Dick Francis Critical Essay | Critical Review by Kirkus Reviews

SOURCE: A review of Decider, in Kirkus Reviews, Vol. LXI, No. 15, August 1,1993, p. 966.

In the following review, the critic lauds Francis's Decided as one of his most satisfying recent books.

Francis's newest suspenser (his 32nd) is typical not only in its racetrack setting, but in its doubling of the hero's mildly dysfunctional family (he and his diffident wife are held together only by their brood of six sons) with another family of deep-dyed villains.

Because his mother Madeline was once married into the fractious Stratum family, owners of the Stratton Park racecourse, architect/builder Lee Morris, a restorer of ruined houses, owns a small number of voting shares in the course. His long-standing revulsion from Madeline's wife-beating first husband Keith Stratton has kept him away from the family—especially from his half-sister Hannah, a child of marital rape—and, despite the pleas of course manager Roger Gardner, he intends to...
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