While not my favorite by Francis, this is still a very good book and I enjoyed rereading it. The main character, John Kendall, is a young writer thrown into the unfamiliar world of racing and right into the middle of a mystery. He is a survivor and a person who sees the connections that others sometimes miss but he figures out 'who' and 'why' too late to avoid some really serious trouble. I found the ending rather typical of Francis' books.

Commonly, it is an insult to say that a novel is typical and not readily distinguished from others but Dick Francis has written so many thoroughly enjoyable thrillers in his own milieu that such an observation now indicates strength. In this case, the wrinkle is that the protagonist is a writer of survival manuals who needs those skills when he takes on the biography of a horseracing man. ( )

This is the survivalist story. Good story, interesting people - nice the way he sort of walks on in the middle of the story and even when he's attacked he's not the real focus, just sort of incidental. I don't know why I like that, but I do. ( )

This is one of my favorite books from Dick Francis. John Kendell, out of despiration, takes a job writing a biography for a horse trainer and in the process is involved in a murder investigation. Great read. ( )