since his father's death Felix Francis has carried on the family tradition. And it WAS a family tradition; before her sudden death in 2000 Dick Francis' wife, Mary, had been an enthusiastic researcher and made significant contribution to the background subject matter of the novels. Francis once explained in an interview that Mary's family called him Richard, because there was already a Dick in their family; separately, they were Richard and Mary Francis, `Dick Francis' was a combination of them both. Having grown up with such a background, it's hardly surprising that Felix should continue where his father left off.`Refusal' is the third novel from Felix Francis, the others being `Gamble' (2011) and `Crossfire' (2012). It continues the well-established formula, but is unusual in one respect - the lead character, Sid Halley, a former jockey turned private investigator, is one of only two main characters to appear in more than one book. Halley first appeared in 'Odds Against' (1965) and subsequently in `Whip Hand' (1974), `Come to Grief' (1995) and `Under Orders' (2006). On this, his fifth outing, Halley has retired from sleuthing and, having established himself in the financial sector, has settled down to life as a family man. Nothing could persuade him to go back to the investigation game.Of course, that doesn't prevent people from trying to change his mind. One such is Sir Richard Stewart, chairman of the British Horseracing Authority, who asks Sid to investigate what seems to be a price-fixing scam. With a six-year-old daughter now the focus of his life, Sid stands firm and refuses to become involved. But the very next day Sir Richard is found dead, and Sid receives the first in a series of threatening phone calls ....Another reviewer describes the books as formulaic, and so they are, but that is part of their enduring appeal. In the last half-century, successful British crime fiction has ranged from the academic police investigators of Colin Dexter and P D James to the thrillers of Frederick Forsyth and Lee Child and the crime noir of Mark Billingham and Stuart MacBride, but throughout that time the Dick Francis novels - and now the novels of Felix Francis - have remained unchallenged in the middle ground. You know what you are getting. The world of racing will play a significant part in the plot. There will be a sympathetic lead character. There will be a sinister and malevolent criminal entity. You will become absorbed in the plot and will read for far longer than you intended. The good guy will triumph in the end. But those are the essential elements of most good thrillers. Given a few hours to fill, this is the perfect novel to occupy your time - it isn't too light to hold your attention, nor is it too heavy to read in a sitting if that's what you'd like to do. The same could be said of some of the all-time successes in the genre, so what's not to like?Two short points to conclude. Firstly, I've seen some rather snide comments (not among these Amazon reviews, I hasten to add) about Felix Francis making the most of his father's name. Presumably that's because the book is described on the cover as `A Dick Francis Novel'. I have no inside information, but I'd bet that this is a decision by the publisher rather than the author. Secondly, a health warning: these novels should be consumed with care as they can be habit-forming and, as I have discovered to my cost, there is no known antidote ....