Bonecrack by Dick Francis

Bonecrack Reviews

• 
  James Thane

  My edition of this book quotes a review from The Atlantic Monthly, indicating that the book is "guaranteed to drive the reader to hysterical dithers and jotters." I confess that I have absolutely no idea what even regular dithers and jotters might amount to, let alone hysterical ones, and while I enjoyed the book, I was not especially moved to any unusual emotional reactions.
  
  Neil Griffon's profession is consulting with troubled companies and restoring them to good health. But then his father, who owns a large stable operation with eight-five horses in his care, is badly injured in an auto accident, and Neil is temporarily forced to leave his own job and take over the stables. Neil's relations with his father have never been good (a frequent problem for Dick Francis's protagonists), and the last thing he wants to do is assume this responsibility. Sadly, he has no choice.
  
  No sooner does Griffon settle in than he is kidnapped by a couple of professional thugs and delivered to a rich and powerful criminal. The criminal's son, who has no experience in these matters, wishes to become a champion jockey, preferably starting tomorrow. The crook instructs Griffon to take the son into his operation and set him up on the best horse in the place in the coming race season. Should Griffon fail to do so, the crook will destroy the stables and inflict great bodily harm on Griffon himself.
  
  Obviously, this seriously bad guy has never read a Dick Francis novel or he would have had sense enough to take his son and his threats to another stable. Anyone who ever has read one of these books understands immediately that any Dick Francis protagonist will face such threats stoically, bravely, and intelligently. Most of all, he will never, EVER, give into such threats irrespective of the harm that will inevitably be inflicted upon him along the way.
  
  Griffon's challenge, then, is to diffuse the situation without ever speaking of it to anyone else, the police included. Bringing them into this matter simply wouldn't be fair to the poor bad guy who has no idea who he's dealing with or what he's getting himself into. And even though I wasn't reduced to hysterical dithers and jotters (at least as far as I know), I did enjoy watching Neil Griffon wrestle with this challenge and I expect that most other readers who like this series will as well.
• 
  Charles van Buren

  Not one of Francis' best
  
  I really like Dick Francis but this is not one of his stronger efforts. The protagonist does use his head but is helpless in dealing with physical attacks and never thinks of arming himself with even a stout stick. In the end chance, luck and the villain's health and increasing madness save the day.
  
  I am accustomed to accurate details in Francis' writing but in this one I found another disappointment. Most of the firearms information is ludicrously wrong.
• 
  W

  This is early Francis.A rich megalomaniac will stop at nothing,not torture,not even murder,if his son is not turned into a champion jockey in a matter of days by a racehorse trainer.
  
  Neil Griffon gets kidnapped and is given plenty of threats that unless he trains Alessandro to ride the horse Archangel in the derby and win it,his father's stable will be destroyed.And Allesandro himself is a sullen character,while his father is a vicious blackmalier.
  
  As he frequently likes to do,Francis puts his hero through plenty of trials and tribulations.Once again,all that torture is a bit hard to read about.
  
  Not among my favourite Francis books,but still has a powerful and shocking climax.
• 
  Jon

  I am rarely disappointed with a Dick Francis mystery; him and his wife were masters of the balance between affable protagonists and intensely cruel villains. Bonecrack carries you along effortlessly through the British countryside, and dumps you in the middle of life-and-death action and onion-layer mystery immediately. Incredible book!
• 
  Ashley Setzer

  Confession: In a universe without assigned reading in college courses, I never would have picked up this book. Equestrian murder mysteries just aren't my cup of tea. I'm glad I don't live in that universe, because I would have missed out. Dick Francis is a master of suspense and can turn a phrase like nobody's business, but the real meat of this particular story comes from the characters. The narrator is a man forced into a desperate situation within the opening pages (this book has one of the best opening lines I've ever read, by the way), thus automatically winning our sympathies. The urge to root for him grows stronger once we see just how unbalanced the antagonist really is. There are themes beyond the good guy vs. bad guy plot; fathers and sons is a big one and the payoff from exploring that dynamic is satisfying, if also a little heartbreaking. To summarize -- good stuff! Thank goodness for assigned reading.
• 
  Algernon (Darth Anyan)

  [7/10]
  I didn't much care for this one in the beginning. It felt a bit too predictable, too much like a typical Dick Francis thriller: here's the quiet but determined bystander, here is the bully villain without conscience or remorse, add some love interest and place everything in or around Newmarket. I felt like i read it all before and I'm on autopilot.
  
