Authors: Dick Francis & Felix Francis
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
ISBN: 978-0-399-15591-8

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Even if you are not a race- horse enthusiast, you are still going to love Dick and Felix Francis's latest tome, Even Money.

The opening chapter sets the tone of what is to follow when Edward (Ned) Talbot, a British bookmaker, is approached one day at the Ascot racecourse by a man claiming to be his father, Peter James Talbot. To say Ned was surprised would be an understatement, as he had always unquestionably believed, according to what his paternal grandparents told him, that both his parents died in a car crash over thirty-six years ago when he was a tiny toddler. Ted had been brought up by his paternal grandparents and was even taught the bookmaking trade by his grandfather who had since passed away.

When Ned asks his father why did he desert him when he was only one year old, his reply was “shame, I suppose,” and he goes onto say that after Ned's mother Patricia died, he couldn't cope with having a baby and no wife, and so he ran away to Australia. Ned also learns from his father that he has two half-sisters who are both in their twenties and that his life over the past thirty-six years reads like a soap opera. However, Ned's father becomes very evasive when asked what kind of business he is in, only to say “this and that.”

As the two are in the parking lot of the racetrack, they are attacked by a young man who was wearing a scarf around his face. Ned is viciously kicked in the face while trying to offer all the money he has to the assailant, who surprisingly is not interested in his money but rather in his father's. His father tells the attacker to go to hell and kicks him in the groin. In the next instance, the assailant pulls out a long knife and delivers a deathly blow to Ned's father. After seeing the crowd that has gathered, the attacker takes off in a hurry. Before the ambulance arrives, Ned's father whispers in his ear to be very careful. Ned follows his father to the hospital, however, unfortunately, his father dies before making it to the operating room. Ned is questioned by several police officers including Detective Chief Inspector Llewellyn, who doesn't like bookmakers, and who seems to have doubts about Ned's story.

Ned decides to take on the role of a sleuth and find out where his father stayed before coming to see him and if possible, recoup his belongings. Eventually, this leads him to a run-down hotel where he is given a black-and-red rucksack and a small black roll-along suitcase. Among the contents of the bags, Ned uncovers something pertaining to race horses that will put him into quite a dangerous predicament with unexpected repercussions. And what he discovers about his mother's death, will bowl him over and will force him to re-think about his own existence.

Like top-quality suspense novels, Even Money sails through an increasingly topsy- turvy plot with lucidity and precision. Dick Francis is the author of more than forty books, while Felix Francis has co-authored two others with his father. He has also assisted with the research of many of Dick's novels. Both have a remarkable knack of skillfully keeping the yarn moving at such a terrific clip that in no time you reach the ending. In addition, they are able to seamlessly integrate into the plot the mental illness of Ned's wife, some of the roguery that takes place in the world of horse racing, and inside information concerning the life of a bookmaker, all of which provide the reader with an exceptional roller coaster ride.