Book Review: Crossfire by Dick Francis & Felix Francis

I somewhat dubiously attacked this novel, albeit with the mild but tantalising excitement of turning the first page and reading into a new and intangible storyline. Full of scandalous secrets,writer and renowned post-war National Hunt jockey, Dick Francis wrote the book along with the collaborative input of his youngest son, Felix Francis,which together, they have helped bring together the well-researched knowledge of both horse racing and war to provide an insightful exploration into the possibility and likelihood of many corrupt organisations and fields of work.

The story begins on a high of tension and mystery as we are thrown right into a war scene and just like character, Captain Thomas Forsyth, we aren't fully aware of what has happened until the sergeant tells him that he has lost his foot. This is a very significant point to the background of the story for it directly tells us that there will be constant reference to Forsyth's experience being in the army as well as the difficulties that he will have because of the fact that he only has one leg (despite the effective but irritating use of his prosthetic). Much of Francis' language focuses on militaristic lexis and military history creating a very believable story. Furthermore there is a less significant role of lexis from the semantic field of horse racing, which would have been easily acquired by Dick Francis' experience as a jockey. Not only does the book exhume a great depth of knowledge into racing and war but there is a heavy focus on what is one of the most important elements to the story, finance. Crossfire, although living up to its name when given reference to an unusual occurrence/ change in a horses' gait, is predominantly fixated on the idea of war and the way in which two opposing sides are battling out. Despite no longer serving for the army on 6 month leave (due to the extent of his wound) Forsyth uses his tactical knowledge to battle against foes committing Fraud and blackmail because of a 'Hedge fund' gone wrong.

The action began halfway through the story creating suspense and excitement to which i read fruitfully more and more pages, keen to discover the ending; however admittedly, most of the time in which both Dick Francis and Felix Francis explained the difficult situation of handling finance i found myself incredibly lost and confused. Although i think i posed this perplexity not due to inattention to the details but rather due to my age and as a young reader with little knowledge of finance i think it is quite understandable to feel that way. So in all honest opinion, whilst it was an interesting book i believe that to get the best out of it i'd recommend a readership of late 20s and over; however if you happen to have a love for all things finance i see no problem in taking a stab at it!

Do not be fooled into thinking this is solely focused on horse racing, because it is not. In fact the book does have a background of horse racing but we hear of only a few races where blackmail stems. Yet this novel was written to centre predominantly on finance and the flaws of handling it.

All in all, this is a book sure to keep you engaged and interested and i would definitely recommend reading it, however if you wish to have full coherence of the plot then it may be best to be assured that you have knowledge or interest in finance and perhaps the corrupt exploitation of it, if thriller is a genre you find exhilarating.