Follow up to Friday Book Review

Friday I left you all with Inside Track by John Francome only half reviewed. Well, I can now safely say that I'd definitely recommend it.

Plot synopsis: jockey convicted of drunk driving & manslaughter is paroled, returns home to live with his sister, a racehorse trainer. A cheating husband, double murder, suspicious improvements in racehorse performance, and a family out for revenge all add to the mix.

Although there wasn't much mystery to the mystery - the main villain of the piece is pretty clear from the opening pages - the characters grabbed me, and so did the plot twists. By the time I hit the middle I'd been sucked in completely, and I finished the last 30 pages sitting on the footpad of the elliptical machine, too caught up in the action to put the book down even to shower. I definitely wasn't going to wait until the next morning to finish it!

I think I may have mentioned, the narration jumps from character to character rather than following one point of view. From widely divergent aspects and locations, all the individual stories gradually weave together building toward one grand climax. If a few of the discoveries and revelations seem a bit too fortuitious, well, it is fiction, after all.

Interestingly, I think it would be easy enough for Francome to build a series around several of the characters. The most likely choice is probably the DCI in charge of investigating the double murder that kicks off the book, but she certainly wouldn't be his only option. And this could quite easily be a stand-alone.

A good read, in any case!