Tue 7 Dec 2010
Reviews by L. J. Roberts
DICK FRANCIS and FELIX FRANCIS – Crossfire. Putnam, hardcover, August 2010. Paperback reprint: August 2011.
Genre: Amateur sleuth. Leading character: Tom Forsythe; Dick Francis’s 45th book. Setting: England.
First Sentence: Medic! Medic!
Captain Thomas Forsythe has returned from fighting and being injured in Afghanistan, to a place called home in name only. He and his mother have never been close. She is a well-known, well-respected, successful trainer of racehorses and at risk of losing everything to a blackmailer and/or the Inland Revenue. For the first time ever, Tom can help his mother; if she would only let him.
One thing on which you can always count with a Francis novel is a captivating opening and this book does not disappoint. It begins with a bang, literally, and is both current to our time and effective.
After that, I must admit, the old charm wasn’t quite there. Tom is an effective character and classically Francis; he’s independent, a loner, self-reliant and determined. He was certainly the best of the characters in the story, and the most well developed.
It may sound silly, but I enjoy that the author’s voice, particularly with both the author and the characters being British, sounds British without an attempt to Americanize it. There was a strong sense of place, I feel I’m coming to know the Lambourn region.
Details make a difference. The inclusion of information on Tom’s life in the military, including what the infantry wears and carries with them, but also information on the tax system; these things add dimension to the story.
Taking into account that I was reading an uncorrected proof, there was a good deal of redundancy. I hope that won’t be true with the finished edition. The plot was good, but lacked the suspense to which I’m accustomed and a number of the situations were strikingly, and rather uncomfortably, familiar from previous books.
Remembering specifically which books definitely took me out of being involved in reading this one. One of the classic Francis elements was missing; the protagonist was never involved in a fight. Considering the occupation of the protagonist, this was one book in which he could really have held his own. Maybe that’s why it wasn’t included, but I certainly noticed the lack of it being there.
What did work, however, was the climax. It was unexpected, somewhat shocking and one of the best from Francis in awhile. The epilogue was well done and it is always important to me to know justice is served.
For all its faults, I don’t regret having read Crossfire. It will be interesting to see how the Francis name and style progresses from here.
Rating: Good.
December 8th, 2010 at 10:40 am
Whenever I see a Dick Francis book in a used bookstore or at the many book sales I attend I can’t help but think of my Dad. He read every single one of the Dick Francis books. Long before my birth he and my mother lived in Louisville and both became avid horse race fans while living amidst all the Kentucky Derby madness that apparently infused the city during the early 1940s. When I was a teen he tried to get me interested in Francis (knowing of my obsession in mysteries of all types) but the only one I managed to read was IN THE FRAME – primarily because it was about art theft (horse portraits) and not horse racing. I can’t remember a thing about it now. Even after reading this intriguing review I doubt I will ever return to Francis. But I still smile a bit when I see the Dick Francis name emblazoned across a book.
December 8th, 2010 at 4:01 pm
Confession time. I also was not a fan of horse racing mysteries for much of Dick Francis’s career, and I’ve been making up for that long lapse in good judgment over the past four or five years.
There was also a time when I wasn’t reading British mysteries at all, and in fact I ended up selling or giving away lots of them. Big mistake. Never dispose of books you may change your mind about later on.
(I keep telling myself this, but do I listen to me? No.)
Another reason I didn’t read Francis’s book is that they were thrillers, not detective novels, and I wasn’t interested.
Ah well, we all change our minds about our favorite kinds of reading matter as the years go on, don’t we?