- Mass Market Paperback
- Publisher: Fawcett (1984)
- ISBN-10: 0449202623
- ISBN-13: 978-0449202623
- Product Dimensions: 16.8 x 11.7 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 181 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's not the horses, it's the people,
By
This review is from: Banker (Hardcover)
All of Dick Francis' mysteries are built around some aspect of the world of horse-racing. In this one, a young partner in a merchant bank lends money to a breeder to buy a champion stallion for his stud farm. Everything goes along splendidly for a while, then things mysteriously start to go wrong.Francis is always interested in how people think, feel, and react to one another; so his books are always interesting. His characters are not cardboard pawns. As well, the background of the story is always educational.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A good investment for mystery & suspense fans!,
By
This review is from: Banker (Mass Market Paperback)
Dick Francis is a formulaic writer, which is to say that one has a pretty good idea of the shape of the novel before one even cracks open the cover. While this would be a death knell for longevity for many, it hasn't been for Francis. This arises from the fact that his characters are so memorable and the milieu in which he casts his tales so rich and well defined that we totally forget that some of the plot mechanisms feel familiar.Banker is a tale of a young British investment banker involved in a syndicate financing the stud career of a well know champion race horse. After the deal is sealed there arises a problem--it appears the horse is genetically defective. Our Banker suspects this is not entirely a natural phenomenon and starts investigating. As always with Francis, this leads to intrigue, violence and murder. Francis' ability to skillfully enter into a wide array of worlds in his novels is another strength--the world of investment banking is brought into sharp focus in a way that makes it interesting--not terminally boring, as one would imagine. Banker is one of Francis' very best works--the characters are vivid and compelling, the mystery here is more refined than usual, the suspense builds very nicely. If you haven't yet tried Francis, this would be a great book to start with. It will set you on the path to a lot of great reading!
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best,
By
This review is from: Banker (Mass Market Paperback)
Dick Francis has a winning formula: take a youngish man of about 30, who holds a job that most people would think is boring; have him solve a mystery and prove that he is far more observant, more intelligent, and cleverer than anybody expected. Along the way, have his family, who doesn't appreciate him and takes him for granted, find out that he is more important to them than they to him. And an intelligent, middle-aged woman who recognizes his value and will help him in his future career. Stated in a formula like this, it doesn't sound like that much, but the details Francis gives in each book make it fascinating.Some people might hesitate to read a Francis book, as I did for years- I thought they were just about horse racing and jockeys, and as that wasn't a particular interest of mine, I didn't bother. However, in most of his books written in the last 25 years, although horse-racing is always a part of the plot, the main characters are in all walks and fields of life, and one does not have to love horses and jockeys to read these books. In this case, our hero's career is investment banking. Some people would start to doze off at the thought of banking, but Francis provides us with details of the job that show the exciting parts of it, the skills required, and the variety that can enter into it. When the banking firm finds itself asked to invest in a race horse, Tim Ekaterin, the poor relation of the family, turns out to have the knowledge needed for this risk. He also knows enough to recognize that when something goes wrong, it may not be due to natural causes. We meet veterinarians, chemists, and other researchers, all of whose work is described accurately enough to make one suspect that Francis has a friend or relative in every field mentioned and has pried every detail of their daily lives out of them. The ending is good; the bad guys get their come-uppance, and greed is punished, while our hero is finally rewarded with some recognition in both his personal and work lives.
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