  I'm glad I've sticked with it, because the story soes pick up in the second half, and the main actors get enough depth to make me invested in their fate. Also, compared to other books by the author, this one really goes to the races, and is not putting the spotlight on flying or banking or other alternate pursuits.
  
  Dick Francis may be predictable, but he has the knack of wrenching those heartstrings time and time again. I know I will get back to his books soon.
• 
  Natalie Unger

  Of all the Dick Francis I have read, this is by far my favorite. The son and father relationship that is presented has an interesting twist in the end. The father is in the Italian mob, and his son wants to be a jockey. There are two father-son relationships presented though. The main character, a self-made businessman in antiques, has the regular Francis character development.
  Its easy to see as the first book Francis wrote, is about a fathers. This book, unlike Dead Cert having a postive father-son relationship, this book is about how fathers have negative effects on their sons and how the fathers are flawed. However, in the end, the sons overcome these father's flaws and become better people. The ending is touching.
  Besides all the jockey information, I recommend reading this book.
• 
  Greg

  Dame Agatha Christie and Her Peers
  1973 - Dick Francis, toward the end of this book, offers a good warning, one to live by: "If you meet a syphilitic megalomaniac, duck. Duck quickly, because they can be dangerous. There's a theory that Hitler was one..." You see, some people get syphilis and gonorrhoea at the same time. They are cured of the later, but the syphilis goes undetected, infected children might occur but are usually stillborn but if they live there is usually some problem. "There is literally no one more likely to move mountains than your megalomaniac syphilitic..." But the next step is GPI (General paralysis of the insane). In other words, "...descent to cabbage...". Thankfully there has never, ever, in this history of America, been a case of 'descent to cabbage'.* (This information is circa 1973 and maybe be old/incorrect.)
  I usually enjoy this author. And I will read more by Francis.
  CAST -1 star: In the Introduction, although not identified as been authored by Francis, readers are told "unsatisfactory father-son relationships interest me to such an extent that book reviewers have speculated...opining that I must have suffered badly at home." Francis denies this, then creates an unbelievable Allesandro father-son team: the son has no experience in horse racing but dreams of doing (?) so while his farther is determined to make his son a famous jockey by hurting stable horses till the stable allows the son to ride with little experience. The other son, Neil Griffon is inexperienced at running a stable (his father is in the hospital), is kidnapped and hurt badly, and 2 horses die, and only then is the bad kid Allesandro allowed on a horse!. If I'm ever kidnapped and beaten, and I own a business suffering because someone else wants to work for me, I'm heading straight to the cops. No matter how little experience I might have in said business. It's only logical. And the horses: they've done nothing but be horses, and they die? Because someone WANTS to ride them? Whhhhhaaaat? And what is so odd here is that if one stands OUTSIDE the story and looks in, one wants to pick up the phone and call the racing commission at a minimum, possibly Scotland Yard. No, this is just so odd from this author: senseless characters doing really stupid things. Yes, true, on occasion Francis gives us a hero just short of having super-powers who can survive anything. But they aren't stupid, and they never allow horses to be killed, and they never allow the enemy such ridiculous fulfillment attempts of ambitions. This plot hole is so massive it takes over the entire book.
  ATMOSPHERE - 3 stars. I did like the way a new jockey has to learn to ride, and I enjoyed all the aspects that go into that. (There is so much a jockey must learn, so much personal sacrifice in weight and time: jockeys make an entire life of riding and it's tough out there!) I like the choosing of certain horses for certain races and the discussion of the whys and whens. And the big thing I learned is that no way, no how could this Rivera son be a jockey. Ever. I am not naive and I do know there is much evil.
  CRIME (s) - 1 star. Didn't believe it, didn't believe the story. No,no, no. I'm sorta concerned though about someone I know who messes around with (possibly) unsafe hookers here in America. ** (The oversight of the health of sex workers in America is nothing compared to the oversight of these workers in Europe. And that's why I'm 100% for making this occupation legal, cause we know people find what they want. So let's make it safe.)
  INVESTIGATION: - 1 star: No one seems to care much about the horses, it's just...unbelievable.
  RESOLUTION - 1 star. Neil decides this eveil son is just fine, leaves him employed at the stable, why, they seem to become besties. Nope, no, no!!!
  SUMMARY - 1.4. Easily my least favorite Francis novel. There is no great hero. Hey, I like a believable story that has a good and deserving hero. This plot here doesn't makes sense. Sorry, even having a 'syphilitic megalomaniac" in your story doesn't make it wor. In fact, this might be one of the biggest plot holes I've ever run across in a mystery. Even bigger than the fact that if Ms. Marple and/or Poirot go on a vacation, someone must die. Or that if Tommy and Tupence get involved in some international conspiracy, they are going to solve it brilliantly and be awarded a Nobel Prize for Peace. (Even more ridiculous is the idea...just a rumor/fake news..that Rush Limbaugh is to be given a "Medal of Honor" from trump! That happened? Next thing you know Ann Coulter will break up from her love, trump. WHAT? That happened also? ) The universe is truly chaotic. I need some really good fiction right now.
  *Maybe one, but I'm not one to name names.
  **Same person and again I'm not one to name names. Actually, I sorta am after a martini...
• 
  Michelle

