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Riders Down: A Jack Doyle Mystery
No one really notices that a fix may be in until Matt O’Connor, a Chicago-based columnist for a national racing newspaper, gets a call from Moe Kellman, a horse-owning acquaintance. Kellman’s question for Was the death of 98-year-old Bernard Glockner, Chicago’s oldest active bookmaker, suicide or murder? Glockner was Kellman’s uncle and Kellman, a man not unfamiliar with the Chicago mob, wants Matt to check it out.
Matt quickly comes to believe that the fate of the bookie is tied to a series of races whose outcomes have been manipulated. His quest is aided by horse trainer Maggie Collins and Dave Zimmer, a professional gambler known as The Fount for his reputation as an encyclopedic source of information. Eventually, going as far afield as Las Vegas and Madison, Wisconsin, they fix their sights on a brilliant sociopath. But why would this psycho have plotted a race-fixing scheme?
Spiced with the kind of lively language that marked Blind Switch, the author’s debut novel (2004), Riders Down offers striking insights into the world of horse racing and the possibilities of its corruption.
Matt quickly comes to believe that the fate of the bookie is tied to a series of races whose outcomes have been manipulated. His quest is aided by horse trainer Maggie Collins and Dave Zimmer, a professional gambler known as The Fount for his reputation as an encyclopedic source of information. Eventually, going as far afield as Las Vegas and Madison, Wisconsin, they fix their sights on a brilliant sociopath. But why would this psycho have plotted a race-fixing scheme?
Spiced with the kind of lively language that marked Blind Switch, the author’s debut novel (2004), Riders Down offers striking insights into the world of horse racing and the possibilities of its corruption.
- GenresMystery
265 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2006
About the author
John McEvoy
20 books9 followersJohn McEvoy, former editor and senior correspondent for Daily Racing Form, is the author of five non-fiction books on thorougbred horse racing, including the award-winning Great Horse Racing Mysteries. Photo Finish is his fifth mystery novel and fourth featuring the adventurous Jack Doyle. One of McEvoy's earlier novels, Riders Down, won a Ben Franklin Award. He and his wife Judy live in Evanston, Illinois.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 17, 2026
John McEvoy has given us another good horse racing yarn. It's a good story, well told, with lots of terrific characters doing weird and good stuff. The characters with which McEvoy fills his plots are the most fun, as I found myself wondering what weird thing they'd do next.
The story is set in and around Chicago, as well as in the world of horse racing. That much is just like "Blind Switch," which was McEvoy's first horse racing novel. However, THIS story was billed as the second Jack Doyle novel. Jack had been introduced to us in "Blind Switch," but he doesn't appear in this story at all.
That minor misdirection aside, the story stands on its own very well. At the center of Riders Down is a middle-aged man approaching his fiftieth birthday. For the last thirty years or so, he's been a full-time college student, earning degree after degree, and seriously hoping to spend the next thirty years or so doing the same thing. All of this education and oddball lifestyle was made possible by a trust established for him by his very wealthy grandmother. In addition to being a total weirdo, he's a brilliant loaner, without morals.
Exactly one year before his fiftieth birthday, the attorney for the trust, acting pursuant to the terms of that trust, notifies him that his grandmother had established a provision unknown to our weirdo beneficiary. The provision provided that her grandson had to show proof that he had or was worth one million dollars by the time of his fiftieth birthday, or the trust would be terminated and the $15 million principal given to charity. If, on the other hand, if her grandson did demonstrate his personal success to her standard--one million dollars--the trust was to be terminated and the principal distributed to him without encumbrance.
The only problem is that her beloved weirdo grandson didn't have a million dollars. What's a poor, brilliant, lifetime student to do?
From here, the elaborate, brilliant, violent plot unfolds. This is the story you don't want to miss. I won't give it away with spoilers, so you'll have to read it for yourself. I loved it, and think you might, too.
However, I still want to know where the heck Jack Doyle is.
The story is set in and around Chicago, as well as in the world of horse racing. That much is just like "Blind Switch," which was McEvoy's first horse racing novel. However, THIS story was billed as the second Jack Doyle novel. Jack had been introduced to us in "Blind Switch," but he doesn't appear in this story at all.
That minor misdirection aside, the story stands on its own very well. At the center of Riders Down is a middle-aged man approaching his fiftieth birthday. For the last thirty years or so, he's been a full-time college student, earning degree after degree, and seriously hoping to spend the next thirty years or so doing the same thing. All of this education and oddball lifestyle was made possible by a trust established for him by his very wealthy grandmother. In addition to being a total weirdo, he's a brilliant loaner, without morals.
Exactly one year before his fiftieth birthday, the attorney for the trust, acting pursuant to the terms of that trust, notifies him that his grandmother had established a provision unknown to our weirdo beneficiary. The provision provided that her grandson had to show proof that he had or was worth one million dollars by the time of his fiftieth birthday, or the trust would be terminated and the $15 million principal given to charity. If, on the other hand, if her grandson did demonstrate his personal success to her standard--one million dollars--the trust was to be terminated and the principal distributed to him without encumbrance.
The only problem is that her beloved weirdo grandson didn't have a million dollars. What's a poor, brilliant, lifetime student to do?
From here, the elaborate, brilliant, violent plot unfolds. This is the story you don't want to miss. I won't give it away with spoilers, so you'll have to read it for yourself. I loved it, and think you might, too.
However, I still want to know where the heck Jack Doyle is.
July 20, 2018
3.0-average mystery, involving a horserace fixing scam authored by a past correspondent of the Daily Racing Form. The antagonist murders a few, and a journalist is called in to investigate by a friend of the mob. Enjoyable beach-type read.
March 12, 2025
Not a bad mystery. Learned some things about the horse racing industry that was fun.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 12, 2026
Way too many killings to be reasonable and a plot that wraps up too fast with a slightly unsatisfying ending.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews