SYNDICATE

5 stars out of 5

I've long been a fan of the author and before that his late father, Dick Francis - and even after all those years, for whatever reason, I took a special shine to this book. I even stayed up late one night just because I was at the 90% mark on my e-reader and didn't want to wait till morning to finish it.

My attraction wasn't just the story, although it's a good one; the owner/manager of a racehorse syndicate receives threats to his daughter's life (with actions to back them up) if he doesn't "fix" specific races in which his horses are entered. That part alone captured and held my attention from beginning to end; but sprinkled liberally in the mix were fascinating details about the racing industry, and syndicates in particular (most of which I was clueless about until now).

As a prominent and trusted member of the UK racing community, Chester Newton's reputation is at stake when he finds himself in a most unwelcome situation. After his grown daughter Amanda goes missing - and later turns up drugged but otherwise unharmed - he starts getting calls from an unknown caller that he must follow the caller's instructions or else the next abduction won't end as well. Meantime, his syndicate is doing exceptionally well thanks to a horse named Potassium, who unexpectedly wins the prestigious Epson Downs Derby - just the financial and public relations shot in the arm the syndicate needs to bounce back from its current stagnation. Getting caught fixing a race - or even thinking about it - would bring an end to an illustrious career and life as Chester knows it.

But what to do about it is another matter altogether; he certainly doesn't want to put his daughter's life in danger - nor that of his wife of 25 years, even though they've grown apart over the last several of them, nor Amanda's brother, who comes across as a sort of ne'er-do-well college student with no real purpose in his life.

With Amanda's return, Chester learns the local police have little interest in the case (after all, she wasn't really harmed - just drugged - and she claims to have no recollection of what happened to her anyway). So if he's to learn the identity of the threatening caller and bring him (or her) to justice, he's pretty much on his own. But how to do that without compromising his own values and bringing the professional life he loves to a quick end?

The details, of course, I cannot provide; for that, you'll have to read it for yourself (and obviously, I urge you to do just that). I will, however, happily thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy of another of this author's wonderful books. And oh yes, ready for the next one when you are!!

Syndicate by Felix Francis (Crooked Lane Books, September 2024); 252 pp.

THE SECOND WIFE

5 stars out of 5


When I first started this, I was afraid it wasn't going to be my cup of tea despite the enticing description. Mostly, that was because each chapter is told from the perspective of a different character - a popular technique, of course, but not a favorite of mine. And because the chapters are exceptionally short, I expected the journey to be a choppy one.

But wait, there's more!

And guess what: It's all good. The plot twists held my attention every page of the way; and yes, those frequent switchbacks actually made me eager to move along as well (let's just say that while I'm disappointed that "my" NFL team didn't make the playoffs for this year's Super Bowl, it did free up more time for me to plow through the last half of this book without stopping). 

Here's the scoop: Rebecca and Nicole are longtime best friends; when Nicole dies - her death ruled a suicide - Rebecca of course comes to the funeral. But she's got an even more important agenda; bolstered by messages over the past year or so from Nicole, she's convinced that she did not kill herself. Rebecca is aware, for instance, that Nicole's on-the-surface perfect second husband, Richard, has a grown daughter, Olivia, who lives with them and is at best snarky toward Nicole. As for Richard, well, let's just say blood is thicker than water. So on the pretense of looking for a new home in the U.K., Rebecca decides that the best way to see what's available - and ferret out the truth about Nicole - is to accept the handsome and charming Richard's offer to stay with him and Olivia (if you suspect something else might come of that, you'd be right - no big surprise there, for goodness sake).

In all honesty, I wasn't able to work up sympathy or empathy for a single character; I'm totally unable to identify with females who refuse to get up and run when it's clear they're being emotionally or physically abused in any way). Rather, my interest was in riding the whole thing out: What really happened to (and by) whom, and who, if anyone, "won" out. And boy, what a ride it was.

So if you're looking for an easy-to-read book of head games, don't hesitate to give this one a try. Meanwhile, thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for providing me with an advance copy to read and review.

The Second Wife by Sheryl Browne (Bookouture, January 2019); 349 pp.

PSYCHOANALYSIS

4 stars out of 5


Three emotionally damaged characters: A female serial killer, a psychiatrist, and a detective, all driven to some extent by past personal trauma. The latter two want to catch the former; the psychiatrist in the hope of getting a new book out of it, and the other because he's convinced that she's having way too much fun to stop on her own.

But first, they have to find her. From the start, readers know that Sarah Silver is on the surface a highly successful U.K. hedge fund manager in who plies a very different trade in her spare time: hunting men and killing them. But she's no fool; she's changed her identity, her looks and her license plates so often that no one has a clue who she really is and certainly not what she does in her time off.

The psychiatrist, Karl Gross, has written best-selling books on serial killers. Whether it stems from jealousy or a perceived lack of professional ethics, though, he's far from the most popular brick in the medical chimney. The detective, Martin White, is watching his career and personal life go down the tubes (easing it along by guzzling alcohol and smoking pot), largely because he can't come to grips with things that happened to him in the past.

Somehow they all come together, crossing paths in ways that force them to deal with emotions they'd rather not acknowledge. They don't start out happy, nor do they end that way. But the in-between twists and turns of their "relationships" make for one heck of a good story.

Frequent scene shifts keep readers aware of what's happening from each of the character's perspectives - sometimes an effective technique but, at least in the early chapters of this book, seemed a little disjointed to me. I'm also not fond of fiction written in the present tense, but that's just a personal preference. 

The ending probably won't satisfy everyone (and some of the gory details aren't for the really squeamish). No problem on my end on either score, though - I found this to be a very engrossing debut novel. I thank the author and publisher, via NetGalley, for giving me the opportunity to read it in exchange for an honest review.

PsychoAnalysis by V.R. Stone (Silverwhite Press, October 2016); 312 pp.