  Another great one by Dick Francis. This time, our Everyman Hero Neil Griffon is abducted and bullied into putting an amateur jockey up on the favorite mount for the big race. Just covering for his father after a serious car accident, he has no experience running a stable and is quickly in over his head.
  
  Classic Francis at his best, we have the intricacies of a strained father / son relationship, empowered, strong women well ahead of their time, and a great Everyman main character in Neil. Yes, we have horses, and racing, and insights into the everyday operations of a racing stable. But we also have a smart mystery that will leave you guessing until the end.
  
  I just love his books. 3.5 stars.
• 
  Harry

  What is there to say about Dick Francis? As I think about all of his books (yes, this review covers all of his books, and yes I've read them all) I think about a moral ethical hero, steeped in intelligence and goodness embroiled in evil machinations within British horse racing society - either directly or indirectly. The heroes aren't always horse jockies, they can be film producers, or involve heroes engaged in peripheral professions that somehow always touch the horse racing world.
  
  But more than that, Francis's heroes are rational human beings. The choices made are rational choices directed by a firm objective philosophy that belies all of Francis's novels. The dialogue is clear and touched with humor no matter the intensity of evil that the hero faces. The hero's thoughts reveal a vulnerability that is touching, while his actions are always based on doing the right thing to achieve justice.
  
  Causing the reader to deeply care about the characters in a novel is a difficult thing to do. No such worries in a Francis novel. The point of view is first person, you are the main character as you read the story (usually the character of Mr. Douglas). The hero is personable, like able, non-violent but delivering swift justice with his mind rather than through physical means. This is not to say that violence is a stranger to our hero. Some of it staggering and often delivered by what we would think of normal persons living in British society.
  
  You will come to love the world of Steeple Chase racing, you will grow a fondness for horses, stables, trainers and the people who live in that world. You will read the books, devouring one after the other and trust me Dick Francis has a lot of novels (over 40 by my last count).
  
  There are several series woven into the fabric of Francis's work: notably the Sid Halley and Kit Fielding series.
  
  Assessment: Dick Francis is one of my favorite writers. I read his books with a fierce hunger that remains insatiable and I mourn his death.
• 
  Rachel Brown

  Re-read. This has one of Francis’s best premises, and the execution lives up to it. Neil Griffon, an antique dealer, has temporarily taken over his trainer father’s stable after his father was seriously injured in a car crash. Neil is kidnapped by a dangerous madman who demands, on pain of destroying the stable, that Neil hire his son Alessandro as a jockey… and let him ride their prize stallion in the Kentucky Derby.
  
