Helpful Score: 1
Vintage Dick Francis!! Steven scott, a successful, wealthy inventor, has a lucrative hobby--horse racing. His reputation as an owner is staked on Energize, a beautiful black hurdler. Scott has everything going for him, including a gorgeous woman, until a crooked horse trainer plots to take him for all he's worth.
A typical Dick Francis stay up all night story.His heroes are strong,weak, bright,dumb----in other words;human.
Steven Scott is relatively new to horses. A successful, wealthy inventor, he takes up horse racing as a hobby. But just when he is winning at both women and horses, he discovers deceit in his own stables. Termination of the troublemaker marks Steven for his own termination - and much sooner than he can imagine...
Typical Dick Francis but with a little twist at the end.
Beautiful copy and excellent story! With a glass of champagne in one hand and binoculars in the other, the world of racing could seem a very cosy and civilized hobby. Especially when your horse has just sprinted past the winning post. But the pleasure of a day at Sandown is spoiled for Steven Scott when he sacks the trainer of his horses, a man he once thought of as a friend. For although on the surface Jody Leeds is a bright young workaholic, Scott suspects he's a crook. Racing may have its rewards but, as Scott finds out to his own cost, not all of them are innocent...or legal.
This was a great book. I couldn't put it down. It jumps right into the action and stays there with some good suspence and romance thrown in too. I'm not even into horses or horse racing, but when I want to read a book I'm sure will be good, I pick up one of Dick Francis' books.
It's probably the 3rd or 4th time I've read this book, for me definitely falls into the "comfort read" category. A classic from Dick Francis, it drops you into the middle of the action right on the first page and doesn't let up. Famous toy inventor Steven Scott fires the trainer of his racehorses in a very messy public venue, and in the aftermath starts to learn just exactly how much the man stole from him. There's not enough evidence for a court case so Scott with the help of some friends takes matters into his own hands. Unfortunately these guys are not toys to be trifled with. Francis always manages to come up with believable main characters who are what we want to be - resourceful, brave, moral and generally just good guys. All the plots have something to do with horse racing; and unfortunately there do tend to be dead horses. HIGH STAKES is not a murder mystery, although there is a murder (sorry but it's a horse) and it comes at the end. I enjoy Francis so much, I'm so glad he mostly wrote stand-alones, and I bet in a few years I'll re-read this book again.
Excellent Dick Francis mystery!
A mystery
