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Front Runner
- Narrated by: Martin Jarvis
- Series: Dick Francis Novels, Book 5
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Thriller & Suspense
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Frustrating
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bombs and intrigue ar Newmarket races
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When Mark Shillingford commentates on a race in which his twin sister Clare, an accomplished and successful jockey, comes in third, he can't help but be suspicious. As a professional race-caller, he knows she should have won. Did she lose on purpose? Was the race fixed? Why on earth would she do something so out of character? That night, Mark confronts Clare with his suspicions, but she storms off after an explosive argument. It's the last time Mark sees her alive.
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Brilliant new narrator, super new novel
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As one of the youngest ever winners of the Grand National, Nick ‘Foxy’ Foxton’s career as a world-class jockey is on perfect track until a near-fatal accident cuts his dream brutally short. But when he returns to Aintree as a spectator years later, nothing can prepare him for what unfolds. Minutes before the biggest event on the racing calendar, Nick’s affable American colleague Herb Kovak is shot at point-blank range, the gunman disappearing among the stunned crowd.
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The night before the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket sees the great and the good of the horse-racing community gathered for a prestigious black-tie gala dinner. It is a fitting testament to the glamour of the occasion that celebrity chef and restaurateur Max Moreton is cooking the evening's meal. But the last thing he needs is to hear that his food is suspected of putting 24 of the guests in hospital.
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bombs and intrigue ar Newmarket races
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Refusal
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Overall
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Performance
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Six years ago, investigator Sid Halley retired for good. He’d been harassed, beaten, shot, even lost a hand to his investigating business, and enough was enough. For the sake of his wife and new daughter he gave up that life of danger and uncertainty, and he thought nothing would ever lure him back into the game. He thought wrong. Sir Richard Stewart, chairman of the racing authority, begs Sid to investigate a series of dodgy races. Sid adamantly refuses, but the following day, Sir Richard is found dead under suspicious circumstances.
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Dreadful pastiche of the Dick Francis style
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Crossfire
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When defence barrister Geoffrey Mason hears the judge’s verdict, he quietly hopes that a long and arduous custodial sentence will be handed down to his arrogant young client. That Julian Trent only receives eight years seems all too lenient. Little does Mason expect that he’ll be looking Trent in the eyes again much sooner than he’d ever imagined.
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Good enough story. Narrator many years too old.
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Bolt
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Story
When Kit Fielding, champion steeplechase jockey, finds out that his chief patron, Princess Casilia, is facing an increasingly serious threat, he goes unhesitatingly to her aid. Neither realises that his instinctive support is the first step towards a frightening battle involving violent risk, with the honour of the princess's family as the prize and Kit's own destruction as the forfeit.
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great story
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Slay-Ride
- Slay-Ride
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A British jockey, riding in Norway, has disappeared, and with him has gone a day's takings from the turnstiles of Oslo racecourse. The Norwegian police have found no trace of him, nor have the British, and the case is being filed as just one more unsolved theft. David Cleveland, investigator for the Jockey Club, is a last resort. He goes without much expectation, and finds himself in waters as dark and deep as the fjords.
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Typical Francis
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10-lb Penalty
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
At nearly 18, easy-going Benedict Juliard has no stronger ambition than to ride in steeplechases as an amateur jockey. His father, George, driven towards a life of public service and politics, asks his son to enter into a pact that neither of them will commit any act that could destroy the father's growing reputation and career.
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Dick Francis wins again!
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Smokescreen
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- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
When a sick friend asks Edward Lincoln to investigate the comprehensive failure of a string of racehorses, he agrees to help out. But it is impossible for him to go about the task quietly and unnoticed because he is now a world-class star of action films, in which he always plays the hero. And the apparently easy survey of the string of racehorses blows him through a smokescreen into circumstances, where, to survive, he has to make himself become the man everyone else already thinks he is.
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Less horses - just as gripping
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Enquiry (Unabridged)
- By: Dick Francis
- Narrated by: Geoffrey Howard
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Overall
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Performance
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Jockey Kelly Hughes and trainer Dexter Cranfield had been barred from racing – a devastating event for them both. The charge at the secret enquiry? Throwing a race for personal profit. It was a vicious frame-up and, worse, they had nowhere to turn to clear their names. Still Hughes refused to take the phony verdict lying down – even though his quest to clear his name might have him lying down permanently.
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First past the post
- By Rogayah on 29-07-16
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Blood Sport
- By: Dick Francis
- Narrated by: Tony Britton
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Gene Hawkins, investigator by trade, was expert at arranging events so that they appeared accidental to all involved. Therefore, when he himself witnessed an ‘accident’ his curiosity flared up bright, and he insisted on looking into what he regarded as a work of art. A quarter of a million pounds worth of Derby-winning stallion had vanished into the Blue Grass of Kentucky... and a young man and a girl spent a dangerous afternoon in a punt on the River Thames.