  The theme here is fathers and sons. Neil’s father was emotionally abusive and distant, but competent in his own sphere; Neil, forced to step into his shoes, must gain the trust of all the employees who prefer his father. Alessandro’s father is a sociopathic megalomaniac, but gave him everything he ever wanted. The heart of the book is the relationship between Alessandro and Neil, an oddly paternal one though Neil is only 15 years older, and Alessandro’s growth into becoming his own person.
  
  Excellent suspense, plus Francis’s usual good characterization of the supporting cast. My favorite here was Etty, confident in her place as a female “head lad” in a male-dominated profession. Though Francis doesn’t use the word “asexual,” Neil describes her as having no interest in sex. The phrasing isn’t sensitive in current terms, but the sentiment is nonjudgmental.
  
  One of my favorite things about this book was the way that Alessandro seemed to have stepped out of an entirely different novel, one where the arrogant and damaged young man is the romantic lead, and was forced to interact with Francis’s down-to-earth characters, who either didn’t notice how hot he was or noticed but didn’t let it cloud their judgment. His interactions with the no-time-for-this-shit Etty were comedy gold.
  
  Warning for horse harm.
  
• 
  Georgene

  Until Dick Francis came along, who knew that the world of horse racing could be so exciting? I've read quite a few Dick Francis novels and I can't think of any that were less than 3+ stars.
  
  Bonecrack involves two meglomaniac fathers and the sons that have to deal with them. Francis says in the forward that he had a pretty good father, so the two in this novel are not based on his own father. Good to know!
• 
  Jacqueline J

  My first Dick Francis. I want to ride Archangel.
• 
  N

  SO ODD. I remain a member of the Dick Francis cult. IDK, his books are just weird, page-turning nonsense and it appeals to me?
  
  I keep having to remind myself that if the sport at the heart of Bonecrack were premier league football, the premise of the novel would sorta make sense. A mobster kidnaps, beats up and threatens José Mourinho or some other football club manager, forcing him to put some rando in the lineup for the next big match...? Yeah, I can see it. The fact that this is horse-racing and, like, does anyone care that much about horse racing... that's what threw my suspension of disbelief.
  
  Anyway, there's ~tension~ and father-son angst and a truly loltastic reveal about the bad guy at the end. Not my favourite Francis, but not a bad one.
  
  Oh, and the moral of this story seems to be: no bother if your dad's a dickhead, 'cause one day he'll die and everything will be better.
• 
  John

  This is not a bad book but it was a bit too predictable and far fetched in places. Still syphilis and madness with a couple of dysfunctional fathers set within the racing world was entertaining to read. None of the characters were in any way likeable except the horses!
  
  I will probably give another Dick Francis a go as in parts I did enjoy it. Although the monotony of each day the apprentices doing the same thing was a bit dull. The ending was good though albeit a bit tragic for the equine character!
• 
  Lenny Husen

  This is a 4.5, really an excellent story for the genre. Having a cold father, I found the story line of the two horrible fathers and two damaged sons compelling. I really liked that the main character's girlfriend was full figured and plump and their sweet relationship was a bonus to the story.
  
  Francis writes very well and his books are fun.
  
  I've read a LOT of Dick Francis (and plan to read many more) and this one and Nerve are two of the best.
• 
  Joy

  I think this is my favorite Dick Francis. When Neil takes over his father's racing stables, he finds himself the victim of an insane extortion. I love the way Neil works toward solving a seemingly insoluble problem, while feeling his way into the profession of developing expensive race horses into winners. He could only have reached such heights in his former career, as a doctor to failing businesses, with a remarkable feel for human beings.
  
  Read 9 times
• 
  Brett Wallach

  A book of good intentions, exploring the father-son dynamic is wrapped around a paper-thin, implausible, and redundant plot. A mystery/suspense book with neither, though many parts are nicely written.
• 
  Connie N.

