Driving Force

I was disappointed after doing a little research and finding that apparently this is the only Freddy Croft book ever written. It's tailor-made for a series, and I thought for a while that I'd come in in the middle of it, as there seemed to be a lot of depth to the characters that wasn't sufficiently explained. But I think that's simply a characteristic of this well-written book, and makes me want to look for others by this author, whom I'd not heard of before reading this. Croft has a sort of unemotional doggedness that resounds with me. In addition to that, the puzzle was interesting, the cockney rhyming clues were a fun touch, and the setting was incredibly realistic - the last not being a surprise if Francis was as close to racing as show more it appears. It's a shame we'll never hear more about Croft, or his physicist sister who owns a helicopter, or his illegitimate daughter being raised by another man. Amazing depth for a one-off and fairly short book. show less

I’ve yet to read a Dick Francis book I didn’t enjoy. His leading men all tend to be kind of the same guy, but it’s a character that works. Freddie Croft is tough, but not too tough… smart, but not too smart.. and somewhat of a reluctant ladie’s man. I always find myself picturing Francis’s leading men as the Daniel Craig version of James Bond.

But enough about Freddie! The story here is pretty solid and interesting, even to someone who doesn’t know patooie about horse-racing. Everything is from Freddie’s point of view… there are no sneak peeks into the mind of the bad guys or what’s happening while Freddie is elsewhere. I found that quite refreshing. I think too many suspense novels fall into that multiple show more point-of-view trap and it takes something away from the story. I found myself trusting the people Freddie trusted and feeling ambivalent about those he wasn’t sure of, and I think it added that extra zing of emotion to the big reveal at the finish. I highly recommend Dick Francis if you’re looking for something a little different from today’s usual mystery/suspense story. show less

Ex-jockey Freddie Croft owns a fleet of horse vans, operating out of Pixhill. All is going well until one of his drivers picks up a hitchhiker who turns up dead on arrival, and then his mechanic is found dead, too. Suddenly life is full of danger as he tries to solve the puzzle before anyone else loses their life.
I had read this novel previously and remembered enough details to dull the excitement. But the book was still well written and enjoyable even so.

Freddie Croft seems to have hit a rather large bump in the road for his horse transport business. When two of his drivers show up with a dead man in their truck it is only the beginning of his trouble.

I enjoyed this Dick Francis story at least as much, and possibly more than any of the others I have read. The mystery was convoluted and had several levels, and the Cockney slang clues kept my little brain churning. Learning about the business of horse transportation and other things which will remain unmentioned so as not to provide spoilers, was interesting.

DF back in his peak form, doing what he does best, writing a thriller loosely set within the racing world of the early 90s. There's nothing new or special about this one, but it's still an enjoyable read. it has all the usual list of Francis characters, a small time hero, formerly connected to the horse racing world, but now in a related business, various rich and friendly (or arrogant) horse owners and trainers, a collection of small menial staff who work hard and live within their limited means, and some influential family acquaintances that can be leaned on to provide whatever technical skills are necessary for the hero to solve his problem without bothering the authorities too much. Never ever forgetting the various pretty women for show more the hero to keep an eye on.

In this case we have the owner of a fleet of horseboxes, who makes a living shuttling the creatures between venues etc. One of his drivers picks up a hitchhiker (expressly against company policy) who dies of a heart attack in the vehicle. This creates all sorts of problems when it turns out the hitchhiker was in fact a courier for various nefarious purposes, who take objection to the owner poking his nose in.

Well written interesting and not yet too dated - most of his readers will remember the days when computers and mobile phones were just being introduced and had yet to make much impact in society. Clever, keeps the science simple enough, without obvious glaring errors, and hard to guess the actual culprit until the big showdown. show less

Driving Force is the only book by Dick Francis currently in my possession. During my peripatetic youth, I used to haunt used bookstores to frequently exchange cheap books during my travels. Several novels by Dick Francis passed through my hands in this fashion, though most have been borrowed from the library. I think I've read almost everything of his, starting with Flying Finishand I've generally enjoyed them. They are shallow action-adventures with the classic steely, indomitable hero who's just an average joe facing bad guys of one persuasion or another, usually involving some sort of race-fixing scheme. Kind of like modern Alistair MacLean novels, but not quite as formulaic and generally treating women characters better. The heroes show more are all essentially the same, but he mixes up their background and personal life from story to story.

Dick Francis used to be a steeplechase jockey, but retired while still relatively young due to injuries, I believe. He then became a sports columnist (this is my hazy memory from early author information from dust jackets) and eventually a quite successful novelist. Not surprisingly, all of his stories have some connection (however slim) to horse racing, especially the early ones, which tended to feature jockeys. But other heroes have included horse breeder, trainer, racehorse owner, transporter, track accountant, veterinarian, racetrack owner, sports photographer, Jockey Club security. Branching more widely, he has done his research to feature glassblower, painter, meteorologist, architect, banker, kidnapping consultant, wine merchant, actor, diplomat, physics teacher, inventor. They've all been white and straight, of course. Love interests include happily married, unhappily married, bachelor meeting girl during story, divorced meeting woman during story, widowered, and so on. Exactly one story out of more than 30 featured any gay characters (that would be the photographer who was mentored by a gay couple), and one story featured a black woman I think (that would be the journalist with the wife living in an iron lung or something similar). The diplomat spoke Japanese, so there was also some minority presence in that story too. Wait, Chico Barnes is Latino--he's in the first couple of stories featuring Sid Halley (Odds Against and Whip Hand). And then there's Aziz in Driving Force. So there you go--a token for the major minority groups. I always enjoy reading about British racing culture and horses. The characters are engaging but not particularly deep. They are human enough to usually be coping with some sort of problem (in addition to the adventurous plotline). The stories are fast-paced, generally predictable, but fun enough. And of course, the bad guys always lose in the end.

Driving Force features Freddy, a retired professional jockey who has moved into running a fleet of horse vans. When a hitchhiker winds up dead in one of the company vehicles and they discover containers hidden under some of the vans, the plot begins to unfold at a fast pace. He enlists the assitance, or at least witness, of the Jockey Club as he attempts to determine what is going on. Eventually, he calls upon his sister the chemist to help, and she flies down from Scotland in her jointly owned personal helicopter. Yowza, but not too surprising in a Dick Francis story where the hero often drives a sportscar memento of racing days (as is the case here). As always, the hero is charming, understated, smart, and often underrated. The personal complication in this story is the fact that back in his jockey days he got the trainer's daughter pregnant, but she decided to marry someone else. They're all part of the same small racing village, but it's unacknowledged ancient history; the old flame is happily married with several children, and he can only sigh wistfully from afar at might-have-beens, at least until he meets a potential new love interest in the course of his investigations. It's a nice, light read, an easy way to pass some time. show less

In Driving Force by Dick Francis retired jockey Freddie Croft owns a business that transports horses for trainers. The transports travel throughout England and sometimes into other European countries particularly Italy and France. When the employee that performs maintenance on the vans is found dead early one morning in the garage, Freddie thinks the death has the look of murder although he can't imagine anyone having a reason to attack Jogger.

Police and racing investigators are called in and although Croft cooperates fully, he also investigates on his own, making the chilling discovery that someone is attempting to use his vans to transport a virus into England from France that could disable and even kill horses. Driving Force is a show more bit of a departure from the previous Francis books I've read, more suspense than mystery, but as usual good escape reading. show less