Richard Stanley Francis or Dick Francis was born in Pembrokshire, Wales, England on October 20th 1920. His father was a renowned jockey and Francis was catapulted in to the world of Horses, Jockeys and racing. He dropped out of school to train as a Jockey and was a fighter pilot in the Royal Air-force during World War II. After the war Francis became a celebrity Champion Jockey winning over 350 races. He was the lead Jockey for the Queen Mother. But he had to drop out of Horse racing after a serious fall and became a racing correspondent for Sunday Express. Dick Francis churned out numerous best sellers and most of his books deal with the mysteries in the realm of Horse racing and Jockeys. He wrote more than 40 international best sellers and is the recipient of numerous awards. Being a three time recipient of Mystery writer of America's Edgar Award he was made the Grand master of MWA. He is also the recipient of Britain's Crime Writers Association's Gold Dagger Award for fiction in 1979 and the Cartier Diamond Dagger lifetime achievement award. He also has the Gumshoe award to his credit. He was accorded in CBE in 2000. Dick Francis died in his Caribbean home on February 10, 2010 bringing down the curtains to an illustrious life.
For a change the main hero of Rat Race is not directly connected with racing, but Matt Shore is a pilot who pilots an air taxi service. But still it is a Dick Francis story and there will be a racing angle. So Matt Shore is a pilot, down on his luck and who flies a light aircraft ferrying horses and jockeys to different racing locations. This book is heavily drawn from Francis's experience as a pilot and when he and his wife did run an air taxi service.
Matt Shore is a pilot whose life has taken a beating with some incidents, and an acrimonious divorce. His successful career as an pilot ends, retreats into flying for an air taxi, and is forced to live in a trailer. He gets the job at an Air taxi Service, Derrydowns as their pilot when one of the regulars go abroad. Other pilots do look down upon him and the competition for customers are tough. On his first day he ferries a couple of passengers who do not get along and among them is Colin Ross, a moody but a prize winning jockey. During the flight due to faulty wiring Matt undertakes an emergency landing and the plane explodes as soon as the passengers disembark. Even though no one was injured Matt is reprimanded and left searching for answers.
During his investigations he finds that one of his passengers was an explosive expert and deduces that the scheme was to eliminate Colin Ross. Because of the lack of evidence, the investigation is a bit slow, and the police are not so sure of what Matt is finding out. Matt soon finds the girl of his dreams, Nancy who turns out to be Colin Ross's sister. Soon they are romantically involved and things move on the leisurely plane. But then Nancy's plane is hot wired while piloting her brother and Matt guides their plane to safety. Matt restarts his investigations and unearths the syndicate which eliminates jockeys. Soon the villains smell the rat and start pursuing Matt and in a tense standoff he outwits them all, in a thriller that goes to the right page. Matt gets the girl and also Colin Ross's gratitude.
Dick Francis never disappoints with his taut narration of a mystery. But thats the only saving grace, otherwise the idea is a much used one. The villains are also etched well and does not glorify the violence to survive. A good book if you have lot of time to kill.
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