Cover Up by
John Francome
pbk out August 06
(Headline)
at £6.99
Goldeneye is a three-year-old racehorse, and quite a pivotal character in John
Francome'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 Francome.
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Cover Up by
John Francome
