Iced

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It is in the tradition of father and son Dick Francis and Felix Francis novels – and, as such, is perhaps somewhat formulaic. It is an experience that Miles cannot get from his mind and he blames his father's death on himself. It toggles back and forth between the first career of main character, Miles Pussett (and what an ooky surname that is), as a steeplechase jockey and his second passion, toboggan racing. Starting out as a young jockey is tough, a competitive world then there is rivalry with some who believe he is only where he is because of who his father was. It was interesting to read about the White Turf weekend which is a high class annual major event, where race horse owners, trainers and jockeys from all over the world go.

Miles gets pulled in to help when Dickinson's usual groom breaks an ankle and finds himself pulled into danger again. And the back and forth of each chapter, from the past to the present day was not my favorite, but it mostly worked. Not for the first time, however, the Swiss mountains offer redemption: as all his yesterdays cohere and offer one last chance to get back in the saddle, our hero is forced into a final confrontation, a confrontation that sees him finally understand his past and lay the ghosts that haunt him. It's full of beautiful scenery, set in the middle of the winter and would make a nice read for beating the heat.We do get to see the thrills and dangers of riding racehorses - and the disappointment of owners and trainers when they lose. To read a book about men's mental health written in such a way, highlighting the pressures of the racing world, is not only needed, but absolutely necessary.

The characterizations are very well rendered, with believable three dimensional characters and dialogue which is never clunky or overwrought. After the race when he sets the horse back in its stall and begins to remove his harness, he realizes that the horse lost because it was weighted down with lead weights hidden in the harness, the breast girdle, and his leggings. Now he gets his adrenaline rush from riding down the Cresta Run, a three-quarter-mile Swiss ice chute, head first, reaching speeds of up to eighty miles per hour.It's a slow burn book and you're going to learn quite a lot about the problems of addiction and alcoholism along with the attendant mental health issues.

Miles followed in his father's footsteps as a steeplechase jockey, but due to circumstances mostly beyond his control - including unfavorable comparisons to his late father - he quit. Having left racing and now at St Moritz he is railroaded into helping out at the White turf weekend horse racing on ice, but pretty soon he discovers something suspicious, a horse running with extra weight and his old employer attacked.I discovered the horse racing novels of Dick Francis more than forty years ago and have since read more than fifty of Mr Francis’ books plus those he wrote in collaboration with his son Felix and those written entirely by Felix Francis.