A tale of race fixing and deadly intrigue in the racing world from the pen of Dick Francis’ younger son, Felix. Sid Halley, a former British jump racing Champion Jockey and private detective (and a recurring character in Francis novels) turns down a job to investigate race fixing and in doing so inadvertently puts his family in mortal danger. But he will stop at nothing to keep them safe.
Refusal is his third solo novel after Bloodline and Gamble and it is clear the champion winning thriller writing genes have been passed on for our enjoyment.
Feel the tension ratchet up in Refusal, Felix Francis' third solo novel. Sir Richard Stewart, chairman of the horse racing authority, wants Sid Halley to look into some suspicious race results, but Sid gave up the investigating business six years ago and he thought nothing could make him go back. He thought wrong. The following day, Sir Richard is found dead and Sid receives a threatening call from a man with an Irish accent. The man insists that Sid Halley should investigate the alleged race-fixing and it is only when his six-year-old daughter goes missing that Sid realises that he may pay the ultimate price for his refusal. With his life in tatters and his family in mortal danger, Sid is forced to act. Maybe he has underestimated the evilness of his foe, but has his foe underestimated the guile and determination of Sid Halley? Extreme situations demand extreme solutions and Sid is desperate to get his life back, or die trying...
'From winning post to top of the bestseller list, time after time.' Sunday Times
'The Francis flair is clear for all to see.' Daily Mail
'The master of suspense and intrigue.' Country Life
Author
About Felix Francis
Felix Francis is Dick Francis’s youngest son. Born in 1953, Felix studied Physics and Electronics at London University and then embarked upon a 17 year career teaching Advanced Level physics at three schools, the last seven as head of the science department at Bloxham School in Oxfordshire.
Felix remembers conversations around the Francis breakfast table being somewhat unconventional. “The production of a Dick Francis novel has always been a mixture of inspiration, perspiration and teamwork. The first one was published when I was nine, and I grew up in a house where breakfast talk would be about the damage a bullet might do to a man’s guts rather than the more mundane topics of everyday life”, he says.
Over the past 40 years Felix assisted Dick with both the research and the writing of many of his novels. They shared a love of racing and often worked together on plot and character details at Dick’s home in the Cayman Islands. This partnership allowed Dick to draw upon Felix’s knowledge and experience as a physics teacher in Twice Shy and his past as an international marksman in Shattered (2000) and Under Orders (2006).
With the publication of Dead Heat in 2007, Felix took on a more significant role in writing. Silks (2008) was the second novel in this father-and-son collaboration and Even Money (2009) was the third. Crossfire (2010) was the novel Dick and Felix Francis were working on when Dick died in February 2010, marking the end of one chapter and the beginning of another in the Dick Francis brand.
Dick Francis was acclaimed as one of the greatest thriller writers in the world and he wanted his legacy to live on through his son, Felix, and the novels that they planned together. Gamble, which was published in September 2011, was the first Dick Francis novel written by Felix Francis, with Bloodline following suit in 2012. His latest book, Front Runner, was published in September 2015.
