Cover Up by
John Francome
hbk out December 05
Published by Headline
at £17.99
Goldeneye is a three-year-old racehorse, and quite a pivotal character in John
Francombe's new thriller. His co-owners are Rob Harding, ex-jockey and stud
farm manager, and Rob's lifelong friend, bookie Steve Armstrong – and
Goldeneye is all set to make respectable amounts of money for them both.
This will be particularly welcome to Steve, whose bookmaking business is
under threat from a major chain, and who is losing large amounts of money on
pay-outs for a series of last-minute bets placed on a particular race-course.
Clearly there's some sort of scam going on, but this is only one of the things
which the 2 men have to worry about. Rob's wife Bella wants him to evict
their employee Ivana and her brother Tomas (Goldeneye's jockey) from the
cottage they share, but Ivana herself is in trouble, stalked by her ex-lover
Milos. Milos is not Ivana's only ex-lover and in fact it's not always easy to
keep track of all the relationships past and present – something to do with the
fact that it's a stud farm, perhaps.
This is an imaginative and interesting story, the cross-currents of the
seemingly separate plots are well-handled and the characters are in the main
both likeable and credible. Comparisons with that other doyen of racing crime,
Dick Francis, are inevitable. The really surprising thing is why Francombe has
never become quite as popular as Francis was in his heyday; the books are
just as interesting, well-written and well-plotted. Perhaps it's simply because
Dick Francis got there first – which is a great shame for John Francombe.
Cover Up by
John Francome
