The Review Site - Under Orders

Relevant Information: Written by Dick Francis
Brief summary of the item: [From The Publisher]
Sadly, death at the races is not uncommon. However, three in a single afternoon was sufficiently unusual to raise more than one eyebrow." It's the third death on Cheltenham Gold Cup Day that really troubles super-sleuth Sid Halley. Last seen in 1995's Come to Grief, former champion jockey Halley knows the perils of racing all too well-but in his day, jockeys didn't usually reach the finishing line with three .38 rounds in the chest. But this is precisely how he finds jockey Huw Walker-who, only a few hours earlier, had won the coveted Triumph Hurdle.

Just moments before the gruesome discovery, Halley had been called upon by Lord Enstone to make discreet inquiries into why his horses appeared to be on a permanent losing streak. Are races being fixed? Are bookies taking a cut? And if so, are trainers and jockeys playing a dangerous game with stakes far higher than they are realistic?

Halley's quest for answers draws him even deeper into the darker side of the race game, in a life-or-death power play that will push him to his very limits-both professionally and personally.
Good Points: Sid Halley is back. He was always my favourite Francis character.
Bad Points: Lacks the depth and feeling of previous Halley books.
Lots of inconsistencies.
Not as gripping as previous Francis books.
General Comments: Oh, how I looked forward to this novel after a long, six-year dry spell. Sadly, much of the depth and richness of Francis' characters, dialogue, sense of place are missing. Continuity suffers, too, as, after three Sid Halley novels, major character have suffered 180-degree shifts in personality. Halley's trusted but undemonstrative father-in-law (whose name before now has been Roland and now is Rowland) is portrayed as indecisive, emotional, and all but alchoholic. Stoic, thoughtful Sid is uncharacteristically wearing his heart on his sleeve, babbling through clumsy, meaningless dialogue, and showing his private doubts and insecurities where he once went to great lengths to keep from showing them to anyone but himself. Without so much as a single sentence about what became of his newly acquired girlfriend from his previous adventure (Come To Grief), he is presented here with a new girl whose entry into Sid's life is glossed over with a throwaway sentence and whose character is not well developed in any sense. Archie Kirk, reappearing here after his introduction in the previous book, has also suffered an abrupt personality change, losing his self-contained confidence and his wry awareness of human failings. When I read, I immerse myself in the time, place, and characters of the author--especially an author whose work I treasure as I do Mr. Francis'. In this book, there was too little depth in which to immerse.