Review: Front Runner

Front Runner by Felix Francis
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Consider me confused. The book starts with a thrown race, and our hero investigates and spies on a man making bets. He figures out the man is making money through nefarious methods, which are explained in some level of detail. And then, the book goes off in a different direction, as if this first big mystery, which is left unsolved, was just to introduce some characters. The Francis method involves mixing plots involving horse racing with other well-researched topics. In the past that included glass blowing, computer hackers, the veterinarian business, and more. This one had that horse racing bit at the beginning, but pretty much left it behind for some focus on, where I to take a guess, international tax theft, the use of Google to search the internet, and, in general, the Cayman Islands, where, it is explained in the book, there is no horse racing. The horse racing content was sadly lacking beyond the first third of the book, and really made no sense anyway.

Another of what I'd call the Francis formula is to put your protagonist through torturous pain, repeatedly, and with descriptions that cause even the most ardent crime fiction readers to wince in solidarity. I don't think Felix quite has the skill here that his Dad had. Close, and will likely match it soon, but a smidge too clinical here.

So although I found the plot disconcerting, I find promise in the hero-torture. Boy, that doesn't sound right!

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Review: Arlington Park Racetrack

Arlington Park Racetrack by Kimberly A. Rinker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It is difficult to tell a good story in these Images of America books, and sometimes the topic makes it doubly hard. That was the case here. About half of the pictures were of horses in stride, and given space limitations, you rarely saw the same horse twice. The writeups on the horses showed the expected material - owners, trainers, jockeys, record, family history... There wasn't much excitement in reading the material in this book. The only excitement was in the photos and they got repetitive, although I am sure those race fans who spent a lot of time at the facility and knew their horses would rank these pictures higher. Casual fans, not so much. There were a few pictures of the aftermath of the fire that burned down the grandstand and offices, and I actually found those pictures compelling - there should have been more about the effort to rebuild (enough) for the Arlington Million that year. That was a story. What was really sad, though, was that the book ended on a hopeful note, talking about all the great racing to come at the most beautiful racetrack in the country. Which was closed, sold off, and torn down a few short years after the book was published. I suspect that the book would have included more about the facilities themselves had they known - I don't recall the book having any pictures of the betting windows and the lines there, or the Million Room, or the crowds in the stands, the train stop from downtown, the beautiful and well-kept infield, the special events, or even the office workers. I suspect there is another book that could be written now that the jewel of Illinois horse racing has been demolished.

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