ICED

4 stars out of 5

If you're a confirmed reader of this author's books - and/or those of his late father, Dick Francis - do not expect this one to be another standard issue. In fact, it's noticeably different; but once I stopped wondering when the pace was going to pick up and someone was going to get bumped off (somewhere around the 30% mark), I realized I was getting into it anyway. And that continued right to the end, after which I shut down my Kindle and said to myself, "Self, that was very well written and a darned good story."

Basically, it's a canter through the life of Miles Pussett, son of beloved champion steeplechase jockey Jim, who died in a car accident by literally taking the brunt of the crash to save his young son. Miles followed in his father's footsteps as a steeplechase jockey, but due to circumstances mostly beyond his control - including unfavorable comparisons to his late father - he quit. But the thrill of the chase hasn't deserted him; now, he gets his kicks on Switzerland's Cresta Run, where he barrels headfirst down a nearly mile-long ice chute at close to 80 miles an hour with little protective covering.

The story is a little hard to follow in that it shifts in time from his steeplechase time seven years ago to the present, focusing on events that shaped (and continue to shape) the person he's become. And clearly, he's carrying some serious emotional baggage with which he continues to deal. The two periods in his life collide when his former boss Jerry Dickinson cajoles him into helping out by taking one of his two horses for a run and saddling up the other before a race. After the race is over the the horse expected to win doesn't, Miles questions the result and doesn't like the answer he finds, but he also isn't sure what to do about it (if anything).

Mixed in between is a look at Miles's ongoing internal struggles - which includes self-medicating with alcohol - that is handled quite well and puts a spotlight on the important issue of mental health. Miles doesn't always make the best choices, but given his life circumstances, he's doing the best he can. In the end, everything comes full circle that really isn't very surprising (well, the "who" of it isn't - the bad guys and gals are pretty easy to spot early on - but the "how" is creative and, in some respects, downright fun.

So IMHO, it's another one well done - maybe more so because it isn't just another formulaic entry into a series. Definitely worth reading!

Iced by Felix Francis (Simon & Schuster, August 2021); 384 pp.

FRONT RUNNER

4 stars out of 5

One of the most successful continuations of the works of a popular author who has passed away is, IMHO, that of Felix Francis, son of the late Dick Francis. I used to love reading the father's tales set in Great Britain's horseracing scene (most often steeplechase), and I was very sorry to learn of his death in 2010 at the age of 89. 

Felix Francis, a physics teacher, helped his father with both research and writing (as did, reportedly, the late Francis's wife and Felix's mother, Mary, who died in 2000). So in 2011, when Felix wrote his first solo book, Gamble, I wasn't too surprised that it wasn't much of a departure from earlier books Felix had co-written - nor were the three others that preceded this one.

Now that I've finished it, consider me still happy. This may not be the best of the Felix-written bunch; except for the main character, British Horseracing Authority undercover investigator Jeff Hinkley, none of the other characters ever really developed much of a "personality," although the plot moved quickly and held my attention throughout. Hinkley, by the way, also appeared in the Felix Francis-written Damage, published in 2014, but the two books stand alone.

This one begins as a popular winning jockey reveals to Hinkley that he's lost at least one race on purpose; but before he can spill the rest of the beans, he dies in what's being called a suicide. Meanwhile, Hinkley - who has come to the jockey's home to learn more - ends up locked in the jockey's super-hot sauna. Apparently, the jockey decided he didn't want his secret to get out, but then, overcome with remorse, he offed himself.

Managing to escape from the killer heat (that's not a spoiler - you wouldn't really expect the hero to die in the first few pages, did you?), Hinkley decided to do more investigating and discovers a few more irregularities of race-fixing and illegal wagers. And suddenly, he finds himself in the crosshairs of someone - or more than one someone - intent on silencing him forever.

Also of interest to me is that one of the locations where action takes place in the book is the Cayman Islands - interesting because that's where the elder Francis was when he died (he had a home there). 

Front Runner by Felix Francis (G.P. Putnam's Sons, October 2015); 381 pp.