Slay Ride

British investigator David Cleveland hadn't come to Oslo dressed for the Norwegian weather. But he didn't know what cold really was until someone tried to drown him in a fjord. Of course, it could have been an accident that the speedboat cut David's dinghy to ribbons. Just as it could have been a coincidence that champion jockey Robert Sherman had disappeared from Norway right before the National, a race he was certain to win. And right before his wife was about to give birth. But accident and coincidence couldn't explain the gruesome string of deaths that David Cleveland would find was meant to include his own…

Short fun thriller - typical Dick Francis, loosely based on the horse racing scene but only as a location.

David Cleveland is a young looking 33, and head of the UK Jockey Club's Investigation department, that covers everything from doping to fraud and the occasional more serious crime that may occur at race meetings. He is sent to Norway to aid a former student Arne Kristiansen investigate an English jockey who appears to have stolen a sum of money from one of their race meetings and then disappeared. Arne suffers from a mild persecution complex necessitating a journey out into one of the fjords. An accident occurs and David realises that a trivial incident has far deeper and more worrying possibilities, and some inexplicable events show more start to make sense.

Fast paced, fun, and facile enough to skip over any plot holes - police don't generally co-operate with civilians, Norwegians get badly stereotyped etc etc. As usual in a DF novel women get short shrift. There isn't any depth to the characters, but the plot doesn't require much. Fun all the same. show less

Always an enjoyable read. Title is a little misleading. Some mention, at the end, of a sleigh, but not pertinent to the story. An English jockey, racing in Norway, goes missing, after his last race, as well as the racing receipts for the day. The Norwegian Jockey Club requests the assistance of the British Jockey Club. The main character, David Cleveland, is the senior investigator for the British Jockey Club in London. While all believe the missing jockey has stolen the money and fled, David determines this isn’t the case. He’s the target of three attempts on his life. It quickly brings him to the conclusion, that there is a lot more involved, then missing money. Dick Francis weaves intrigue and suspense page after page. This story show more was published in 1973. Dick Francis has the main character, David, taking a knife on an airplane with no mention or thought of security. Go forward 38 years and you can’t take water bottles through security. show less

Racing in Norway: Jockey club investigator David Cleveland is invited to Norway to help catch an English thief who has stolen the day's take from a Norwegian racecourse. When his friend Arne is killed in a boat accident (or murder?) it is up to David to stop the crime wave. Interesting setting, average Francis thriller.

Classic Dick Francis. This time we travel to Norway. I'm cold just reading this book.

We get a great Francis "everyman" in David Cleveland. Jockey Club investigator and all-around smart, nice guy. He gets in danger (as you would expect), barely escapes with his life (naturally) and saves the day.

Plus, this book is as old as I am, and it is still a fun read. One of my favorite authors of all time.

Decent thriller about an English horse-track-investigator (odd job, that) who travels to Norway to investigate a murder. Fairly fast paced. The plot was interesting enough. There were not too many characters to really get invested or interested in but I suppose I liked the main ones well enough.

The prose was fairly unremarkable other than an occasional eloquent turn of phrase.

The first Dick Francis novel I have read--I would like to read more but am not in a hurry.

I think I would give this *** 1/2.

David Cleveland is a Jockey Club investigator who is asked to help his friend in Norway find an English jockey who is suspected of stealing a days take from a Norwegian race track and then disappearing. David is nearly killed in the first 10 pages and it won't be the last time he is in danger. The plot is typical of the Dick Francis style and the book leans a little more towards action than some of his do. There isn't a lot of horse racing intrigue this time but there is again some sexual intrigue when the hero is attracted to a married woman and she reaches a climax while dancing with David. I didn't start reading Dick Francis novels until the 80's. Most of them had some romantic interests for the hero but sexual encouters were not show more described. But the last two I read were from 1968 and then this one from the early 70's and they both have sexual encounters and both of them have the hero having affairs. Pretty strong stuff for a Dick Francis novel. show less