Shattered - Audio Cassette - Unabridged Author:Dick Francis, Fiacre Douglas (Narrator) When jockey Martin Stukely dies after a fall at Cheltenham, he accidentally embroils his friend Gerard Logan in a perilous search for a stolen videotape. Logan is a glassblower on the verge of widespread acclaim. Long accustomed to the frightful dangers inherent in molten glass and in maintaining a glassmaking furnace at never less than 1800 deg... more »rees Fahrenheit, Logan is suddenly faced with terrifying threats to his business, his courage, and his life.
Believing that the missing video holds the key to a priceless treasure, and wrongly convinced that Logan knows where to find it, criminal forces set out to press him for information he doesn't have. To survive, he realizes that he himself must sort out the truth. The final race to the tape throws more hazards in Logan's way than his dead jockey friend could ever have imagined.
Glass shatters. Logan doesn't. . . but it's a close-run thing.
Read by Fiacre Douglas. 5 audiocassettes (420 min.)« less
I literally could not put this book down once I started it, Dick Francis really covers a wide scope of interesting characters and situations that skillfully blend into the horse-racing world.
Dick Francis is a master of mysteries. I
thought this book was great. Set in the beautiful village of Broadway I could picture it while I was reading. Fast paced and very easy to read, didn't want to put it down, I read the last page at quarter to midnight just didn't realise the time had flown by. I have not been to Broadway since my husband died 8 years ago but I don't remember there being a glass shop there, there may be of course. I am sure that the Wychhaven Arms is actually a beautiful Cotswold stone hotel where they have a gorgeous Chinese Wisteria growing right across the front in the late spring and early summer. Worth a visit just to see it.
Dick Francis really was an excellent story teller and is greatly missed. His son Felix is carrying on the family business extremely well.
An excellent story and very well told by a person who, when much younger, was a fighter pilot fighting the Battle of Britain with the RAF. Following the war, he was a steeplechase Jockey, riding horses belonging to the Queen Mother. He was a champion jockey on several occasions. When he became "too old" for jump racing, he started writing a racing column for a newspaper. He then started writing books and he became one of my favorite authors. His books were all well researched and told in a very interesting and informative manner. His son, Felix, is now continuing his legacy and I think that he is doing a great job.
Another great Dick Francis novel. I'm always amazed when people say that they've never heard of Dick Francis. He's a fabulous mystery/thriller writer, and this novel is another example of that.
This Dick Francis book was a fascinating read. This time, he tells us about the world of a master glass artist, friend of a champion jockey. The ensuing chaos when the jockey dies leads to murder, mayhem, and love, as three videotapes are confused and alternately lost and found and lost again. The trail leads through the cybernet, along the downs with vicious attack dogs, and gets stirred up by a gorgeous, wealthy chauffeur-driven force of nature who happens to be the mother-in-law of the dead jockey. The twisting plotline and remarkable setting mark Shattered as another superb Francis read!