New York Times-bestselling author Francis returns with another thriller. Bill Russell is acting as a volunteer steward at Warwick races when he confronts his worst nightmare--the violent death of his much-loved wife. But, the aftermath proves much worse when he is accused of killing her and then hounded mercilessly by the media.
The story is reminiscent of Joseph Finder’s thrillers, in which an ordinary man is suddenly plunged into an extraordinary situation, with the noose tightening on every page. Francis writes a stunning paranoid thriller here, with all evidence pointing against Russell, friends and acquaintances shunning him, and the media condemning him. Fans who may be disappointed at the loss of a solid racing connection will soon cheer for this dark horse.
The trial is suitably turbulent no matter who’s on the stand, and at times it seems there’ll never be a way to choose between the two men’s stories. But Francis, pulling out one of the hoariest clichés in the genre, provides a final twist that combines ambiguity and decisiveness ... Virtually nothing about horses, despite the Francis byline, but a banquet of juicy he said, he said moments.
Bestseller Francis’s plodding fifth solo addition to his father’s horse-racing series has only a tangential connection to the turf ... Suspension of disbelief is lessened by such details as Bill believing, inaccurately, that leading questions are impermissible on cross-examination. The twist ending will surprise few mystery fans. That Francis has done much better work in the past suggests that a return to form is possible.
