Rob’s review of The Secret of Secrets (Robert Langdon, #6) > Likes and Comments

@Rob Dircks, My brother and I have a phrase "The fastest horse in the race". Because even in a race with only lame and 3 legged horses, one of them will be the fastest, regardless of performance.

We use it for films and books, that make a huge splash, in the time and place they come out. Either timing, trend, hype, context, or some unknowable X factor, or all of them combine into some alchemy that makes a film, or book, maybe a song, just click with everyone, for a moment. And when, at a time they are surrounded by what could metaphorically be called a track full of doped horses, it comes in first in everyone's mind, is lauded, and remembered over the years as great, and certainly the best of its time...

Looking back, with even a moderately critical eye, you find these works not only don't hold up, but when compared to the works of the art form as a whole, those before and since, and taken out of the elevator shoes that their release date and context gave them, they don't really stand taller than the rest, in fact, they're not really all that good.

They were, "The fastest horse in the race."

Dude - I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Sure, you could have, don't sell yourself short, you write things professionally, I know, cause I've read most of it.
But you're welcome to steal the line.

I hate having to explain the context to people who've not heard it, and since I read a lot of books and my brother is in the film industry, the more it gets around, the easier it is for us to use.