We all know you've got to be mad to ride horses in jump races but no one ever writes about the mental challenges of National Hunt jockeys - at least not till now. So hooray for John Francome, champion jockey and Channel 4 pundit, whose terrific new novel features a hero who's lost his bottle. If Phil ever let on he was seeing a shrink he'd be laughed out of the weighing room and, so he thinks, kicked out of the bedroom of his sexy young wife. To hang on to her and his number one spot at the top trainer's yard he's got to take on a psycho built like a brick outhouse who's waging war against the whole racing world...
I read this and Francome's last (Lifeline - also first rate) in one go and reckon he's really hitting his stride as a horseracing novelist. There's great characters, tons of nailbiting racecourse action, sex and jokes - in other words it's full of Francome-style insights into the world he knows best. If you like horseracing thrillers you've got to give this a go.