I checked this book from our school library. I must addmit I was a little apprehensive at first, but by the third chapter I was hooked. His name is Peter Darwin, no relation to Charles, he is an english diplomat. He is staying in his childhood town while caring for some new friends. Peter soon finds himself wrapped up in the troulbes of his new friend's future son-in-law. The son-in-law is having troulbes in his horse vet practice when horse after horse in his care ends up dead. Then, the vet hospital burns to the ground and a dead body is found. Peter has to find out who is trying to set up his new-found friend by using the knowledge from his friend and long lost childhood memories. I can assure you, you will not want to put this book down (I sure didn't)

Longshot features travel writer turned novelist John Kendall who, to make ends meet, accepts a commission to produce the biography of a race horse trainer. Kendall soon discovers, however, that a recent murder at the trainer's home is far from resolved, and unwittingly becomes ensnared in a web of deceit and danger. Kendall is forced to draw on survival skills honed in exotic locations in order to navigate these home-grown perils.

The book's strength, like most Dick Francis mysteries, lies in solid pacing and engaging characters. Francis juggles well a fairly large cast, all with realistic motivations and personal quirks; the only person who does not ring true, perhaps, is the police inspector who obligingly spills facts to Kendall as needed. Kendall himself is another well-crafted Francis everyman, at loose ends emotionally and personally while he tries to pursue a new professional calling. He stands out from other Francis heroes with his specialized knowledge of living off the land, rather hazardous traps, and survival against the elements. And who as a child didn't dream once or twice of surviving in the wild in such a manner? Francis offers, once again, a chance to experience someone else's livelihood and to puzzle together a mystery along the way.

I enjoyed this book enormously when I first read it and bought the audio version just for fun. Kenneth Branaugh really made this book a treat to listen to - fantastic voices and range without over doing it. Dick Francis fans - anyone really - will be thoroughly entertained with Longshot.

This is the first Dick Francis novel I've read. I originally purchased this novel because of my love of horses, and how he incorporates them into his writing. However, when reading, I realized that Mr. Francis' books stand on their own. This story was incredibly exhilerating, and well written. I had a hard time putting it down once I got into it. All the characters are interesting, and developed very well. I'm looking forward to reading another one of Mr. Francis' novels in the near future. I highly recommend this book.

I've read 2 by Francis; Flying Finish was fun but Bolt quite disappointing. This is NOT a mystery--we know throughout who the (one-dimensional) villain is, and the plot is merely waiting for the inevitable to occur. Even the 'surprise ending' does not really add much to any drama.

Try another Francis novel.

With its companion volume, Break In, Bolt is one of Dick Francis' best! Kit Fielding, a hero with depth, who has recently become engaged to Danielle, is struggling to understand why her feelings for him seem to have cooled. At the same time, the Princess' horses are being killed, apparently by a bombastic and violent Frenchman who wants to take control of a business still half-owned by the Princess' husband. How Kit thwarts the evidoer, as well as the apricot-haired and very funny Beatrice, while re-winning his love and riding his races, is an involving and well-plotted story. I love Dick Francis' work anyway, but this book starts with a bang and doesn't slow down, unlike some others which are a bit slow to get going. Definitely read Bolt, but read Break In first. Wonderful!

I really did enjoy it - and I own all of Francis's books. They're like old friends to me - I visit all of them about every 5th year. The only disappointment I've ever had with Dick Francis is Shattered - his last novel. It seemed hurried and the characters not as well developed in comparison to his others.

Francis offers his usual fare: The same protagonist with a new name; a plot of investigation, discovery, physical pain and mental exercises; a supporting cast of believable characters who act in supportable, self-interested, and logical ways. All of which is not to say anything bad; i love to read Francis, and do so when looking for a vicarious thrill and a light read. The protagonist in this one is Edward "Link" Lincoln, an action picture actor ~ the sort who might star in movies made of Francis' books ~ who goes to South Africa for a little off-set investigation. At least, he thinks that's why he's gone there; he's actually gone to be killed. In a post-Apartheid world the picture of South Africa is rather sweet; i would guess Francis had some coöperation from the government in return for his portrayal of the country.

This is one of my favorite all time Dick Francis novels. Link is a character you'll love and you'll loves to plot twists as fiction can become reality.

I've read more than a dozen Dick Francis mysteries. Most are good, some are great, a few are not quite up to par. But this one definitely stunk. Instead of a tightly written 200 pages, it was 300 repetitious, boring pages. The main character was a cipher and his "love interest," a married woman, just happens to become free at the very end of the book. How contrived can you get? Prior to that, in the last 60 or so pages Francis lived up to his best plotting self, although the main character's near death experience was not original. Oh well. I bought it for 50 cents at a book sale and wasted only a few hours reading it, so I can't really complain.

