| Is Dick Francis a masochist, or a man to be avoided? Never have I found an author so imaginative about beatings-up. No Francis hero ever gets theough a book without being bashed thoroughly and painfully, and Tim Ekaterin, the Banker of this book, is no exception, finding himself in the last pages squashed beneath a horse sent berserk by drugs administered by the villain. Tim Ekaterin is the rising star of his family's merchant bank, who knows his way around the racing world thanks to his mother's passion for it, but has never felt particularly drawn to it. All this changes when the bank is asked to finance the purchase by a stud owner of a top racehorse, Sandcastle, for stud purposes. Things appear to run smoothly, but then a high proportion of the stallion's first crop of foals are born with a variety of defects. Ruin stares the stud owner in the face, and Tim is inexorably drawn into finding out just what is going on. As usual with Francis, it's a case of a villain who started in a small way, and was then seduced by the combined appeal of money and vengeance, and in the final pages the hero finds himself at his mercy... Exciting stuff, with meticulous attention to detail. If you ever want to know about merchant banking, or how to invest in a stallion, look no further. |
