Longshot
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
John Kendall is short of funds, so he accepts a commission to write the biography of Tremayne Vickers, a successful National Hunt racehorse trainer, despite knowing little about the world of racing. The author is a winner of the Crime Writers Association's Diamond Dagger.
Book Description
John Kendall knows how to survive. He's written six handbooks on the subject. Now he wants to become a novelist - preferably without starving to death. But when cold and hunger set in, Kendall impulsively accepts an unlikely job. He is to research and write a biography of Tremayne Vickers, a famous racecourse trainer. Staying at Vickers' home in rural Berkshire, Kendall soon learns to like his host and friends, learns to ride racehorses, learns about murderers... And how his own survival tips can become deadly traps...
--This text refers to the
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"Longshot" centres on events in an old racing family, observed through the eyes of a writer of survival handbooks who has been invited to work on the biography of the patriarch, a successful trainer of racing horses. A classical murder narrative unfolds...
For the first time in a a few of its ilk, this novel left me wanting to hear more about how the characters went on to live their lives, partly because the resolution left some interesting tensions to work with. Due to the nature of the plot, Francis's characterisations go into more depth than he normally offers, and I wish he'd added another volume.
For the first time in a a few of its ilk, this novel left me wanting to hear more about how the characters went on to live their lives, partly because the resolution left some interesting tensions to work with. Due to the nature of the plot, Francis's characterisations go into more depth than he normally offers, and I wish he'd added another volume.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Longshot is one of many many books written by Dick Francis, and each is the same and yet different. In a strange quirk of humour, Francis has decided to base this book on the character of a struggling author. A survival expert, the last thing he expects is to need those skills in a quiet rural village. This book is much more of a whodunnit than many of his other books, and aims to keep you guessing. Fans will buy this book regardless, but it's excellent characters and well-researched plot and background make it a good introduction for any reader.
Format:Paperback
(one in a series of Dick Francis reviews in which I try and separate all those rather similar titles, and in which I try not to give away plotlines)
The book:
John Kendall has written several books on how to survive in the wild, but he now really wants to switch to fiction. To improve on freezing in a garret, he takes on a temporary job of writing Tremayne Vickers' biography; Vickers is a trainer of race-horses. Kendall moves into the trainers' home in Berkshire, and soon his survival skills come in handy - as apparently someone else is using his books to set traps; men-traps...
The writer:
Dick Francis served in the RAF in World War II and was a professional jockey afterwards; he was Champion Jockey, but hung up his professional boots and turned to writing thrillers. He died in 2010. This was his 29th thriller, from 1990.
My opinion:
A solidly good Francis, 4.5 stars out of 5. The usual clarity of writing, with a large cast of characters who you get to know personally in a very clever way; no "now *who* was that again" with Dick Francis. In an almost casual manner also much info on a trainers' life, on the English class system, the countryside, survival skills. All combined with Francis' excellent style, his essential decency, and a cracking yarn with a complex crime puzzle (and a special solution)
The book:
John Kendall has written several books on how to survive in the wild, but he now really wants to switch to fiction. To improve on freezing in a garret, he takes on a temporary job of writing Tremayne Vickers' biography; Vickers is a trainer of race-horses. Kendall moves into the trainers' home in Berkshire, and soon his survival skills come in handy - as apparently someone else is using his books to set traps; men-traps...
The writer:
Dick Francis served in the RAF in World War II and was a professional jockey afterwards; he was Champion Jockey, but hung up his professional boots and turned to writing thrillers. He died in 2010. This was his 29th thriller, from 1990.
My opinion:
A solidly good Francis, 4.5 stars out of 5. The usual clarity of writing, with a large cast of characters who you get to know personally in a very clever way; no "now *who* was that again" with Dick Francis. In an almost casual manner also much info on a trainers' life, on the English class system, the countryside, survival skills. All combined with Francis' excellent style, his essential decency, and a cracking yarn with a complex crime puzzle (and a special solution)
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