Brendan Shea

I would have given this book a five star review but almost didn't finish it. At one point, I was going to get rid of it because of the extremely violent and cruel sexual content. This was Baldacci's maiden literary voyage, and I suppose he wanted to be heard. In some of his later works, like True Blue and The Simple Truth, he is able to convey conflict and depict the bad guys without making the reader feel as though they are in a horrible situation personally. I'm not advocating for a neutered approach, just to avoid having my attitude towards life be influenced too much by art when art depicts something this bad. This book did not make me want to do bad things, but it made me feel at times like a wretch. I identified with Jack and Luther, who were more or less good guys, but the bad guys were hideous and a lot of the good guys got sucked in to their vortex.

I am a big fan of the Francis family of writers, both the late Dick & Mary, and the son of two who writes, Felix. The last Francis outing I truly enjoyed was Dead Heat. Dead Heat was published in 2008, just two years prior to Dick Francis' death. Felix and Dick collaborate on the book, and Dick's main collaborator, his wife Mary, passed away eight years' before, so she was not involved unless before the fact.

I would think Felix the driving force behind Dead Heat, but Felix helmed Damage solo, because it was published in 2014, two years after Dick's passing at the age of 89. Damage has two plot threads, one major, and one, a “minor” complement, but while the minor piece was somewhat awkward and disturbing in content, I found it to be a bit more rewarding than the key plot surrounding horseracing.

As I reserched this review, I realized that Damage was the maiden voyage of the Jefferson Hinkley series, and that having enjoyed Front Runner a lot, knowing now that it was outing segundo, it makes sense that Francis was developing his key players. Lydia, Quentin, Faye and Kenneth are all very interesting to read about, whereas the BHA elements slighly less so.

Maybe I am getting to be more of a sentimentalist as I get older. Still, the sequel, Front Runner was exciting, and not just for the family plot. Further, I read the preview for Francis' Guilty, Not Guilty, and it looks to be very good, indeed. I hope I'm not being too critical of Damage. Francis' writing is good. I think maybe he just took a little long getting to the great denouement without shifting gears a whole lot.

That occured with his dad's books now and then, with his dad being one of the greats.

There really is no poorly written Dick Francis book, but Enquiry is among the best of the best.

Jockey Kelly Hughes is accused of throwing a race, and is warned-off, but doesn't take it lying down. Instead, he turns over every stubborn rock until he nearly falls off the edge of a vehicular cliff, when he probes too closely.

Snobbish Trainer Dexter Cranfield practically falls apart, as he is also warned off, but Kelly is resourceful, and pushes him to stay the course.

Cranfield's beautiful if stuck up daughter, Roberta, starts to pal around with plebeian Hughes, and things might never be the same.

The person who framed the two men is on the loose, and no one is safe until the mystery is solved. It might sound cheesy, but Francis keeps you glued to the page, relentlessly.

Hats' off to the late great Dick Francis; another of his entries, Enquiry, wins.