When he finds himself unable to bring home a winner in race after race, despite being up on some very reliable mounts, his reputation takes a hit, his suspicions rear up, and we're all taken for a grand ride. But (here's where the 'smart' comes in) something feels very wrong to Rob.too many jockeys are losing their regular gigs because of rumors about bad habits or lack of dedication to the sport. He has managed a few good showings, when he gets the opportunity to pick up steady work replacing another jockey who has taken a bad fall. He's starting to make a name for himself as fearless, so trainers and owners like to put him up on their difficult horses.the ones no one else wants to ride.

Kit Fielding 2: A princess is blackmailed, and his feud with Maynard Allardeck has once again intensified. That sums up Rob Finn, the relatively inexperienced jockey we meet in. Kit Fielding 1: Kit's twin sister is married to the son of Maynard Allardeck, who maintains a feud against the Fieldings, and their stables are the target of a smear campaign. Parker, and Walter Mosley-smart, attractive and fundamentally good, but not hesitant to use a trick or two from the bad guys' play book against them reluctant to impose violence on others until absolutely necessary, and always ready to stop when enough is enough vulnerable to injury, but relatively undaunted by the pain decent to everyone, even, up to a point, to people who do not deserve it and absolutely NOT subject to losing their nerve. It's just this: his 'heroes' fall into that category of male characters I can't get enough of, like those created by Robert B. So although I remember loving Dick Francis's novels when I compulsively read them all years ago, I had kind of forgotten why. And I'm not a fan of racing it's a brutal life for jockeys and their mounts, even when they live to do it. Discover the classic mystery from Dick Francis, one of the greatest thriller writers of all time You will be hard pushed to find a better storyteller.

Nerve by Dick Francis