Positive Press

A book review

Felix Francis’ mystery, Gamble, was published in 2011, but I just read it this past month or so. It is one of the younger Francis’ novels, his late father, Dick, having written about forty of them previously.

I grew up with Dick Francis… in the sense that my first mystery book was his Reflex, probably my favorite in the canon. A tale about a jockey who moonlights in photography, tries to find his missing sister, and stumbles into murder and intrigue.

I first read Reflex in the early 1980s, and since then, I have read and reread most of the the elder author’s books multiple times. With son Felix, he co-wrote Dead Heat, a very good entry in my estimation.

Since Felix went solo, I have had mixed feelings about his work. Damage had an interesting subplot, and Iced was very good, but Guilty Not Guilty was slow out of the gate, and I did not finish it.

With Gamble, he has a winner. There are a few technical elements that distracted slightly here and there, but the suspense, story and characters are good, and the denouement is outstanding, rivaling even some of his highly awarded father’s works.

I hope the junior Francis keeps on writing. I, for one, will keep giving his books a look-see; they are often worthwhile jaunts, and I’m glad he’s still on the literary scene.