Dick Francis Critical Essay | Critical Review by Dick Lochte

SOURCE: A review of Bolt, in Los Angeles Times Book Review, June 7, 1987, p. 13.

In the following review, Lochte praises Francis's Bolt, noting the exceptional dialogue and faultless storytelling.

Steeplechase jockey-turned-author Dick Francis' last racing tale, Break In, introduced us to a self-reliant rider named Kit Fielding who had to deal with a violent family feud that threatened him and his twin sister, a budding romance with a headstrong young woman and the navigation of several rather difficult races. The first of many surprises greeting us in Francis' new tale is the discovery that there is an Act Two to Kit's life.

Though many of the novelist's central characters are jockeys or former jockeys, he has gone out of his way to eschew series books, probably in an effort to make the point that, though they may share some common physical traits, jockeys are as individually unique as...
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