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Feb 19, 2012

Doreen rated it:

After being introduced to Dick Francis books by my dear neighbor Leya many years ago, I cannot see a new one without picking it up -- even though I know that the new ones are really written by his son. Ah well. Felix tries to maintain the same tone of bemused detachment and to stick to the world of British horse racing, and for most of the book, that's enough. The main character in this entry in the series is a bookmaker -- according to him, a member of the profession disdained by many if not mo More...

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Dec 22, 2009

Dlora rated it:

The Dick/Felix Frances author combo still doesn't have the magic that made me a huge fan of Dick Frances's books, and I'm not quite sure what it is. Even Money is again about the racing environment, delving into the world of the bookies and the punters on the racetrack. Perhaps I was lost because there was an awful lot about bookmakers odds--lots of fractions and numbers that went right over my head even with the help of the chart at the front of the book. It also seemed as if the editor left in More...

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Sep 07, 2009

Evyn rated it:

Another winner.
If you have never read Dick Francis, he is addictive. If you already know his books, you don't need this review because you--like myself--eagerly awaits everything he writes!
His last few books have been co-authored with his son Felix and that seems to have invigorated his writing. I have never read a disappointing book from this author; of course, they all follow predictable "formulas" but it works for me. Kind of like your favorite ice-cream flavor should a More...

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Sep 18, 2009

Cheryl rated it:

Teddy “Ned” Talbot has had both his feet in the horse and bookie world, since he was a little boy. He worked as a runner for his grandfather. He knows all there is about the business of being a really good bookie.

Ned is approached by a man claiming to be his father. Ned doesn’t believe him as his father and mother died in a car crash years ago. Ned has no choice but to believe the man when he knows details and facts about things that only Ned’s father would know. Before they can get More...

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May 22, 2011

Knitme23 rated it:

I enjoy Dick Francis, and although I do think the recent ones with his son are not quite up to his earlier standard, it's nice to have the tradition continue, and, after all, we're all for family unity, right????

Even Money works. I skimmed some, as bookmaking and betting have always confused me, but overall the book was fun. I DO wish, however, that the Francis men would leave the poor wives alone: lately every female love interest is somehow limited or debilitated (granted, I've be More...

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Jan 02, 2010

Bob rated it:

Ned Talbot is a Bookie who works the races having taken over his Grandfathers business. He is accosted one day when leaving a race by a man who claims to be his father. As far as Ned knows his father and mother died in a car crash when he was a toddler and he was brought up by his grandparents. Before they had a chance to talk very much a third man masked by a hoodie and a scarf kicked Ned in the head and turned to his father demanding "The money" . Dad resisted and was stabbed befor More...

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Oct 17, 2010

adventurat rated it:

I wonder if this will be the last book published with Dick Francis's name first and foremost, or if, like the protagonist in this book, Felix Francis will cease to ride his parent's famous and successful coattails, and put his own name on the banner on future publications.

I liked this book. Interesting protagonist, twisted mystery, reasonably cogent plot, decent characterization, etc. I didn't love it, though, as I often have some of Dick Francis's novels. Accustomed as I am to stoppi More...

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Oct 10, 2009

Harvee rated it:

If you like horses, horse racing, and mysteries, then Even Money is your ticket to a winner.

Ned Talbot has been running his independent bookmaker business at racetracks since his grandfather Teddy started it years before. Everything is routine until a customer shows up one day and claims to be Ned's father, who was supposed to have died years ago. The man is then killed in front of Ned by a mugger, a man with close-set eyes and a scarf over his face, demanding money.

Ned More...

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Sep 10, 2009

Bill rated it:

Reading a Dick Francis novel is as comfortable as an old pair of shoes. He writes wonderfully and even when the plot deals with an unfamiliar topic, bookmaking in Even Money, it makes little difference to enjoying the story. The main characters are ordinary individuals caught up in extraordinary circumstances. In Even Money it is a legal independent bookmaker at the track trying to entice bettors (punters) to bet with him by providing slightly better odds, and payout, than the big off-track bett More...

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Mar 03, 2010

Sandra rated it:

I haven't been all that thrilled with the Dick Francis/Felix Francis team in all the previous collaborations--it seems to me that Dick wrote better on his own, in the earlier years. The collabs have been okay, but not terrific like Dick's solo efforts like Longshot, Hot Money, Straight, and Decider, which are among my absolute favourites. Presumably Dick was grooming Felix to take over for him, as he was aging. Sadly, Dick Francis died recently (that's him and RB Parker gone too--what am I to do More...

