Dick Francis Reading Group discussion

has anyone read the new novel 'gamble ' yet ?

No, I haven't. I've read most, perhaps almost all, of Francis' books, many a long time ago when I first got into enjoying mystery novels. Lately I've been watching the made for British TV shows from his novels, courtesy of Netflix. The TV shows are low budget, and Ian McShane is particularly awful as a Francis hero, but the films are still fun to watch.

I have it sitting here waiting for me, but I haven't read it yet. I've read quite a few favorable reviews, though. People seem to like it.

Mark wrote: "has anyone read the new novel 'gamble ' yet ?"

I read it pretty soon after it came out. Overall, I really enjoyed it. The story seemed less choppy than some of the joint efforts, and I liked the protagonist.

I'm scared to read it. I recently reread the whole Francis series, but once I got to the Felix Francis books I gave up because they were just so awful. It was really hard to swallow them with the original Dick/Mary books still so fresh in my mind. OTOH I've hear some good things about Gamble, so it may not be as bad as the earlier Dick/Felix ones!

Hi there, I just thought I'd let you know, Felix Francis is appearing at the Essar Oil Chester Literature Festival this Sunday 23rd at 2.30pm. Venue is the Grosvenor Museum, Chester and tickets (£8) can be bought from www.Chesterfestivals.co.uk

I hope you don't mind me crashing in (and sincere apologies if you do mind)but it is very relevant and promises to be a fascinating event!

Best Wishes

Paul Lavin, Chester Literature Festival Manager

Thanks for letting us know, Paul! Feel free to post any sort of event or book signing with Felix. I wish I was in the UK and could go!

I just read Gamble and really liked it a lot. I hope Felix continues to write novels, as I'll continue to read them. It's an exciting story and I recommend it.

It's time for Felix to step out of his father's shadow and to take his father's name off the title page. Maybe then we will stop looking for Dick and Mary on every page and start judging Felix on his own merits and not by forever comparing him to his parents.

Gamble wasn't terrible (not great either) but I really did not like the way it was marketed and that kind of biased me when I started reading.

Let Felix be Felix!!

Half way through reading "Gamble" at the moment. I find myself nitpicking Felix, with things like an American wouldn't say that or why would anyone on the backside of a US track deal/bet with another backside worker when they could just bet in the parimutual pool from the frontside?? Good news is there are still 19 Dick Francis books I haven't read and I've started collecting them over the Net.