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Blood Sport
- By Kindle Customer on 03-12-17
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Break In
- By: Dick Francis
- Narrated by: Tony Britton
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Performance
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Story
Steeplechase jockey Kit Fielding has just ridden another winner for his patron – the Princess – when his distraught twin sister Holly comes to him with terrible news. A newspaper is printing stories that will put her husband, Bobby Allardeck, and his stables out of business.Putting aside the age-old Fielding-Allardeck feud, Kit decides to try to find out who is behind these cruel stories.
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Variable Quality
- By Anthony Cockayne on 07-10-20
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Shattered
- By: Dick Francis
- Narrated by: Tony Britton
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When jockey Martin Stukely dies following a fall in a steeplechase at Cheltenham races, he accidentally embroils his friend Gerard Logan in a perilous search for a stolen videotape. Gerard Logan is a glass-blower on the verge of widespread acclaim for his work. He has long been accustomed to the frightful dangers inherent in molten glass and maintaining a glass-making furnace, but now he is suddenly faced with a series of unexpected threats, first to his livelihood, then to his courage, and finally, to his life.
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A bit of everything
- By M. E. Ditchburn on 14-04-13
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For Kicks
- By: Dick Francis
- Narrated by: Tony Britton
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
When the horse that wins a race gallops in with frothing mouth and popping eyes, what is more natural than to suspect that someone¿s slipped a booster into his oats? With eleven steeplechasers hurtling over the finish line in this pepped up states and all the dope tests conclusively negative, the Earl of October had something of a problem if he wanted to preserve the health of his favorite sport.
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Fast-moving action
- By Jean on 26-09-11
Summary
Things are hotting up in this latest thriller from best-selling author Felix Francis, in his fifth solo novel Front Runner.
Jefferson Hinkley is back. In his role as an undercover investigator for the British Horseracing Authority, Jeff is approached by the multi-time champion jockey, Dave Swinton, to discuss the delicate matter of losing races on purpose. Little does Jeff realise that the call would result in an attempt on his life, locked in a sauna with the temperature well above boiling point.
Dave Swinton is then found dead, burnt beyond recognition in his car at a deserted beauty spot. The police think it's a suicide but Jeff is not so sure. He starts to investigate the possible races that Swinton could have intentionally lost but discovers instead that others are out to prevent him from doing so, at any cost.
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Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- silverfoxes34
- 15-10-19
A brilliantly written story full of twists and turns
It has taken me most of the book to just the end and I still got it wrong
2 people found this helpful
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- mark
- 29-02-16
As good as his father was
A very good story and great ending , the story teller was also well chosen and kept the story tense in a good way
1 person found this helpful
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- Jo
- 13-01-22
Great story as always but...
Audible get a better narrator. every character sounds the same and all are portrayed as having a plum in their mouth and all characters sound old even if they're only supposed to be 21!
Brilliant story the Francis legend continues but the narration is letting every book down.
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- Ellen
- 19-06-21
Much better than the first outing
Enjoyable and much better than the first outing. Martin Jarvis just isn’t the best narrator and I have to say I never feel the female characters are very strong or likeable in these books. There is a lot more intrigue and suspense in this book but I just don’t find them as enjoyable as the originals. I feel this character is supposed to become the new “Sid Halley” but the books just aren’t as good. They are worth a listen though and I did enjoy the book.
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- RA
- 31-10-20
A good modern Francis novel
Really enjoyed Front Runner from page number 1. A swift paced meaty thriller with well thought out characters.
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- bungalowphil
- 19-08-20
Bring back Tony Britton
You either like Martin Jarvis or you don't. I fall in the latter category. I can remember Peter Cook likening Margaret Thatcher's delivery to "perfumed farts". I suspect Jarvis is a Tory
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- Amazon Customer
- 18-01-18
Not a classic...
I really struggled to finish this book which is unusual as far as Dick/Felix Francis books go. The main protagonist wasn't very likable and he did ridiculous things considering he was supposed to be an investigator, I found my self thinking 'don't do that' on a number of occasions. I didn't like the narration either, far too pompous.
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- Matthew
- 24-11-16
A Good Storyline.
I thought Peter Darwin & Annabel Would have Had A Bigger Role as he Had a Whole Book to himself when Dick F Was Alive.
Come on You Can Do Better If You Are Going to Use your Dads Old Characters. Give them a Bigger Role.
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- Mrs. Rm Walters
- 26-09-15
Not a patch on Dick Francis
What disappointed you about Front Runner?
I very quickly became bored with this book. Too much unnecessary information about nothing in particular. Whenever something untoward happened to Mr Hinkley it wasn't rocket science to work out roughly what it would be, or how he would extradite himself.
What will your next listen be?
Tomb In Turkey by Simon Brett
Have you listened to any of Martin Jarvis’s other performances? How does this one compare?
Yes, adequate, but not as good as I know he can be.
You didn’t love this book--but did it have any redeeming qualities?
At least we didn't have two and a half hours where Mr Hinkley knew something we didn't, as in his previous book.
Any additional comments?
Sorry, but compared to his father, Felix just doesn't cut it for me.
1 person found this helpful
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- Grumpy pensioner 🤔
- 23-09-16
A First class winner
Top class from start to finish ,the delivery was excellent.I'm just about to start my next "Francis" audio book.