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Knock Down (The Dick Francis Library)
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Product Description
Product Description
Steeplechase jockeys, like all other professional sportsmen, have to find a second career for themselves as the years go by. Jonah Dereham, retiring from the saddle at thirty-two, chooses to become a bloodstock agent and spends his life travelling round racehorse sales, finding and bidding for the sort of horse each of his clients wants. Jonah wants only to mind his own business, but several disturbing incidents force him to realise that someone is out to ruin him, and to survive he has to find the answers. A couple of bully boys begin to put the boot in, and Jonah finds himself progressively forced to fight for the survival of his brother who hits the bottle; helped by a blonde in an orange MGB, he presses onward to a rough conclusion.
Book Description
It's the classic law of the invader. Get to the strongest guy and smash him, and then watch the weaker ones fall like ninepins. Which is exactly what a vicious gang of horse dealers decides to do when their little kickback scam is being threatened with a spot of old-fashioned honesty. But they haven't reckoned with bloodstock agent Jonah Dereham, a man who belies his quiet exterior with a steely and implacable resolve. They can threaten him, try to burn down his home, even attempt to kill him. But they'll soon wish they hadn't. Because Dereham flushes out the real scam, and with it finds out just who the real Mr Big is. And when he does that, life suddenly becomes cheap... 'Another wonderfully effective thriller' Sunday Times
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As all those Dick Francis titles are (at least to me) rether generic, I am slowly reading my way through the ones not reviewed yet on Amazon, and posting some notes - but NO SPOILERS!
Knock Down (1974). Jonah Dereham is a bloodstock agent, buying and selling horses for a living. But when someone starts sabotaging his business, and colleagues are leaning on him to join kickback schemes, he starts investigating who and why, and begins to hit back. A brother with problems and a beautiful driver involved in a horse crash add to the interest.
This is yet another solid thriller/love story/whodunnit all rolled into one, with Francis' impeccable writing style: spare, good dialogue, short; personality sketches that leaves you with a real feeling for the people involved - no cardboard cutouts here. Francis is a truly professional writer, as well as a real jockey: he was a professional full-time jockey for ten years, and it shows.
Knock Down (1974). Jonah Dereham is a bloodstock agent, buying and selling horses for a living. But when someone starts sabotaging his business, and colleagues are leaning on him to join kickback schemes, he starts investigating who and why, and begins to hit back. A brother with problems and a beautiful driver involved in a horse crash add to the interest.
This is yet another solid thriller/love story/whodunnit all rolled into one, with Francis' impeccable writing style: spare, good dialogue, short; personality sketches that leaves you with a real feeling for the people involved - no cardboard cutouts here. Francis is a truly professional writer, as well as a real jockey: he was a professional full-time jockey for ten years, and it shows.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
That is the hidden agenda behind this thriller. Annother excellent character created as hero by Francis. Jonah Deerham, ex jockey (what else) now a bloodstock agent with two burdens -an alcoholic brother and an old injury. The girlfriend is an interesting departure as well - cool, self contained, an air traffic controller.
Francis brings his books to life with a wealth of detail from his own experience aided by thorough research BUT, unlike some other authors, doesn't ram it down your throat all the time.
Interesting introduction from Dick Francis showing how he came to write the book. The plot however is all his own.
Francis brings his books to life with a wealth of detail from his own experience aided by thorough research BUT, unlike some other authors, doesn't ram it down your throat all the time.
Interesting introduction from Dick Francis showing how he came to write the book. The plot however is all his own.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
14 reviews
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Can't Knock It.
5 Dec 2002
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Anyone who loves horses and can read should take on at least one Dick Francis mystery novel. Francis is perhaps the world's most prolific (and best?) writer on fictional horse-related topics. Each of his mysteries revolves around some aspect of horses: breeding, racing, veterinary, trading, etc. He uses his fictional plots to impart his vast equine knowledge to readers in an enjoyable way. And Knockdown is as good an example as any.
