Bonecrack by Dick Francis

This is a fairly grim little number even for Dick Francis. In point of fact, the hero takes rather less of a beating than most Francis heroes - a beating early on, and a broken collarbone later - lots of intimidation, of course. The problem for me may be that so many horses are killed - four, I think. A bunch of guys kill each other, too - but they were seriously bad guys, even a writer of fiction wouldn't want to leave standing at the end.

The title refers to the chief bad's chosen method of intimidation. He doesn't kill the horses outright, he anesthetizes them, then breaks a leg - thereby forcing the owner, trainer, or someone to put the horse down. When that doesn't work, Neil himself becomes the target; in his case, no anesthetic - and the barrel of a gun as a back-up, not to mention a threat against the favorite in the big race, and against the stables as well.

Another departure, this one is about flat racing not steeplechase. I'm not sure that had a significant impact on the story. If the rules and what have you for flat racing are different from those for steeplechase, I really couldn't tell from the story. Yes, I do know the fundamental difference between the two types of racing - in flat racing they run around a track, in steeplechase they run around a track and jump over things. Still, I don't think setting the story in steeplechase instead of flat racing would have changed anything much.

Frankly, I don't think Neil Griffon is one of Francis's more engaging heroes - but at least he doesn't lust after a teenaged girl. He shares with the others a stubbornness that does not allow him to cave in to blackmail, intimidation, or physical violence, but somehow he never quite seems to come alive as most of the clan do. He isn't as depressed as many of them, but he seems somehow to disassociate from events around him. Another factor of the character's development is the translation of his own disastrous relationship with his father into concern for a young boy who is the victim of a truly catastrophic father/son dynamic. Griffon's thoughts about the boy and his circumstances are clearly and explicitly delineated, but they don't quite seem to make the leap into observable feelings.

Still, it is Dick Francis, perhaps not his best, but still better than just about anyone else out there.