Customer Reviews

To The Hilt

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Usually if one said that an author and his novels were dependable that would be synonymous with dull and boring. Not so with Dick Francis. He always manages to create stories and characters that grab the reader and hold on until the end.

In "To the Hilt," we have Alexander Kinloch, a painter whose specialty is golf and the places and people that involves. He lives in a bothy in the Scottish highlands where the solitude makes his work not only possible, but extraordinarily wonderful. However, the world intrudes in the shape of four burly men who beat the pulp out of him. They want to know where "it" is, and when they realize he has no idea what they mean they throw him down the mountain to his fate.

Over the next few weeks, he finds out what they were seeking and why. When Ivan, his step-father, has a heart attack, the authority to protect the older man's empire is given to him, a responsibility he is both willing and loath to accept. His step-sister, who resents his interference, begins intruding on his life and that of their parents. As she struggles to wrest power from him her father dies, leaving Alexander with total authority. Part of that responsibility is a string of race horses, bringing into the story the one absolute certainty of a Francis story.

However, he really shines in this tale when describing the artist's passion and obsession. Alexander meets an older woman, an antiquities expert, bent on "saving" a precious heirloom, and becomes haunted by her face, to the point that he feels compelled to paint her portrait. The reader gets the brush strokes and the feelings as the work forms under his hands. Even a non-artist has to say, "Yes, that's how it is." When she sees the finished work, she says, "You have made me immortal."

Anyone who likes mysteries will enjoy the clean writing in a Dick Francis novel. For the most part both story and characters are unambiguous. This is a quick read and totally enjoyable.

All of Dick Francis' stuff is great, and here's no exception. It's a quick read and nobody at a university is going to assign it as fine literature. Yet, Francis deftly involves issues of personal character in the presence of money and titles, not unlike Shakespeare's greatest hits.
Continually underscoring the two human races: the decent and the indecent (good and evil are too pure of terms for true-to-life characters), the author always emphasizes through his first-person account the stiff-upper-lip culture and maturity of England's ideal man.
Inventing tasteful ways to present sex and gore both, Dick Francis shows off good writing skills for even a jaded modern audience.
This tale combines all of the above and spices it with Scottish landscape, royal jewels, treachery, jealousy, castles, a National Trust busy-body, and of course...horses.

This is only the second Dick Francis book I've read, but I think I'm hooked. To the Hilt had just the right combination of suspense, intrigue, familial strife, and general pathos to keep me engrossed from start to finish. The plot centers less around who did what than *why* they did it, and what the results will be. I identified with and rather liked the main character, Alexander, and I appreciated the humanity Francis gave to all the characters, even the antagonists. I particularly appreciated the eccentric relationship between Al and Emily. Even if you're not a huge Dick Francis fan, or a mystery buff, I think you would enjoy this book.

The main character of Dick Francis' "To the Hilt" is twenty-nine year old Alexander Kinloch whose only desire is to spend time alone painting. Unfortunately for him, Alexander is thrust into a plot involving the theft of million from his stepfather's, Ivan Westering's, brewery. Alexander is asked for his help in hiding Ivan's two treasures, the King Alfred cup and Golden Malt, a valuable racing thoroughbred. But soon Alexander realizes that not only will he have to protect these two items at the same trying to find out where the embezzled money went, he must also watch out for himself as things turn from worse to deadly...

My second Dick Francis novel to read, I found "To the Hilt" a totally enjoyable read. Very exciting and suspenseful, there's a lot of mystery. Alexander is a delightfully fun character, you can't help but feel sorry for him as he gets more and more involved in helping his stepfather although the only thing he wants to do is paint. Dick Francis must also be applauded for his array of interesting characters. There's the jealous stepsister Patty who would do anything to discredit Alexander, Alexander's uncle Robert the Earl, Oliver Grantchester the lawyer, and more. But probably my most favorite characters is 'Young and Uttley', who is really just one person. I love how he has so many disguises. I cracked up laughing at one part where Alexander tries not to reveal that his 'lady-friend' is actually his 'Young and Uttley' bodyguard!...

Although I've read a few of his mysteries, Francis's books have never really captured me. To the Hilt has made me re-think my opinion. Alexander Kinloch, artist and black sheep is called by his step-father to help save the family business, a well-known brewery. Involving an angry step-sister, embezzlement, a wife in name only, and a slightly out-of-kilter uncle who happens to be Lord of the Manor with a very valuable heirloom; this mystery keeps things percolating and challenges the intellect. This one's a lot of fun and I wish I could have seen Alexander dragged into another mystery.

My Grandmother (of all people) turned me on to Dick Francis. I have never been to England, don't especially like horses, and have never seen a horse race in my life and I LOVE THIS AUTHOR! This book, in particular, is one of his very best. If you haven't tried Dick Francis, this is a great one to cut your teeth on.

This is one of the first Dick Francis novels I read, and it remains one of the best for me. If I read it in the larger context of his work, it does seem to be something of an anomaly--not first and foremost about horses, and not concentrating on action and the understated heroics that many Francis heros find themselves forced into. ...there is a depth to the character of Alexander--a sort of simultaneous self-undertanding and also a oneliness that he wishes he could get past--that is touchingly human. I actually think this book has much more depth than some of the more action-packed stories. I would recommend it.

Alexander Kinloch is the twenty-nine-year old son of the deceased fourth son of an earl. He lives alone in a hut on a windy mountainside in Scotland spending his time painting and playing the bagpipes. Alexander receives word from his mother in London that his stepfather is dying. His stepfather is Ivan George Westering, who owns a brewery and is a pillar of the British Jockey Club. Before leaving to see Ivan and his mother, Alexander is beaten by four thugs who ransack his hut. In London he learns that there is a discrepancy in the accounts of Ivan's brewery and a large sum of money is missing. Francis has created another likeable protagonist in Alexander Kinloch and a memorable supporting cast of helpers and villains. Horses are only a peripheral issue in this book which is the author's thirty-fifth novel. Some interesting touches of medieval history add spice to a fast-paced story.

I absolutely loved this book! The best thing about it is the end, when it is so tense that you feel like screaming or something. But then Francis is also able to use a little humor to defuse it, embodied in the cross-dressing bodyguard. I hope that Dick Francis never stops writing books!

The best feature of this book is the outstanding development of Alex Kinloch character whose actions, thoughts, personality, reflections and humor made me go along with him all the way to the end. The story however has nothing to do with the quality of the character