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Feb 14, 2010

Jo rated it:

I confess that there aren't really any Dick Francis books I DON'T like, just some I like better than others. This isn't one of my all time favorites, but it's a good read nonetheless. This one was a bit like chinese food, tasty but an hour after I'd finished it I couldn't remember the whole plot clearly (sorry, no insult to chinese food intended!).

The basic plot revolves around a bookmaker whose father appears after a lifetime's absence, dragging mystery and thugs with him. Dad gets More...

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Oct 23, 2009

Rich rated it:

Felix suffers from Tom Clancy Syndrome. That is where an author is compelled--maybe by OCD--to share EVERYTHING he learned in researching the book with the reader. He gives far too much information on betting and how odds are set to the reader--to the point of including tables at the first of the book. Whereas his dad knew how to feather in the necessary information into the story in a way that educated the reader, but kept the story moving along briskly.

(BTW when you see a combina More...

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Feb 20, 2010

Sarah rated it:

I picked up the latest Dick Francis book at the library a few weeks ago. It was still sitting on my kitchen counter when I read that Dick Francis had died at a ripe old age. It was thus, with sadness, that I read this last book from a very special author.
I read my first Dick Francis book while I was still in high school. I have eagerly anticipated each (nearly) annual story, eagerly sought each one at the library & happily dug into each tale. I will admit to being a horse-crazy child More...

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Aug 02, 2011

Chris A. rated it:

While murder mysteries are not my stock and trade, this was a delightful read. A little predictable, but nice and clean. Dick Francis has been writing more years than I've been alive, and it shows. Also, it is so British, and I'm a bit of an anglophile, so one more star. I might have given it one more if not for the sappy, happy ending where everything goes right. Honestly, I've got a real sore spot for the hero getting everything they want in the last chapter, and this happens all in the l More...

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Oct 01, 2009

William rated it:

Even Money by Dick And Felix Francis

Teddy Talbot is a bookie. He laments over the lack of respect that bookies get in the UK. This is a tale of his job, the travails he faces, his wife’s mental illness and his families curious history.

I was initially annoyed at the painstaking detail of the world of the legal bookie. It did end up setting the appropriate stage. Teddy was painted as an ordinary guy who faced some extraordinary events with creativity and panache. T More...

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Sep 05, 2009

Jeffrey rated it:

This latest collaboration between Dick Francis and Felix Francis again has all the elements of a book written by someone other than Dick Francis. There are long stretches of exposition about bookmaking, mental illness and other sundry things where in earlier novels the exposition was more limited. The dialogue and the spare crisp writing style are muted but the ordinary business man placed in a bad situation who has to get even against the evil bad man without resorting to the help of the polic More...

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Sep 27, 2009

Beverly rated it:

Not good. I don't think Felix quite gets it. He has a heavier hand than his father in the earlier books. The characters are not as delightfully genteel and the educational content (here about betting, id-ing horses, bi-polar disorder, electronics and MORE) is way over done. The plot is also over done. In this story Ned Talbot is a bookie on the racetrack who meets a man claiming to be the father that Ned thought to have died 30 years ago. The same day Ned meets him, the father who lives in Austr More...

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Sep 08, 2009

Grey853 rated it:

I liked this one better than the other books written with his son. In EVEN MONEY the protagonist is at least likable and vulnerable, which wasn't the case in the other books.

Ned is a bookie. He's that everyman who gets thrown into a mystery and has to follow the clues to find who why people are trying to rob and kill him. It's one of the Francis trademarks and why I keep coming back for more.

The mystery in this case is that a stranger comes up and announces to Ned that More...

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Nov 29, 2009

Lorraine rated it:

This book explains the bookie business at the race tracks in England, and how the odds are manipulated and side bets are made so that bookies don't suffer great losses. It was not one of the better of the Dick and Felix Francis books, but I enjoyed it all the same. The central character, Ned Talbot, meets a man at Royal Ascot races who claims to be his father. Ned thought his father had been dead since he was a toddler, so had a hard time believing this, but just as he was being convinced, th More...

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Oct 02, 2010

Maria rated it:

I'm so glad the Francis's are still writing. I always look forward to a new Dick Francis, but since Felix began co-authoring with him, the stories have taken on a bit more depth without losing the incredibly complex "justice" taken by the main character by the end of the book, which I always look forward to. I had trouble following the betting odds and explanations (and being a math major, that's saying something) but thoroughly enjoyed the descriptions of what it is like being a boo More...

