Silks | Dick Francis, Felix Francis

Silks | Dick Francis, Felix Francis | best in years

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Silks

	Silks Dick Francis, Felix Francis Putnam Adult, 2008 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 26 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

?Julian Trent, you have been found guilty by this court of perpetrating a violent and unprovoked attack on an innocent family including a charge of attempted murder. You have shown little or no remorse for your actions and I consider you a danger to society.?

When defense lawyer Geoffrey Mason hears the judge?s ruling at London?s Old Bailey, he quietly hopes that a substantial sentence will be handed down to his arrogant young client. That Julian Trent only receives eight years seems all too lenient. Little does Mason realize that he?ll be looking Trent in the eyes again much sooner than that.

Setting aside his barrister?s gown and wig, Mason heads to Sandown racetrack to don his colorful racing silks. As an amateur jockey, he fulfills his true passion by pounding the turf in the heat of a steeplechase. Yet when a fellow rider is brutally murdered?a pitchfork driven through his chest?Mason?s racing hobby soon becomes too close to his work. The prime suspect is one of their brethren, champion jockey Steve Mitchell, and the evidence against him seems overwhelming.

Mason is reluctant to heed Mitchell?s plea for legal help?but he soon finds himself at the center of a sinister web of violence, threats and intimidation. Mason is left fighting a battle of right and wrong, and more immediately, a battle of life and death?his own.

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Adventure

Dick Francis in one of my favorite authors and all his books are fun to read. He does not resort to graphic sexual descriptions and bad language to tell the story. I'm so glad he is writing something I'm not ashamed to be reading in public. When I begin a Dick Francis book I cannot put it down till the end. The plot of "Silks" is interesting and I learned more about steeplechase racing. I love all the characters and they stay with me long after I've finished the book. My only regret is Mr. Francis writes only one a year.

best in years

Good news! If you've fallen away over the past few books, this is the one that will put you back in the game.

Positives: better writing than in Dead Heat & Under Orders. A solid plot. Classic Dick Francis hero (in this book, a barrister + amateur jumps jockey) whose eye is caught by a lovely woman just as independent as he is. Good, interesting info on a non-racing topic woven in (in this case, barristers & solicitors and the British legal system).

Negatives: the mystery at the heart of the plot was used in an earlier Francis book. (Kind of outrageous, imho.) The hero is indeed a classic Francis hero, but he's not as compelling as earlier heroes. He's a little soft and not all that admirable in the beginning. He also makes a couple of decisions that I found hard to credit, but which were necessary to further the plot.

The bottom line: read and enjoy. It's the best new Francis in a long, long time. I eagerly await the next.

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Silks

I am a long-time Dick Francis fan and was delighted to see another title released. It's the usual light reading, but I save these for times when I need a good break and they are worth it. The collaboration with his son seemed to work well.

Legal Thriller Amid a Racing Background

The classic Dick Francis books are filled with heart-pounding steeplechase action, deadly criminals, and arcane insights into horse racing from a jockey's perspective. The least appealing books in the series are those where the interaction with steeplechases is minimal. Silks is somewhere between the two extremes. The steeplechase setting is present for bits and pieces of the story, but courtroom drama substitutes for much of the potential on-course action. Fortunately, the legal thriller aspects of the story are pretty well done and bring new perspective for American readers into the English legal system.

Geoffrey ("Perry" to his fellow jockeys) Mason is a barrister (a lawyer who tries cases in England) whose hobby is riding his horse, Sandeman, in mostly amateur steeplechases. As the book opens, he is defending an unsavory sort, Julian Trent, who seems to be a psychopath. Losing the case turns out to be a bad turn for Mason when Trent decides he wants revenge against his barrister.

A little time later, Trent has gotten out of jail through an appeal where the witnesses refuse to testify against him, apparently having been intimidated. Rather than immediately kill Mason, Trent instead seems more interested in controlling Mason's legal work for fellow jockey, Steve Mitchell, who is accused of murdering another jockey. Mason is thoroughly intimidated and unsure what he will do. The stakes are raised when the threats start to include those close to Mason.

The reference to silks is a very clever choice for a title, referring to racing silks as well as the term for Queen's Counsel, the cream of the litigating attorneys. Mason as an owner has racing silks, represents his own racing silks when he rides, and hopes to earn the position of a silk within the legal profession.

To me, the book's main drawback is an exceptional amount of violence. I normally find it hard to deal with the most intense scene in most Dick Francis books. Where that violence permeates a book like this one, it definitely takes some of the shine off my ability to enjoy the story.

There are definitely two writers for this story, as evidenced by many classic Dick Francis sections and many new story-telling sections that must be from his son, Felix. As they write more books together, I'm sure the two styles will blend together more smoothly than they do here. I hope that will involve a lighter hand on the whip.

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Not his greatest book

Most of the reviewers have covered my feelings. All I could add was that I could tell that Mr. Francis didn't write this book alone. It seemed too "wordy" at times and seemed to make Mason, the police and most everyone involved seem pretty stupid. Found myself being very frustrated as the story went along.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

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