SOURCE: "He Gets the Horse Right There," in The New York Times Book Review, October 18, 1992, p. 32.

In the following review, Tallent offers reserved praise for Francis's Driving Force while pointing out some of the novel's flaws.

In his autobiography, The Sport of Queens, Dick Francis could not be more direct about his latest profession: "When I write any one sentence. I think first of all of what I want to say. Then I think of a way of saying it." The brisk assessment of a situation, the lucid self-reliance, the smart refusal to fuss about what other people fuss a lot about—this confession rings with the elements of style for many a Dick Francis protagonist. Racing journalism was the means for Mr. Francis, in 1957 a retired Champion Jockey in Britain, not only to earn a different kind of living, but also to perfect professionally succinct prose conveying...