Dick Francis is a formulaic writer, which is to say that one has a pretty good idea of the shape of the novel before one even cracks open the cover. While this would be a death knell for longevity for many, it hasn't been for Francis. This arises from the fact that his characters are so memorable and the milieu in which he casts his tales so rich and well defined that we totally forget that some of the plot mechanisms feel familiar.

Banker is a tale of a young British investment banker involved in a syndicate financing the stud career of a well know champion race horse. After the deal is sealed there arises a problem--it appears the horse is genetically defective. Our Banker suspects this is not entirely a natural phenomenon and starts investigating. As always with Francis, this leads to intrigue, violence and murder.

Francis' ability to skillfully enter into a wide array of worlds in his novels is another strength--the world of investment banking is brought into sharp focus in a way that makes it interesting--not terminally boring, as one would imagine.

Banker is one of Francis' very best works--the characters are vivid and compelling, the mystery here is more refined than usual, the suspense builds very nicely.

If you haven't yet tried Francis, this would be a great book to start with. It will set you on the path to a lot of great reading!

Dick Francis has a winning formula: take a youngish man of about 30, who holds a job that most people would think is boring; have him solve a mystery and prove that he is far more observant, more intelligent, and cleverer than anybody expected. Along the way, have his family, who doesn't appreciate him and takes him for granted, find out that he is more important to them than they to him. And an intelligent, middle-aged woman who recognizes his value and will help him in his future career. Stated in a formula like this, it doesn't sound like that much, but the details Francis gives in each book make it fascinating.

Some people might hesitate to read a Francis book, as I did for years- I thought they were just about horse racing and jockeys, and as that wasn't a particular interest of mine, I didn't bother. However, in most of his books written in the last 25 years, although horse-racing is always a part of the plot, the main characters are in all walks and fields of life, and one does not have to love horses and jockeys to read these books.

In this case, our hero's career is investment banking. Some people would start to doze off at the thought of banking, but Francis provides us with details of the job that show the exciting parts of it, the skills required, and the variety that can enter into it.

When the banking firm finds itself asked to invest in a race horse, Tim Ekaterin, the poor relation of the family, turns out to have the knowledge needed for this risk. He also knows enough to recognize that when something goes wrong, it may not be due to natural causes. We meet veterinarians, chemists, and other researchers, all of whose work is described accurately enough to make one suspect that Francis has a friend or relative in every field mentioned and has pried every detail of their daily lives out of them.

The ending is good; the bad guys get their come-uppance, and greed is punished, while our hero is finally rewarded with some recognition in both his personal and work lives.

I'm not sure I believe it, but there it is: amazon has Trial Run listed as out of print. Amazing.

By now I should be inured to the pace of a Dick Francis novel, which is roughly equivalent to that of a marathon turf stakes at Ascot: in order to conserve energy, the horses start off slow, knowing they have a couple of thousand meters ahead of them; the pace picks up after you get round to the backstretch the first time, and the finish is furious. Francis spent too much time on the backs of nags at Royal Ascot to forget that, I guess. And thus you know that the first three or four chapters of a Francis mystery are likely to bog down. Stick with it; it's almost always worth the trip.

Randall Drew has been forced into retirement (like many of Francis' jockeys). In this case, it's because the jockey club has seen fit to outlaw riding with glasses, and contacts and Drew don't mix well. Drew, friend and lover to English royalty, is tabbed by the Prince to investigate shadowy claims of threats to a Royal who wants to ride in the 1980 Moscow olympics, threats that are backed up by the death of a German olympic rider, supposedly of a heart attack-- but foul play is suspected. Drew heads off to Moscow, and the fun begins.

If you know Francis, you already know whether you're going to buy this or not, I suspect. Francis mysteries are basically formulaic. Ex-jockey becomes amateur detective, ex-jockey discovers something nasty is happening at a track somewhere, ex-jockey investigates, ex-jockey gets into scrapes, ex-jockey gets out of scrapes, ex-jockey solves crime. It's good clean mindless fun, and this one has nothing about it that stands out from the others, save its rather odd location (which seems quaint given the collapse of the cold war nowadays). Good if you like Francis, bad if you don't, and not a book I'd suggest as a jumping-off point if you don't know his work (try Odds Against or Enquiry instead, where Francis is on his home turf).

I do like Dick Francis novels, and I do admit, as many other reviewers have said, that there is a certain predictability to the plots of many of them. What I find myself looking for, in mancy cases, is the philosophy beyond the plot. In this case, the plot is about an attempt to sabotage the Moscow Olympics. The plot holds together well, but what I enjoyed about this book is that it is a glimpse of the end of cold war Russia (of course from a British perspective) and it is an attempt to think about the personal decisions that humans make which shape of our lives and about personal freedom.

