Decider

by Dick Francis

Overview

A smash hit novel now in trade form - a rare and magical talent, who never writes the same story twice. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

In Decider, inheriting a small share in a successful racetrack means trouble for architect Lee Morris, especially when he finds himself in the middle of a family feud and the target of a ruthless killer?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780425222706
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/06/2008
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	974,710
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Dick Francis (pictured with his son Felix Francis) was born in South Wales in 1920. He was a young rider of distinction winning awards and trophies at horse shows throughout the United Kingdom. At the outbreak of World War II he joined the Royal Air Force as a pilot, flying fighter and bomber aircraft including the Spitfire and Lancaster.

He became one of the most successful postwar steeplechase jockeys, winning more than 350 races and riding for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. After his retirement from the saddle in 1957, he published an autobiography, The Sport of Queens, before going on to write more than forty acclaimed books, including the New York Times bestsellers Even Money and Silks.

A three-time Edgar Award winner, he also received the prestigious Crime Writers' Association's Cartier Diamond Dagger, was named Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, and was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 2000. He died in February 2010, at age eighty-nine, and remains among the greatest thriller writers of all time.

Hometown:

Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, British West Indies

Date of Birth:

October 31, 1920

Date of Death:

February 14, 2010

Place of Birth:

Tenby, Pembrokeshire, southwest Wales

Place of Death:

Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, British West Indies

Education:

Dropped out of Maidenhead County School at age 15.

Editorial Reviews

?Gripping.?
?"New York Times"

?One of his best.?
?"Philadelphia Inquirer"



Gripping.
"New York Times"
One of his best.
"Philadelphia Inquirer"

aGripping.a
a"New York Times"
aOne of his best.a
a"Philadelphia Inquirer"

"A winner from the starting gate to the last hurdle."

From the Publisher

Gripping.

New York Times

One of his best.

Philadelphia Inquirer

Dick Francis knows horses, but in this deeply satisfying novel of intrigue, he shows that he also has a handle on architecture, construction, even crowd control. Narrator Lee Morris, 35, is an architect/builder specializing in restoring ``ruins'' like his own splendid barn house inhabited by his six sons and his lovely, but increasingly remote, wife. He is also one of few shareholders in Stratton Park racecourse, ownership of which is being hotly contested by the heirs of Lord Stratton. Lee's mother had married and quickly divorced the baron's vicious son Keith. Since part of her divorce settlement included the racecourse stock, Lee (accompanied by his five eldest sons) attends a shareholders meeting. With few exceptions the Strattons are a very nasty crew--cheats, blackmailers, just plain vicious--and during the course of the fight over selling or restoring the track, Lee is beaten, nearly blown up and finally forced to race to save his sons at the excruciating climax. Francis's deft plotting and sharp characterization are, as usual, on the mark: both Lee and his progeny are realistic and appealing. And as usual, he excels in exposing some of England's nastier class habits, meanwhile affirming the morality of his protagonist. BOMC main selection; QPB alternate; Reader's Digest selection; author tour. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Meet Lee Morris, an architect with six children and a small share in a successful racetrack, Stratton Park. Morris becomes embroiled in the excitement of the racetrack and a fight for its control. This is the last thing he ought to become involved in, especially considering the many skeletons in the Stratton family closets. The personalities in Francis's ( Driving Force , Audio Reviews, LJ 4/1/93; Proof , Audio Reviews, LJ 4/15/93) tale are strong and the action swift. Simon Jones narrates well, and the abridgment is unobtrusive. This will do well in general collections.-- Miriam Kahn, Columbus, Ohio

Library Journal

Francis's newest suspenser (his 32nd) is typical not only in its racetrack setting, but in its doubling of the hero's mildly dysfunctional family (he and his diffident wife are held together only by their brood of six sons) with another family of deep-dyed villains. Because his mother Madeline was once married into the fractious Stratton family, owners of the Stratton Park racecourse, architect/ builder Lee Morris, a restorer of ruined houses, owns a small number of voting shares in the course. His long-standing revulsion from Madeline's wife-beating first husband Keith Stratton has kept him away from the family—especially from his half-sister Hannah, a child of marital rape—and, despite the pleas of course manager Roger Gardner, he intends to keep his distance even when Keith's father, Lord William Stratton, dies. But an invitation to a meeting of the shareholders leads to an unexpected request from matriarchal Marjorie Binsham, William's sister—to look into the question of whether the outdated grandstands really need replacing—and while he's poking around along with his five oldest sons, an explosion rocks the stands and nearly kills him. Sabotage, of course; but was the culprit habitual animal- rights picketer Harold Quest, or one of the Stratton heirs—Keith himself, his despised twin Conrad (the new head of the family), their ineffectual brother Ivan—or one of their children—spiteful unwed mother Hannah, sullen jockey Rebecca, insouciant Dart, or troublemaking Forsyth? Francis's biggest coup here is his success in delineating shades and varieties of wickedness in the superbly monstrous Strattons. Despite an unconvincing hint of May-Decemberromance for his fatalistic hero, this is the most elaborate and satisfying of his recent books—a winner from the starting gate to the last hurdle. (Book-of-the-Month Dual Selection)

Kirkus Reviews