  Another excellent mystery involved in the horse-racing world. Neil takes over running a racing stable when his father is injured but he is terrorized by an obsessive man who unrealistically wants his son to ride the favorite in the biggest race of the year. as is usual with Francis heroes, Neil is intelligent, systematic, and calmly goes about fighting the evil all at great risk to himself, and trying to keep the people (and horses) around him safe. I always feel such a strong connection to the heroes and enjoy the action and suspense, while admiring the logic and imagination of the story. I love all Francis's books, but this is one of my favorites.
• 
  Diane V-R

  3,5 stars
• 
  Jennifer

  I really enjoyed this one. Less a mystery than a thriller and with better character development on one of the central characters than you see in Francis’ writing. I wonder what the inspiration was?
• 
  Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all)

  Strangely bland, even for an earlier Francis novel, most of the real action takes place in the final quarter. It seems to have been written at arm's length, as if the author had been thinking about something else most of the time. Set in the world of flat racing instead of steeplechase, which may explain why the main character is a looker-on instead of a jockey or other direct participant. Why Francis decided to make him an antique dealer-turned-business consultant is anybody's guess.
  
  Francis is already recycling motifs, this early into his career: the loner child whose father never really loved him, who bottles up his feelings without pickling them first. One of the confrontation scenes with the bad guy is almost a rewrite of a previous novel. Said bad guy is Italian/Swiss, the typical "nasty foreigner", and his son's English goes from near-pidgin to Oxford-convoluted from one moment to the next. The "mean scenes" were no big deal, not that I wanted any more grit, but it was just all so sleep-inducing.
  
  ETA: at second listen to the audiobook, I noticed that the women are either sexless (the secretary), obviously queer (the stable's "head lad", the only female with that job in England according to Francis), or there for the MC to visit occasionally for sex and/or food. I know the target audience was considered to be middle aged men, but even so I found the author's personal issues a bit too obvious.
  
  This book just didn't seem to know where it was going. The MC's backstory didn't go anywhere, and the ending seemed patched on. Maybe it was the heatwave Europe has been locked in for the past week or so, but there's no "mystery" here, let alone "thriller."
  
  This is not mental popcorn, because it had no crunch. Harmless is the best I can say for it.
• 
  Gilbert Stack

  There are two stories at work in Dick Francis’ mystery, Bonecrack. On the surface this is a contest between two men—a wealthy criminal trying to force Neil Griffon into putting his amateur eighteen-year-old son onto champion horse, Archangel, for the Derby. It’s a totally unrealistic and impossible demand, but that only makes the insane lengths to which the villain is willing to go to make it happen all the more frightening.
  
  The real story, however, is about two young men and their dysfunctional relationships with their fathers. Both fathers are absolutely determined to control their sons and neither can ultimately handle their inability to do so. There is a lot of pain in this book—but worst of it is the emotional damage these two fathers keep inflicting on their boys.
  
  The heart of this novel is watching Griffon slowly cultivate the feelings of competence and independence in Alessandro that helps to break him free of his criminal father’s control. It’s extremely well done and highly believable. It also creates a very human core for the book—especially when you realize Dick Francis’ true vision of a father-son relationship is the mentoring Griffon gives Alessandro and the mutual respect this generates between them.
  
  Bonecrack also has one of the most dramatic endings of any Dick Francis novels as Alessandro’s father goes to horrifically insane lengths to get his way. This is one of those books that sticks with you years after you first read it.
  
  If you liked this review, you can find more at
  www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
  
• 
  Jules Jones

  Neil Griffon is abducted and threatened late one night. But what is demanded of him is highly unusual -- that he make a particular young man a jockey at his father's training stable. Not for the obvious reasons -- no fixed races, no attempt to corrupt the betting process. Just a gift from a father to his son, who wants more than anything else in the world to ride a winning race on a particular horse. [return][return]Griffon has no choice, not when the horses are under threat. But there are more subtle ways to deal with a blackmailer than direct confrontation...[return][return]An excellent thriller, and a fascinating study of father-son relationships. There's some lovely characterisation in this book, and Francis builds on that to show how the two main characters change with the experiences they're put through.
• 
  Silvio111

  An interesting redemption story of two men with father issues. One who has already come to terms with his cold, dominating father, and a younger man who is still trapped in the dysfunctional dynamic.