Englischsprachige Literatur

Francis Dick

Forfeit

Ballantine, New York, 1969

Galbraith3

Dick Francis was a popular writer of mysteries in the 1970ies, with a long list of novels. His specialty seems to have been mysteries involving the horse-racing business, a topic totally unknown to this reader.

The story´s hero is the sports journalist James Tyrone, who specialises in horse racing and the betting involved with it in Britain. So it is a call from the long forgotten past, when newspapers had their hayday.

When a colleague of Tyrone jumps to death inebriated, James becomes curious and discovers a scheme involving high risk bets on horses that are withdrawn from the race at the very last minute.

His research endangers not only himself but, worse so, his very handicapped wife, who can only breathe with the help of a machine. At the same time James betrays her and feels full of guilt.

He and his wife have to go through hair-rising near death situations before all´s well again, well nearly all.