Back Hander by
John Francome
pbk out November 04
(Headline)
at £10.99
John Francome is too well known to need an introduction, and comparisons
with Dick Francis are needless. Ex-National Hunt Champion Jockey, and race
commentator, he is perfectly positioned to give us an insider's view of the world of
horse-racing. After four novels written along with James McGregor, Francome has
honed his skill as a writer on a (probably brown trilby) hatful of stories. Back Hander
is the latest in the series, and topically looks at the skulduggery around race fixing,
and internet betting.
Amateur jockey Alan Morrell's world collapses when his best friend is killed
riding a horse Morrell should have been on. Their bloodstock partnership is left with
a £100,000 horse he can't afford. And he begins to form the idea that the fatal fall
was not an accident. Fellow-jockey Max Ashwood, too, is in trouble. A messy affair
with a trainer's wife hampers his chances of making it as a jockey, so he is reliant on
the favours of his wealthy father for a ride. Lewis is the owner of Black Mountain,an
extraordinary horse trained by the father of his young girlfriend, Roisin Dougherty.
The trouble is, Max's playboy lifestyle does not enamour him to Lewis Ashwood.
Then a man to whom he has lost a lot of money at cards dies in suspicious
circumstances, and Max's debts transfer to the shady Victor Bishop - just when
Bishop wants an inside track to Lewis Ashwood and the casino he is building. It
looks like Max is in trouble with only his father to help him.
Meanwhile Alan Morrell is struggling to convince anyone of his suspicions
about race fixing, and the stable lad he needs to talk to has disappeared. His only
saviour is his father Ralph, ex-jockey and disgraced race-fixer. Eventually, Alan's
world and that of the Ashwoods and Roisin's family are inextricably mixed.
You don't need to know anything about the horse-racing world, or betting.
Francome eases you into it on the inside rail. Back Hander is a tightly plotted, and
well-schooled story that rockets out of the starting stalls like a natural winner. The
twists and turns of the plot are negotiated with a deft hand that eases the reader
through the story without a stumble. The pace is always fast and the going good. In
the final run-in, Max and Alan race neck-and-neck for the winning line. That justice
is served on and off the race course is never in doubt, and it is the reader who is led
into the winner's enclosure at the end. A thoroughbred of a story that delivers
everything it promises.
(
Ian Morson
Author of Falconer books and short listed for 1999 Ellis Peters Historical Crime Dagger)
