Bolt (Francis Thriller) - Suspense Crime Novel | Fast-Paced Action Thriller Book for Adults | Perfect for Commute Reading & Book Club Discussions
Bolt (Francis Thriller) - Suspense Crime Novel | Fast-Paced Action Thriller Book for Adults | Perfect for Commute Reading & Book Club Discussions

Bolt (Francis Thriller) - Suspense Crime Novel | Fast-Paced Action Thriller Book for Adults | Perfect for Commute Reading & Book Club Discussions

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Description

A classic mystery from Dick Francis, the champion of English storytellers. Jockey Kit Fielding's patron, Princess Casilia, is in trouble. Her invalid husband is being threatened by a ruthless business partner who wants to use the firm to manufacture arms. At the same time, some of the Princess's best horses are being killed - shot by a bolt. The only person the Princess can turn to is Kit - but he has problems of his own. His fiance Danielle has taken a shine to another man. And his old feud with Maynard Allardeck, racing steward and hereditary enemy of the Fieldings, might lose him his license to race. Between riding winners (and trying to save his impending marriage) Kit has somehow to find out and stop who is slaughtering the horses. But, as he's about to discover, the killer has more than horses in his sights . . . Praise for Dick Francis: 'As a jockey, Dick Francis was unbeatable when he got into his stride. The same is true of his crime writing' Daily Mirror 'Dick Francis's fiction has a secret ingredient - his inimitable knack of grabbing the reader's attention on page one and holding it tight until the very end' Sunday Telegraph 'The narrative is brisk and gripping and the background researched with care . . . the entire story is a pleasure to relish' Scotsman 'Francis writing at his best' Evening Standard 'A regular winner . . . as smooth, swift and lean as ever' Sunday Express Dick Francis was one of the most successful post-war National Hunt jockeys. The winner of over 350 races, he was champion jockey in 1953/1954 and rode for HM Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, most famously on Devon Loch in the 1956 Grand National. On his retirement from the saddle, he published his autobiography, The Sport of Queens, before going on to write forty-three bestselling novels, a volume of short stories (Field of 13), and the biography of Lester Piggott. During his lifetime Dick Francis received many awards, amongst them the prestigious Crime Writers' Association's Cartier Diamond Dagger for his outstanding contribution to the genre, and three 'best novel' Edgar Allan Poe awards from The Mystery Writers of America. In 1996 he was named by them as Grand Master for a lifetime's achievement. In 1998 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List of 2000. Dick Francis died in February 2010, at the age of eighty-nine, but he remains one of the greatest thriller writers of all time.

Reviews

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“You must understand,” Greening said, impressing it upon me, “that M. de Brescou is of the ancient regime, from before the revolution. His is a patrician family, even though he himself bears no title. It’s essential to understand that for him personal and family honor is of supreme importance.”(The above is a subtle criticism of modernity. The ''revolution'' refers to the French Revolution. Implicit praise of ''patrician'' values of honor and condemnation of a world that has none. This is the contrast that underlies the drama.)This ''personal and family honor'' is the foundation of the dramatic structure of this work. Great!Both the French 'patrician' and the English 'commoner' have family honor to either fight or protect. Class distinctions are significant. But what are the classes? Inherited titles? Family tradition of hate? Individual choice of justice? Personal desire of cruelty? Free will or cultural control? All these questions, and their answers, presented here. Wonderfully done!''Much more likely that he thought he could put the frighteners quite easily on a paralyzed old man and an unworldly woman and was currently underestimating both the princess’s courage and her husband’s inflexible honor. To a man with few scruples, the moral opposition he expected might have seemed a temporary dislodgeable obstinacy, not an immovably embedded barrier.'' (41)The villain exposed!''although I’d schooled him a few times over practice jumps on Wykeham’s gallops, I hadn’t been able to teach him courage. He went round the whole way letting me know he hated it, and I had difficulty thinking of anything encouraging to say to his owners afterward. A horse that didn’t like racing was a waste of time, a waste of money and a waste of emotion.'' (144)This analysis of a horse lacking courage. Next, his beautiful fiancé . . .“I love you very much,” I said slowly.“Do you want me to give up my job?” “Aunt Casilia said if I asked, and you did, and we married, it would be disastrous. We would be divorced within five years. She was very vehement. She said I must not ask it, it was totally unfair, I would be destroying you because I don’t have your courage.”She swallowed convulsively, tears filling her eyes.Courage that brings honor or fear that creates disgrace? This theme is constant, clear, vivid, and fascinating!
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