I think Francis does a good job with these rather weighty themes, within the framework of the mystery/thriller genre that he has perfected over time.

As a really big Dick Francis fan, I would be really sad if someone heard all these great things about this author, picked up this book, and then never tried another book again. It's not a very good one. The premise is good, the characterizations as usual are very nice, but the plot goes nowhere and stays there from about halfway in until the last, disappointing page. Changing narrators in the book was a nice risk, but it ruins everything. Having the book be about computers and then putting in a 14-year gap was also not the wisest thing. If you want to start off on the right Francis Foot, try PROOF or WILD HORSES or ENQUIRY, and there you're neck-deep in characterization, plot and thrills. Francis is a master, but even masters have an off day.

Gotta agree with the other reviewer's comment about mixing 14 year gaps in stories with plots centering about computers. I actually program these silly things for a living, and listening to this book in 2001 was interesting purely from this historical computer languages angle. However, I found myself distracted througout wondering if it was the initial story about Jonathan that was intended to take place in '81 or the second story 14 years later. I don't think I buy it either way: programs don't last 14 years.
My verdict: centering the plot on a computer program? Good.
Breaking the story into two, changing narrators, and setting the 2nd half 14 years later? Good.
Both? Not so good.
Try Whip Hand or In The Frame instead.

Dick Francis is one of the finest mystery/thriller writers going. This book, one of the first mysteries I ever read, hooked me to Francis's saddle during my teens. I've enjoyed the ride ever since.

If you wish to read one of the dozens of Dick Francis novels, and every mystery fan should, please don't start with Second Wind. To be sure the writing has all of the usual Dick Francis qualities of concise yet telling prose. But the plot involving not a horseman but a BBC meterologist, Dr. Perry Stuart, and his fellow meterologist Kris, the desire of suicide-minded Kris to fly through a hurricane, the tiny island of Trox, now deserted, and the mysterious goings-on there, and the collection of folks met at a party at Newmarket is in the end unsatisfying. The plot was strained at times, and the various physical poundings befelling Perry, including surviving a hurricane with only a life vest, seemed more cartoon-like than real.

Although Francis had the help of a professional meterologist for the atmosphere, still the impression was a very superficial one and in a way misleading. There was little or no talk that I recall of the various models that forecasters rely on, or the atmospheric teleconnections that enable forecasters to predict with some accuracy the weather a week down the road. Also, Francis has Hurricane Sheila whipping up the waves in November which would be some 17 named storms, close to if not a record for the number of named Atlantic storms in a single season.

In sum, Francis seemed to have trouble in deciding whether this is mystery or suspense, or whether he should highlight the business of weather forecasting or the machinations of terrorists and their helpers. Read Dick Francis, but not this one.

SECOND WIND is my first Dick Francis mystery novel and I'm hooked (that leaves about 37 books to go)! I couldn't put this book down and found myself out of breath as surprises continued to erupt toward the end of this well-written story!

SECOND WIND tells of English meteorologist Perry Stuart's flight into both extreme weather and bad company after accepting a Caribbean vacation opportunity to chase a hurricane. The chase plane goes down and Stuart barely makes it to an island that is anything but usual. Dick Francis really keeps readers guessing throughout this complex tale! Story components include British weather forecasts, sick race horses, depressed friend, piloting airplanes, Florida, hurricanes, ocean/island survival, cows, good guys and bad guys. Francis rather brilliantly incorporates a fascinating look at British TV meteorologists in action by neatly tying weather forecasting in with his favorite topic, horse racing!

Dick Francis, a former British steeplechase jockey, is a top-notch storyteller who is superb at constructing unique who-done-it scenarios. It's my understanding that nearly all of Francis' novels are based in some way upon his own experiences and/or that he and his wife take a great deal of time to research for background and technical accuracy, etc. Francis writes in a smooth, fast-paced, vividly descriptive style using an economy of words. The thing is, every word is effective! I immediately cared about Francis' very human characters and felt a part of the story because of his cultural and setting descriptions. I also learned from entering his well-researched worlds of meteorology, flying, and, of course, the horse racing scene based upon his own experiences!

I highly recommend this book to all readers who enjoy a mystery full of compelling surprises! I predict you won't be able to stop with just one Dick Francis novel!

The primary reason I continue to seek out and read Dick Francis is that he continually creates heroes that are efficacious and rational. He avoids the common pitfalls of most modern writers, and instead invents characters who pass the ultimate test: "Would I like to meet and know this person?" If you can answer "yes" to that question then there is great potential for enjoyment in the fiction centered around that character. If you answer "no" to that question, why even bother reading further?

In Second Wind the master of galloping fiction spins an interesting story with more twists than a hurricane. Although it is not my favorite Francis book it is certainly worthy of my growing library of top books recommended to friends.