‘Dark Horse’ by Felix Francis

Published by Zaffre,
25 September 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-78512587-4 (HB)

I love a good opening line….

Don’t you bloody touch me!

The words are spoken by young Irish jockey, Imogen Duffy to her abusive ex-boyfriend Liam who refuses to accept that their relationship is over.

About to ride City Flyer in the Queen Mother Champion Chase, but delayed by Liam, Imogen is not in the good books of the trainer Paddy Murphy, who is beginning to doubt his offer of the ride to Imogen following his first choice of jockey withdrawing after a bad fall the previous day. The horse’s owner is also sceptical of the slip of a girl who is about to ride his horse.  Despite the situation with Liam, Imogen suddenly felt happy astride a fast-moving muscular Thoroughbred, and they crossed the finish line half a length ahead. Leaving for the presentations Imogen came face to face with Liam and she reiterated that it was over between them. ‘You’ll regret it’ he said, ‘I’ll make sure of that’.

A surprise telephone call from trainer Freddie Swinton who runs a large outfit in Lambourne offering her a job is a life saver and so Imogen moves to England away from Liam.  All goes well. Imogen settles into nice cottage and is winning races much to the delight of Freddie Swinton.  Then abusive Liam moves to England and claims that he'd rather kill her than allow her to leave him. By now Imogen is doing well in her racing career, and through her winning successes she is becoming well-known to the public, and so Liam starts a campaign to ruin her life by telling salacious stories about her to the newspapers. With the stories now linking her name with Freddie Swinton, who is none too pleased, Imogen decides to take a break and return to her parents in Ireland to get away from Liam. But will he follow her?

This is a terrific book. I could not put it down, so fascinating is the turn that the book takes.  A jaw-dropping, cleverly plotted, brilliant gripping and totally unexpected twist. Most highly recommended.
------
Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett

Felix Francis is a bestselling British crime writer. He is a physicist by training, and for seventeen years taught A Level physics in three schools, one where he was Head of Science. Felix is a Chartered Physicist and a Member of the Institute of Physics. For thirteen years he was deputy chairman of World Challenge Expeditions Ltd, a company specializing in leadership training for young people. In the 1990s he led expeditions to such diverse destinations as the Andes Mountains, the Indian Himalaya, and the jungles of Borneo and the Amazon Basin. In addition, for twenty years, Felix acted as manager for his father, the literary legend Dick Francis. In the year 2000, at the age of 80, Dick decided to retire from writing but the baton has been successfully taken up by Felix who has written all the most recent ‘Dick Francis’ novels, which have been on the Times best-seller lists in both London and New York. In 2005, Felix left the worlds of education and business to concentrate full-time on his writing.