Rob is fearless, even with the worst tempered animals. Trainers give him horses to ride that nobody else wants. Back in England he gets hired as a jockey. Pretty much ignored by his parents, he learns to ride knocking around Australia and South America. Rob Finn is a misfit in his family of accomplished professional musicians. I'm on my way to reading all of the Dick Francis novels and can't wait to read the next on my list. When the real elements of the mystery and plot do hit, the reader has no regrets over a few extra pages of getting to know the characters and essential parts of the setup.

Francis takes a while to get to the heart of the mystery, but in doing so he introduces his characters and makes sure we know them well enough before putting them in the middle of a crisis.

They are always likeable and someone I'd love to know and talk with in real life.ĭialogues are so natural that one can forget about reading a book and seem like part of the story and conversations. His characters are what really make the stories and I never fail to love the main protagonist. Written in the first person and narrated by Rob Finn, I love what I always love about Dick Francis's books. Working as hard as he can to get these horses to win just isn't working. Rob comes from a family of sophisticated, accomplished and well-known musicians who tend to look down on Rob's chosen profession as a waste of time.Īlthough winning was nice for a while, coming in last on horses that are expected to do well becomes discouraging to Rob and some others who have lost their jobs as jockeys and their entire livelihoods. In this one we meet a young steeplechase jockey named Rob Finn who has been on a winning streak. 'Nerve' by Dick Francis is one of his earlier novels and so far, from the ones I've read of his forty or so horse-racing mysteries, this one and 'Banker' are my two favorites.

Nerve by Dick Francis