Iced

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Moritz, and the speed and joy felt on the ice chute back through the obsession with horses and the career development of a steeplechase jockey. It is in the tradition of father and son Dick Francis and Felix Francis novels – and, as such, is perhaps somewhat formulaic.

Felix seems to be more interested in updating the heroes, giving them current mental issues and learning disabilities, making them more human.Miles had gone to live with his grandparents, as they had been allowed to leave school at fifteen they hadn’t seen the point in forcing Miles to concentrate on his education. The whole story is told through Miles as the narrator, the things he has to deal with at such a young age, decisions he makes as he starts to grow into a young man.

People in the story kept saying, "You're a disgrace, I'm glad your father is not here to see you" "You'll never be the jockey your father was" and so on. She spends a few hours talking with him on the phone and a half a day touring her hometown and that is enough for her to change her life.Miles is an ex- steeplechase jockey now getting his kicks from racing head first down the Cresta Run. That's Ok, but I still liked the "typical" Dick Francis guy----strong, stubborn, capable, trustworthy, comforting, kind, loyal, quiet-----it was funny, but at the END of this novel, Miles finally almost turns into that guy! In the now, Miles, bumps into some people from the horse riding industry, in the seven years since Miles quit horse racing he had never been there during the White Turf weekend. Someone does try to murder Miles by dropping a bag of cement onto the Cresta course which could have killed Miles when his sled hit it.

Another decision that irked me was incorporating two benefactors, Susi Ashcroft and Barbara Fenton as pivotal characters. When once again the story was going back to his early career I was finished with the tedious and minutely detailed descriptions of the sport. Since then Miles has endured flashbacks and feelings of guilt because he survived the accident which killed his father.

He is taken in by trainer Jerry Dickinson and becomes a fairly successful jockey until he develops a problem. The language and some of the action is a bit rough and gritty, so it's not a completely innocent cozy read. I do agree that Miles didn't seem to be very likeable or very mature, as other reviewers have noted, but that may have been necessary for the plot and the underlying message. And in doing so, I realised that the descriptions of life in the jockey world would have been far more captivating if written by Dick Francis because he would have included threats, suspicion and an altogether more exciting story weaving around Miles Pusset's depressingly gloomy life. He used the idea of writing a book so he could peruse all of the horse races while getting ginned up and gambling on the ponies.