Reflex

REFLEX is one of my favorite books by Dick Francis. I love his heroes who are ordinary men dropped into extraordinary situations and who manage to triumph in part because of their strong moral characters.

Philip Nore is the hero of this story. He's an aging jockey and amateur photographer. He is coming to the end of his racing career which he fell into as a teen. Born to a drug-addicted seventeen-year-old mother who was thrown out of her home, Philip was raised by a succession of her friends making him helpful and resourceful and unable to form deep relationships.

Philip has two main problems in this story. First of all, he is given a set of photographic puzzles when a successful race photographer whose work Philip admired but whom he show more personally disliked died in a car accident. Philip rode with the man's son and got involved when that man's parents' house was burgled during the funeral anad again later when the photographer's wife is beaten in a home invasion and when her house is burned down.

Philip's curiosity is what starts his involvement. When he manages to solve some of the photgraphic puzzles, he learns that the photographer was blackmailing members of the racing world into good behavior. Philip is also attacked and badly beaten once it is learned that he has the photos.

Philip's second problem begins when a lawyer comes to see him to ask him to visit the grandmother who through his mother out because she is dying and wants his help. He is surprised to learn that his mother had another child, and that the grandmother wishes to leave her whole estate to the girl if he can manage to find her. Philip feels no obligation to help the hateful dying woman but he is curious to find the sister he never knew he had.

All in all, I really enjoyed this story. I liked watching Philip go from a drifting unconnected man to one who has plans for his future after racing and a woman who loves and understands him. I liked Francis's spare prose and appreciate Simon Prebble's deft narration of the story. show less

Vintage suspense in the horse racing world by the masterful Dick Francis. This one blends photography with racing. The hero, Philip Nore, is a mid-range steeplechase jockey who tends to drift through life. He had a rootless childhood, with a young mother who was what he thinks of as a "butterfly" who was pretty, endearing, lost and addicted. She tried to do right by him in an ineffective way, but passed him around from friend to friend for "a few days" when she couldn't cope. The few days would end up months and years. The final stop was a racing stable, which led to his career, and an earlier stop was several years with a couple of gay photographers, which led to his deep interest in photography, especially after one of them passed show more away and left him all his equipment.

He is vaguely beginning to reconsider his drifting ways when a series of events drag him out of his lethargy. A racecourse photographer who was talented but not well-liked dies suddenly. His son, a fellow jockey, turns to Philip for help when his mother is targeted, possibly for something to do with his father's photographs. It the meantime, a lawyer shows up who wants to drag him into affairs of his long-lost toxic family. And a few other things as well are dragging our hero out of his placid existence.

It's a complex and engrossing story, slightly dated, but not enough to spoil the story, just providing a bit of a vintage feel. show less

Against his better judgment, jockey Philip Nore gets involved with the aftermath of the death of sports photographer George Millace. Although Nore didn’t like Millace, he does like Millace’s son, Steve, a fellow jockey. A series of burglaries in Millace’s home suggests that Millace had photographs that someone wanted to keep hidden. Nore’s amateur photography skills help him to spot things the police and insurance investigators missed, but he’ll have to figure out the right techniques to reveal what Millace has so carefully concealed. In a parallel story, Nore meets his dying grandmother for the first time, and he reluctantly agrees to help her lawyers search for a long-lost family member.

This is a satisfying crime novel that show more gives readers two mysteries - a murder and a missing persons investigation. Philip is at a turning point in his life, and his interest in the puzzles he solves helps him make decisions about his future. As in the last Francis novel I read, the hero is basically good but flawed. Adversity brings out the best in his character. show less

Main character Philip Nore is a steeplechase jockey nearing the end of his career. He does have a possible new career as a photographer but lacks the confidence to give up his present for a potential future. He is a very intriguing character who is the product of a very unusual childhood. Philip's seventeen-year-old mother would frequently leave him with friends for various lengths of time. His few times with his mother were spent in a drug culture. He was exposed to marijuana and LSD as a preschooler. He saw his mother infrequently and never after the age of fifteen. He received birthday and Christmas gifts until his eighteenth birthday when he assumed she died - probably of a heroin overdose.

Two of the homes where he was left have show more influenced his present. He spent a couple of years with a gay couple named Charlie and Duncan who developed his interest in photography. He was with them for a couple of years until Duncan left and his mother swept him away to friends at a racing stable who developed his interest in being a jockey.

Now 30, he's more or less drifting in his life. Then a few things happen that change him. The trainer and owner he works for most often have asked him to throw a race. He had done this for them in the past but not for the last three years. And famous racing photographer George Millace died in a single car accident. Millage was an excellent photographer but not much liked because he had an unerring eye for photos that most didn't want to see. He was filled with ill will. His son Steve is a fellow jockey with Philip.

