Reviews

Come to Grief by Dick Francis

al27caro's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

4.0

thayerbowen's review against another edition

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3.5

Another classic Francis. This is the Sid Halley one with the animal cruelty (warning), and the girl with leukemia. 

latas's review against another edition

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4.0

I rate this slightly less than 4, mainly because some of the sleuthing that Sid did was unrealistic and too convenient. The evidence he found against Quint was too flimsy to begin with. No wonder, no one believed him.

There is no suspense here as the villian is revealed in the first page itself. It is all about how Sid found who the culprit was and how it impacted his life and that of others.
I liked Sid as much as I liked all Dick Francis's heroes. They are all humble, resilient, loyal and extremely clever.
Dick Francis's writing is always a treat.

katejones's review against another edition

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4.0

Sid Halley. Ellis cutting off horse hoofs. Rachel leukemia. Newspaper. Pressure from higher up.

veronian's review against another edition

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4.0

Horsecule Poirot wins again

EDIT: this book is notable for me as capturing a weird early computers/pre-Windows/pre-AOL internet era. At one point Sid has to investigate an office, and what follows is an extended description of looking for floppy disks, plugging in computers, keyboards with buttons like "list files" dial up modems, and what seems like a highly questionable file transfer system. It's fascinating seeing this era captured in how the author felt the need to go into all this physical detail that is also presumably wrong (to transfer files to your computer at home, you just enter your home phone number on the computer you're on). Also some funny nonsense phrases like seeing the whole Internet in someone's eyes

ajlenertz's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

amothersmusings1's review against another edition

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5.0

I love Dick Francis books and tales of the racing world and thoroughly enjoyed this one too.

splitinfinitive's review against another edition

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5.0

Excellent addition to the Sid Halley oeuvre!

jessschira's review against another edition

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4.0

Not quite as good as Whip Hand, and I was disturbed by the heinous nature of the crime, but still a great book

jnlecu's review

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4.0

I started this book before I found out about Dick Francis passing. Later in the day when I heard he was gone, the book's title, Come to Grief, had new meaning to me. I suppose it's not really a coincidence I start one of his novels the day he leaves us since I'm so often reading a DF mystery. Thanks for the hours and hours of entertainment! You will be missed.