| Two Formidable Formulas Falter |
November 9, 2009
Two of my favorite perennial story-tellers have come out with their yearly books and although both satisfy, neither excite. I have been reading Dick Francis mysteries for years and have read all forty-three of his horse-centric tales of suspense and thrills, every one of them helmed by a tough hero and variously anchored by a love interest or a sibling or a friend; in the end, the hero is always alone in his final battle and he vanquishes, but often with a dire price to pay and lasting wounds to heal, both psychic and physical. Francis has written the last three books assisted by his son Felix and I reviewed their second collaboration, Silks one year ago, lauding its "resolute action by the hero that is spine chilling and cracking, and quite gratifying as well". This year's title is Even Money and it offers a thorough introduction to the world of at-track and on-line betting on horse races. It also follows through with the usual solid, solitary, suffering-but-not-showing-it-hero, an afflicted love, compelling supporting characters, and, for something new, a particularly twisted family history. When Ned Talbot, bookmaker, finds himself face to face with a father he had thought long-dead, the fast-paced action starts and keeps up at a steady rate until the all-out (but less satsifying than usual) final show-down. What works in Even Money is the complex plot with its two story-lines and nice backdrop of betting and hedging bets on the racing of horses; the book also brings in the latest on bet-making, horse-identifying (tattooed lips in the United States and electronic chips everywhere else), mental illness, cell phones, iPods, and the old-as-the-hills fraudulent tendencies of man. What doesn't work so well is the level of suspense: there is none. The who, what, and why of the danger facing Talbot just never builds to a dramatic point and although I enjoyed reading the book, I was never in a state of frantic page-turning, desperate to know what happened next. The other problem with this novel -- and for me, this was huge -- is the complete absence of horse and horse-sensibility from the story. Francis has written novels which do not feature horses front and center but he has never written one which so callously offers up the brutal killing of horses without comment or regret. It is Francis' love of horses and his understanding of them, and of the world of racing, jumping, breeding, and doctoring them, that have always made his books distinct, alive, and compelling. Without the horse-love interest, the story itself was fine but nothing more.
Aaron Elkins' Skull Duggery is his sixteenth in the Gideon Oliver, skeleton detective, series. Elkins follows his usual formula of the lovable but bone-addled and addicted Gideon stumbling across a body and using his formidable skills of forensics, along with his curious, active, and stubborn mind, to solve the question of when, why, how, and where the body came to be a dead bundle of bones in the first place. His also lovable wife Julie is here again, and the location is a tiny village in the Oaxaca state of Mexico. As usual, there are meals of great interest (and thoroughly described), shifty characters as well as ones provided for comic relief, and at least one attempt on Gideon's life. Also as usual, the best part of the novel is the forensic bone-puzzle solving part of it all. Skull Duggery takes way too long to get us to Gideon's investigation but once he starts in on the body (and as more bodies come under his discerning gaze) the work that Gideon does is truly fascinating and thoroughly engaging. Unfortunately, the accompanying story line this time around is a bit weak and although I have to admit the final twist really surprised me, the identity of the skeletons was less than surprising and I saw the attack on Gideon coming a mile (or five pages) away.
Francis and Elkins both hold their place in my pantheon of beloved story-tellers, despite their less-than-awesome entry onto this year's reading list. With such classics (that can be read again and again) as Longshot, Break In, Bolt, Risk, Odds Against, Come to Grief, Whip Hand, and Banker (just writing those titles makes me want to start a Francis-a-day project starting NOW) by Dick Francis, and Fellowship of Fear, Good Blood, Little Tiny Teeth, Old Bones, and Twenty Blue Devils by Elkins, both of these writers deserve to be read, and often, and repeatedly.
|
For November 2009 review of Silks by Dick Francis and Felix Francis, click here; for June 2009 review of Make No Bones by Aaron Elkins, click here.
|
|