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Oct 10, 2010

Beth rated it:

Interesting that Francis decided to feature a bookmaker for the first time in his long career of mystery writing. Perhaps it was his son's idea? At any rate, I was pleasantly surprised at the fairly realistic and sympathetic portrayal of a couple affected by mental illness. I don't know much about the British system, so I don't know how accurate those details were, but they did do a good job of portraying the struggles the two people go through--still finding they love each other even as the wif More...

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Sep 02, 2009

Bonnie rated it:

A good read as always, the numbers in the betting were used by bookie in a jargon not fully explained by the chart at the front of the book.

The ending was a little contrived, but it had to end somehow.

What ever happened to the lady in black and white?

Leaves you in the air about the wife, does the hormonal change come about as predicted? Unrealistic reaction to kidnapping, maybe due to the medicines she was on. It does deal with discription of manic/depression More...

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Oct 31, 2009

Jjanovyak rated it:

This was a real pleasure. I've been worried by the idea of the father/son collaboration, afraid that these racetrack mysteries will lose their charm if diluted by another voice. That was a waste of brain time on my part. Felix Francis has stepped into the partnership virtually seamlessly, and this latest offering is a real pleasure. The pacing moves as quickly as ever, and Ned Talbot is a likeable and sympathetic hero, whose marital love story is authentically touching. Add in some little touch More...

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Oct 05, 2009

Anne rated it:

I love Dick Francis books, even if they may not be the most well-written books on the planet. I think this hearkens back to the days when I tried to convince my parents that we *did* have room for a horse in the back yard. All of Francis' books deal with some aspect of horse racing, giving lots of behind the scenes info that are not normally included in the other books I tend to read.

This particular book is about the bookmaking/gambling end of the horse-racing business. Ted Talbot More...

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Sep 21, 2009

Krista rated it:

This is the latest book from Dick & Felix Francis. I only gave this book 2 stars. It was a pretty formulaic Dick Francis kind of mystery the British horse racing world. There was a lot of discussion about the book making (betting/bookies) business in England. I guess that was educational. There was one twist that took me by surprise. It wasn't anything too memorable, but it was a quick read.

I really enjoyed Dick Francis' earlier works much more than this book. I'm not sure if th More...

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Oct 17, 2009

E. rated it:

Dick Francis again joins with his son Felix to produce another intriguing mystery centered around the horseracing industry. The pair explores the world of the bookmaker and the various factors that are used to calculate odds for the races. An interesting look at methods of identification for racehorses and the lengths that the unscrupulous will travel to in order to falsify identities. Francis' trademark convoluted romantic relationships provide background activity but once again his clever p More...

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Dec 28, 2009

Melissa rated it:

After my husband read this and mentioned that it wasn't as good as the last Dick/Felix book, I wasn't expecting much. Perhaps that's why I liked it better than I thought - becauase I wasn't expecting much. I liked the information about bookies and how the betting works, but like others who have reviewed this book, I thought that there was more information than the average reader will care about - kind of like when Crichton write medical stuff and I just have to skip over stuff knowing I won't un More...

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Oct 24, 2010

Evelyn rated it:

I've been reading Dick Francis since high school, and have loved some of his books, dislikes one or two, and have been lukewarm about others. Even Money falls into the lukewarm category. On the postitive side, the story kept my interest, I learned a lot about racing from the bookie's point to view, and I enjoyed how the hero of the book vanquished the villians. However, the magic of some of Dick Francis' earlier works just wasn't there. This is a readable, entertaining story, but not one I wo More...

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Feb 02, 2012

Jo rated it:

Ned Talbot is a bookmaker, one of the last independents working his pitch at Royal Ascot. As his day draws to a close he is pestered by a man, who claims to be his father, and then is attacked and stabbed in front of him in the car park. But Ned's father is dead, both his parents died in a car crash when he was a baby and he was raised by his grandparents. Ned is plunged into a brilliant plotted but unfortunately not so well written story about the secrets hidden in his past, the mental fragilit More...

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May 04, 2011

Brenda B rated it:

Typically enjoyable read by Dick Francis, along with his son Felix, where the main character meets the father he thought had died when he was an infant but loses him (again) barely an hour later when his long lost Dad was stabbed to death in front of him as they leave the Royal Ascot horse race. The story unfolds as the son seeks to find out why his father was killed but also discovers where he's been for 35+ years which leads to the ugly story behind his father's absence which shatters the tru More...

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