Its very sad and disconcerting when you go 'off' an author you've enjoyed for years. Dick Francis has been a prime favorite for years. I would walk for miles to get one.
But now his latest, Under Orders seems so so-so.
I don't know whether I have moved on or he has become a little stale but I just read through this book fast.
I can see some changes in him though. Before, the hero never found true love. The lover would move on or they would quarrel ..it was never happy married domesticity. But Francis seems to have mellowed in this department.
"To love someone is a delight, to be loved back as well is a joy beyond measure.”
Well, well, who would expect it of cynical, one armed, steel hearted Sid Halley or Dick.
Another change is little nuggets of information. Dick's books always have a theme- aero taxis, guns, jewellery business, wine making, art, glass blowing- for which he does a lot of research besides the constant background of horse racing. But now he digresses from the story to include bits of history.
The sharp sentences, the wit, the pain filled climax, the analysis of why the villain is what he is, human insights are all there.
Hopefully I will get to enjoy it all once more.
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