“A Dick Francis novel” … “by Felix Francis”
At some point, Felix is going to run out of old outlines and notes scavenged from the files of Dick and Mary. I can’t wait. The library needs to quit wasting money on this tripe.
Yeah, he certainly didn’t inherit his dad’s talent. Mind you, I have found even the real thing has worn a bit thin after reading a dozen or so.
I thought Dick had trained him up as a replacement, and that he was a capable writer on his own.
Not so?
I read the few (three, weren’t there?) books “By Dick and Felix Francis” and found them okay. I have to say, I didn’t think they were quite as good as what Dick wrote on his own and at his best. But he wrote so many! He had one of two clunkers in his collection. Nobody writes that many books without writing one or two losers!
These three co-written books were about equal to Dick’s own “middlin’” books. If all of Dick’s books were rated from one star to five stars, the co-written books were two-star quality.
I have absolutely no objection to Felix putting Dick Francis’ name on the books, for publicity purposes. Lots of people do that kind of thing. Who the hell would ever have read a word of Christopher Tolkien if his name had been Christopher Williams?
How many books has Felix written, on his own? Looks like four.
Can you be more expansive in your review? What titles have you read, and what faults did you find in them?
I can’t remember which one it was (all of the titles seem to blend together), but I read one of the Felix and Dick Francis ones that I thought was one of the best ever. It doesn’t look like they’re planning to stop anytime soon – a new one is scheduled for release on October 7.
On another note, I read one of the Ace Atkins continuations of Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series, and liked it more than any of Parker’s last few Spenser books.
If you look at the customer reviews at Amazon, they’re not bad.
I like Dick Francis’ books, so I gave Silks a try, but it made me wince. The chauvinism was ramped up in an attempt to mimic the period feel of earlier books and the writing completely lacked the charm of Dick Francis’ own books.
I enjoy the Felix books. Not the best that Dick Francis ever wrote, but they are acceptable.
I keep hoping he’ll write a sequel to Decider. *Decider *features this very arrogant self-entitled family that owns a horse racing track. It’s run by an elderly matriarch with an iron fist. The hero is the bastard son that the family doesn’t want to acknowledge. He barely defeats his main enemy and negotiates a truce with the family matriarch’s help. This book ended almost begging for a sequel. It’s obvious the elderly matriarch will die within a few short years and that truce will probably fall apart. There were several obnoxious young adult characters that could be very dangerous enemies in a few years time. Setting up a entirely new story. I’m amazed Dick never got around to writing that sequel.
Some of Dick’s best books involved Families that were fighting. Father/sons that didn’t get along. There were several books like that.
Yes… I’m thinking of one in particular, but, dammit, can’t remember the title. It was the one where the father’s bequeath to the son including a mysterious short length of stiff metal wire. The son knew exactly what it meant… The whole tangle of family emotions is powerful, and scary. Beautiful novel.
Anyway, my favorite of his is Reflex, which I’ve read and re-read any number of times. When I give a copy of a Francis book to a friend, it’s usually Reflex. Family issues are central in this one, and very elegantly handled.
And, yeah, the books are heavily “formula” based. When you’ve read a few, you know just what’s going to happen, and when. You can see the scary scenes coming half a mile off.
Doesn’t make 'em any less scary!
Would that be Hot Money? I just re-read that one recently.
I’m also in the not-hugely-impressed-by-Felix camp, though. From the few that I’ve read, it feels like he’s trying to hard to imitate his father’s storylines and characters without actually knowing them well enough to pull it off successfully. I might read them if I find a library copy, but wouldn’t seek them out.
They keep letting Brian Herbert jump on his Dune Buggy and drag his father’s mouldering corpse out of the grave for another desecration, and Frank’s been dead for close to two decades, so I figure Felix has a little time on his clock.
When I read the last Felix–can’t remember anything about it–I decided that was it, no more. I can reread the early Dicks over and over. He started to lose it around the time he based a whole book inside a “murder mystery” game train ride. It read like a commercial for Via Rail.
Remember how good “Killer Angels” was? Well save your time and don’t read “Gods and Generals”. He did not inherit his father’s talent.
I’m pretty sure Felix influenced two of his dad’s worst books. Second Wind and Driving Force were both almost unreadable IMHO. Second Wind starts out great like a typical Francis book and suddenly makes a u-turn into a biological weapon research plot. Driving Force was similar.
Felix is a retired Physics teacher. I think we can guess who supplied the science themed plots. 
Dick had several books in the 90’s that I won’t reread. But he also had some really good ones that I’ve read several times each. Decider, Too the Hilt, Come to Grief are pretty good. Not his best, but enjoyable.
Michael Shaara died in 1988 and his son Jeffrey is still riding on his coattails.
Nitpick: The hero, Lee Morris, is not a bastard son of the Stratton family, but rather the half-brother of one of the Stratton heirs, being the son from the second marriage of another heir’s ex-wife (who had divorced him for cruelty before she married the hero’s father).
And while I agree that Decider was an excellent read, I’m not sure where a sequel could go. The villain’s dead, the other heirs are off doing their own things, and the racecourse is just going to go on being more effectively managed by employees of the Strattons.
Thanks for the clarification. I’d forgotten the exact relationship between Lee Morris and the Stratton family. I just recalled his appearance at their board meeting set off the drama of the plot. The villain’s grandson demonstrated the same sadistic streak as his grandfather. There’s a scene where he kicks the crap out of Morris while he’s down on the floor already injured from events earlier in the book. There’s an adult daughter (a jockey) that is also quite nasty. I can’t say what she did without spoilers, but it was a big part of the story. Those were the characters I could see a sequel based on. Maybe ten or fifteen years after the events in the first book? Lee Morris would be older, not as strong, and maybe a little more vulnerable to whatever the Stratton family plotted.
<shrug> just something I’ve always thought would be interesting. I doubt Felix has even reread Decider in many years.
Well, I’d certainly read it. But I hope you realize you’re breaking the OP’s heart: he started this thread to ask when Felix Francis would stop writing books and now you’re suggesting he write more! 
Sorry, Frank Herbert died in 1986, almost three decades ago. Damn, I’m old. Whenever I think back to how long ago something happened I miss by at least 10 years.
“Those who forget literature are condemned to re-read it.” (Grin!) It sounds right.
Aw! I like that one! It was one of my “five star” Francis novels!
So far I’ve enjoyed Felix’s books. shrug
I admit they don’t have the charm of Dad’s best stuff, I haven’t developed a crush on the heroes, but they haven’t been a bad read.