In Knockdown, street-wise Jonah Dereham is an independent and honorable bloodstock agent (British terminology for horse trader), a profession not known for ethical practices. Dereham learned his horse knowledge in his prior career as a jockey, and is now hired by rich American woman, Kerry Sanders to buy a horse at auction. In the parking lot after their successful bid, two thugs oddly demand that the horse now be sold to them at a higher price--and then enforce their demand by clubbing Jonah on the head, the first in a series of knockdowns to come.
The mystery is on. What is so special about this horse? Why not buy the horse in the auction instead of extorting it from the new owners just minutes later? Who is this Kerry Sanders and who was the horse really for?
Before he unravels the mess, Dereham suffers thru harassment, arson, threats to his alcoholic brother, Crispin, and more violent knockdowns. He meets the love interest, air traffic controller Sophie Randolph, when his mysteriously loose horse dashes across the highway, causing her to crash her car. Jonah tries to make things right for Sophie, but she ends up doing as much for him: once even setting his chronically dislocating shoulder after yet another encounter with the bad guys. Knockdown is rigid formula fiction that works. --Christopher Bonn Jonnes, author of Wake Up Dead.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Slow start, finishes with a flair
17 Aug 2009
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book didn't instantly "grab" me like most of Dick Francis's writing does. Midway, the book picks up the pace; then, I didn't want to put it down. It was easy, fast-paced reading, and nice for summer relaxation. I had read Knockdown several years ago, so throughout the book I was thinking, "oh, yes, that was what I had forgotten." Good books are like good friends: I like to re-visit them; but maybe that was why I thought the start was slow. Anyone who enjoys horses and mysteries probably will like Francis's writing. I particularly appreciate his ability to succinctly, but casually paint word pictures of horses, people, and places. He gives scope to the imagination of the reader. I had to laugh when the hero of Knockdown recommended Halley as an investigator. Of course, Sid Halley is one of my favorite Francis characters. Knockdown was worth reading again.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
What price honesty?
17 Feb 2010
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Jonah Dereham is an ex-jockey with three fused vertebrae and a dislocating shoulder. Now making his living buying horses as a bloodstock agent, Jonah is too honest for his own good.
While all around him, other bloodstock agents are cheating buyers, sellers and breeders - Noah is foolishly happy with a simple commission, no hidden kickbacks. He's ruining it for everyone else. His associates threaten to crush him if he won't play the game.
For Jonah, buying horses turns out to be even more dangerous than riding them.
Although the plot feels a bit slight to me, Jonah is a thoroughly likeable hero. And Francis draws an interesting portrait of Jonah's loner of a girlfriend, an air-traffic controller who never loses control of her heart. Jonah's self-pitying alcoholic brother is also well done.
Dick Francis is always worth reading. I was in the middle of this book when I heard that he just died. The news made me sad. I think it's a mistake to see Dick Francis as a mere writer of horse mysteries. The horses are there, and he loves them, but Dick Francis is really writing about character, integrity, doing your best against impossible odds, seeing the good in others, taking risks, throwing yourself into life.
My tribute to Dick Francis will be to read every one of his books. Wish there were more.
While all around him, other bloodstock agents are cheating buyers, sellers and breeders - Noah is foolishly happy with a simple commission, no hidden kickbacks. He's ruining it for everyone else. His associates threaten to crush him if he won't play the game.
For Jonah, buying horses turns out to be even more dangerous than riding them.
Although the plot feels a bit slight to me, Jonah is a thoroughly likeable hero. And Francis draws an interesting portrait of Jonah's loner of a girlfriend, an air-traffic controller who never loses control of her heart. Jonah's self-pitying alcoholic brother is also well done.
Dick Francis is always worth reading. I was in the middle of this book when I heard that he just died. The news made me sad. I think it's a mistake to see Dick Francis as a mere writer of horse mysteries. The horses are there, and he loves them, but Dick Francis is really writing about character, integrity, doing your best against impossible odds, seeing the good in others, taking risks, throwing yourself into life.
My tribute to Dick Francis will be to read every one of his books. Wish there were more.
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