Tip Off

by John Francome

It’s every punter’s dream to beat the bookmakers and Toby Brown is doing it regularly. The son of a top trainer, Toby has a telephone tipping service that is slowly bringing the old enemy to its knees.

A plea from the bookmakers prompts a Jockey Club investigation which uncovers a plot of murder and jealousy where the stakes being played for mean more than just money - and where one horse, Better By Far, lives up to its name.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery

377 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Ex-National Hunt Champion Jockey John Francome is a broadcaster on racing for Channel 4. He lives in Berkshire.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fra...

Reviews

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a complicated British racing story of tipsters, a set of disgruntled bookmakers, property deals and underhandedness. A novice jockey with a separate job running a security firm is approached, to investigate why a tipster is suddenly getting a high degree of accuracy. A big clue is provided.
There are deaths, various crimes and dodgy characters. However, it's relatively clean and the jockey is concerned for his horse, which he bought after it was declared unfit to race, and he has been letting it recover.
The women are restricted to two girlfriends and one trainer. And the odd walk-on part. I would have liked a higher number of female characters.

[KH Khaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read many Dick Francis's books. I enjoyed Dick Francis books tremendously. Many of the reviewers started by saying not Dick Francis standard. I think that's unfair.

I enjoyed this book. Francome has the chops and licks to make it an exciting, tightly written book. I will read John Francome books in the future for sure

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[Mavis Hewitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very readable, up to Dick Francis standard

[Heather S · Rating 3 out of 5]

The most interesting thing to me in this book is the capture of the moment in time where we were switching from old to new.
They had mobile phones, but didn't carry them at all times, and no everyone had them. Car phones seemed more common in the book, and people could vanish for hours while away from a phone.
They had the ability to send a "digital image" at one point, but mostly they relied on film cameras which meant waiting hours for the film to develop. The internet was used for email, but barely anything else. A betting tip line had to be called in to by phone.

I enjoyed this book. A lot of racing/horse jargon was used, but never without enough context to understand what was happening. A fairly easy read with interesting characters and relationships.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

No Dick Francis but not bad

[Kira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bog standard John Francome. If you like his books you'll like this one

[Kate Millin]

A good easy to read thriller set in the riding and betting world with a bit of hotel management thrown in

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do like his books. Just wish they were more readily available.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting story about the world of horse racing from the view of one of the Jockeys. lots of twists and turns with questions from the start which only get answered in the final chapter.


Keeps you reading until the end.