SOURCE: "Dick Francis And the Racer's Edge," in Washington Post Book World, March 15, 1987, p. 9.

In the following review, Hillerman asserts that while readers generally do not read Francis's work for his plots, with Bolt "Francis finally uses a plot so flawed that it ruins the book."

Admirers of Dick Francis don't read him for his plots. We read him for his precise use of the language, for rounded characters, for his skill at suspense and for the authentic trip he gives us through the world of steeplechase racing. When he gives us an outstanding story line, as in Blood Sport, Odds Against, In the Frame, etc., it is a bonus. Usually it isn't the plot that keeps us reading long into the night.

In Bolt, unfortunately, Francis finally uses a plot so flawed that it ruins the book.

We deal here with a cast even more aristocratic than...