Iced

Product Information

But then I realized at one point, that the famous "Dick Francis" character, always displaying more or less the same characteristics, despite different job descriptions in every book, was missing! Published by Simon and Schuster on 16th September 2021, Iced is available for purchase through the links here. I have read every book in the Dick Francis series and to be honest I found this one a little disappointing. It is an experience that Miles cannot get from his mind and he blames his father's death on himself.

Since then Miles has endured flashbacks and feelings of guilt because he survived the accident which killed his father. While I enjoy Felix Francis as a worthy successor to his father's (mother's, some say) literary mantle, this book seemed more to be a recovery exercise or penance. As Miles investigates who might have wanted him dead, he learns some things about his past that explain some things.Iced is actually a bit more than that, though, as it bounces back and forth between two storylines: a retrospective look at protagonist Miles Pussett’s difficult early life and mental health battles, and today’s story, with a now sober Pussett cautiously, and somewhat unwillingly, dipping his toes back into horse racing after a long hiatus. For over forty years, the London University grad helped father Dick Francis (31 Oct 1920 – 14 Feb 2010), ex-jockey known for horse-racing mysteries. He confronts the bad guy, has worked out how he did it, and makes an elaborate plan to fix everything (they never go to lawyers or court or killing, it's always done quietly behind the scenes, "Only we have to know about this") and goes off to live happily ever after.

While there is no pro- or epilogue statement about the need to seek professional help and addiction recovery organizations, the wisdom of those courses of action is apparent in the tale. The whole story is told through Miles as the narrator, the things he has to deal with at such a young age, decisions he makes as he starts to grow into a young man. This really was a story about insecurity, mental health, alcohol addiction, and lots of poor choices. The book is engaging and readable with an action driven plot told in parallel first person PoV through flashbacks and the current day, timelines which converge in St. And the back and forth of each chapter, from the past to the present day was not my favorite, but it mostly worked.

He finds that the latest runner did not win, and when he is pulling the equipment and saddle off him finds the breast girth filled with lead weights. Miles suffers from PTSD brought on by the horrific auto accident in which he was a 12 y/o passenger and his legendary steeplechase jockey father was the driver - dad dies, and the accident replays in Miles' nightmares for a decade.

Moritz is also the site of winter horseracing on ice and Jerry Dickinson is there with a couple of his horses. While working for the new trainer, Jerry Dickinson, he wins one race and then loses a very long series of others. Finding himself in St Moritz during the same weekend as White Turf, when high-class horseracing takes place on the frozen lake, Miles gets talked into helping out with the horses. He used the idea of writing a book so he could peruse all of the horse races while getting ginned up and gambling on the ponies.

Miles’ mother later commits suicide when he is in his last years of schooling and he finds her body. So I can only award three stars for this, and I'm sad to do so because the novel before this one was so much better. But the backstory of his early life - how he struggled with depression, hit bottom, was helped by some friends and medical professionals, and eventually seems to be figuring things out - is perhaps the more compelling half of the book.

Both triumph and disaster are ever present, but those imposters are ultimately dwarfed by exploitation and an addiction which see a promising career in ruins almost before it began. Having grown up with Dick Francis, it was great to saddle back up with this new story from the Felix Francis stable! It contains a number of flashbacks that talk about his past and the things that made him the man he is now. Miles Pussett used to be a Steeplechase jockey but those days are past and he now gets his thrills from hurling head-first down the three-quarter-mile Cresta Run, occasionally reaching eighty miles an hour.It’s a long time since I’ve wanted to punch a fictional character in the face quite as much as I did with this one. And that continued right to the end, after which I shut down my Kindle and said to myself, "Self, that was very well written and a darned good story.