For Kicks (Standalone) 3.5Stars

 

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Title: For Kicks
Series: Standalone
Author: Dick Francis
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 219
Words: 88K
Publish: 1965

In this story, the main character isn’t a jockey and I appreciated that change up. Daniel is the owner of a horse breeding farm in Australia and gets roped in to investigating possible horse doping in England. His motivation is of course money at the first, but as the story progresses it becomes apparent that Daniel wants some excitement in his life and he definitely gets it here.

I also appreciated that there is no romance in this story. There are two beautiful daughters of the man he’s working for, but one is a terrible hussy and the other just isn’t quite what he’s looking for, so he doesn’t get involved with them. They are part of the story, but not in a romantic way and I enjoyed that.

This takes place in England and once again, how the law operates there is just so different from what I am use to, either in real life or even in entertainment, here in the US that it felt like a shock. Daniel is held in jail for 3 days even though his story checks out, just because the police don’t want to bother to tell him he was correct in all his statements. It takes his powerful, aristocratic employer to get him out. Not a lawyer or due process was seen in the tiniest way.

The ending, with him being wooed into an Intelligence Agency was not at all what I was expecting. The whole idea of doing things “for kicks” is also so far outside of my mindset and temperament that it might as well be Martian :-D

This cover is a run of the more recent ones and while it is much better than the one shown on Dead Cert (which was just absolutely horrible), it is rather lifeless and blasé. I found this earlier edition and I like it much better.

★★★✬☆

From the Internet

The Setup & Motivation

Daniel Roke is a young, intelligent, and highly capable Australian who successfully runs a horse stud farm in the Snowy Mountains. He built this business from the ground up to support and raise his younger orphaned siblings. While he has achieved financial stability, the grueling routine has left him feeling restless, trapped, and desperate for a change of pace.

He is approached by the Earl of October, a wealthy representative of the British racing authorities. The Earl is desperate: at least ten horses have miraculously won steeplechase races while visibly under the influence of an adrenaline-high stimulant, yet standard post-race laboratory drug tests consistently turn up entirely clean. A racing journalist who previously tried to investigate the matter has just died in a highly suspicious car accident. Though initially reluctant, the immense financial payout—and Daniel's own craving for adventure—convinces him to take the assignment.

Going Undercover

To successfully infiltrate the British racing community, Daniel has to completely shed his natural air of competence, leadership, and authority. He travels to England and adopts a completely fabricated persona: a lazy, slightly dishonest, and highly corruptible stable hand who is open to taking bribes and cutting corners.

He begins working at the bottom rung of the ladder, enduring intense physical humiliation, grueling labor, and squalid living conditions to blend in. His strategy is to map out the doping incidents geographically, looking for a common denominator among specific racetracks and trainers. After a stint at the Earl's own pristine racing stable, his investigation leads him to seek employment under a abusive trainer with a notoriously dreadful reputation.

Complications and Climax

Daniel's mission becomes dangerously complicated by two major factors:

• The Doping Method: Daniel eventually uncovers the horrific and highly unconventional method the conspirators are using to drug the horses. Instead of relying on traditional chemical substances fed or injected before a race, the syndicate is using fire coupled with a dog whistle to induce a Pavlovian response in the horses. The systemic physical torture triggers a massive, natural surge of adrenaline in the horses just before they race, allowing them to sprint past their physical limits without leaving any foreign chemical traces in their blood or urine.

• The Earl's Daughters: Daniel's cover is severely compromised by the Earl of October’s two beautiful but reckless daughters. Their constant, intrusive interactions with the "stable boy" distract him, blow his anonymity, and inadvertently tip off the ruthless criminal syndicate running the operation.

Once the ringleaders realize they have a spy in their midst, the novel builds from a slow, methodical investigation into a fast-paced, nail-biting thriller. Daniel is captured and subjected to extreme physical peril, culminating in a brutal, explosive fight for survival against criminals who are perfectly willing to murder a human being to protect their multi-million dollar betting scam. Ultimately, Daniel uses his wits and newly discovered resilience to break the ring and escape with his life. Daniel is hired by an Intelligence Agency of the UK, because he fits the profile of someone willing to do these adventurous chores, just “for kicks”, hence the title of the book.