Review: Dick Francis's Gamble

Dick Francis's Gamble by Felix Francis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was Dick Francis’ son Felix’s first solo writing effort after working for and with his father on earlier Dick Francis horse racing mysteries. And you can sense the relationship. Dick Francis books, and I’ve read many, all had a kind of formula. They all had characters somehow related to the racing industry. And the plot usually required author research into some other area that must have interested the elder Francis, like publishing, computer viruses, or art glass. This book contained those elements. The lead character is an injured jockey turned financial advisor. And the plot hinged on questions of financial legal compliance and record management, obviously involving some research by the author. Oddly, I am involved in record management, and I found this part of the plot interesting. All mysteries should delve into records management. I found the mystery unexpected enough to make the story interesting, and enjoyable in the racing content. Felix has the basics of his father’s formula down pat, but I thought the story was missing something. I believe Dick’s main characters were almost always identical in some character traits, like a need to go it alone, and a high moral code. Dick’s characters seemed like brothers. But here, Felix’s main character didn’t seem to have that same feel. He felt more like a cousin than a brother to Dick’s leads. But given this was Felix’s first solo endeavor, I know this gets better. Nice start.

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