Review: Decider

Decider by Dick Francis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love this one. It's the first mystery he's ever written where the hero had kids, so he gave him seven. All boys. On the other hand, he went back to the unhappy marriage theme letting the wife have an affair and the hero long to have one. Can't have everything. A great example of the history factor where it is only by learning what characters have done that the hero can blackmail his way to safety. Also a fine example of psychological detection, since the hero must consider the various members of a large family to figure out who is the criminal. Compounding the difficulty of figuring it out, there are multiple crimes and criminals. More stock Francis: the older iron-willed woman, wealthy, capable of graciousness that the hero comes to like and admire (the Queen Mother I can't help but wonder?) and the angelic mother (now dead in this case). He deals with topical issues again, namely domestic and sexual violence, and I love the architecture stuff. Best of all, the hero lives in a barn with his brood.

1 Jan 1998

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