When Steve has a fall and breaks his collarbone, Philip offers him a ride home. Steve's mother's house had been burgled while they were at the funeral and again a couple of days later. The second time Mrs. Millace was beaten up by the burglars who were looking for a safe. Steve gives Philip a box of his father's mistakes that he had carefully kept and Philip was intrigued to find out why he had saved them. His common interest in photography and love of puzzles drew him in - and led him into danger.

Another change is also coming to Philip's life. The grandmother who threw her daughter out when she was a teen wants to see him. She's sent a lawyer from the firm who does her business to bring him to her. The lawyer guilts Philip into visiting the grandmother he hates for her treatment of his mother. She drops a bombshell and wants him to find his sister Amanda - a sister he didn't know he had.

Philip works with the lawyer to look for his sister while trying to solve George Millace's puzzles. The puzzles lead to Millace's possible side job as a blackmailer and put Philip in great danger from those Millace had blackmailed when they learn that he has the photographic files.

This was an excellent story with an intriguing main character and very interesting photographic puzzles. I really liked the descriptions of the characters which illuminated them in a few short sentences. I liked Philip learning more about his family and his past. I also liked that it led him to a new future and a woman to love. show less

Life has changed for me enough lately that I can now participate in the book discussion groups at my public library. The book for October is Reflex by Dick Francis and I'm thrilled that it spurred me to a reread of this great mystery.

When I began reading mysteries (about 5th grade) I was fortunate that the first three authors I read were Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie and Dick Francis. These remain the standards by which all other mysteries I read are judged. Tough acts to follow!

In Reflex, as with all Dick Francis novels, we are plunged into the world of British horse racing. Our hero is Phillip Norse, a 2nd tier jockey who had a very unconventional childhood because his mother constantly left him with other people to raise. show more He has no idea who his father was and his maternal grandmother has always refused to acknowledge his existence. He learned his two passions in life, photography and horse racing, from two of the couples that his mother left his with.

Our story begins with two events. His grandmother decides she wants to see him and one of the most prominent racing photographers is killed in a car accident.

These two events change Phillip's life. Phillip learns from his grandmother that he has a sister and if he can find her, the grandmother will leave all her money to this unknown sister. He gets involved in the death of the photographer because of his friendship with the photographer's son. It becomes clear that the photographer did not always make people happy with his pictures.

Phillip has a number of ingenious mysteries and puzzles to solve. They are really very clever and entertaining to read about. Through them all he has to come to grips with his own code of ethics. How far is he willing to go for justice and for the good of the racing world? He also has to come to grips with his own need to keep people at bay. Can he open up and let people into his life? There is great character development as he explores these questions. Every solution to every mystery is satisfying. I find this book to be a superb mystery from an author who would have been a master of any genre he had decided to write. show less

Jockey Philip Nore isn't too impressed when a young solicitor turns up at the weighing room, asking him to go and see his estranged grandmother. They're estranged because his grandmother threw his mother out of the house when she became pregnant. Nore doesn't know who his father is, hasn't seen his mother in years and has good reason to believe that she's dead, and was brought up by a succession of his mother's friends who were asked to look after him for a few days that turned into a few months. He lost the one set of involuntary foster parents who wanted to keep him. So he's more than a little bitter on the subject of family. Only being told that his grandmother is dying persuades him to go and see her -- only to find that she isn't show more dying just yet, and that she wants him to find a sister he never knew he had.

Another mystery drops into his lap when one of his friends suffers a series of misfortunes. Steve's father dies in a car accident, his mother is burgled and then attacked. George Millace was a professional sports photographer, and it becomes clear to Nore that Millace had photographed more than horses. Nore's haphazard upbringing has equipped him to dig up the dirt someone thought they'd buried along with Millace, because Nore's best loved foster parents were also professional photographers, and Nore knows darkroom techniques inside out.

Nore slowly works his way through George Millace's legacy, uncovering a network of corruption and blackmail -- and getting too close to the final truth for somebody's comfort.

It's a beautifully constructed thriller, with the first strand intertwining with the second to provide the final resolution, even though there's no direct link between them. And as ever with Francis's novels, it's an enthralling story of a man discovering himself and what he wants to do with the rest of his life. show less

Philip Nore is a self employed jockey and amateur photographer. When an owner tells him to throw a race, his troubles are just beginning. An estranged grandmother wants to see him out of the blue and his friend's photographer father has died in an auto accident. It all adds up to some investigations that could change his outlook on life and his career.
I enjoy Dick Francis and I really like this novel with the photographic puzzles. It was a fast reread and one I will keep for future enjoyment.