Having co-authored many books with his father Dick, Felix continued to write thrillers after his father's death in 2010, and this is his eighth solo novel. I was a tiny bit apprehensive about starting this as I wondered whether there would be too many references that would go over my head about horse racing, but the information that was referenced was interesting and relevant to the story and, importantly, required no prior knowledge of the scene. Based at Newmarket, it follows Harrison "Harry" Foster, our protagonist and lawyer turned crisis manager, as he gets to grips with a suspicious fire at a training yard which ends up killing many of the horses. Unfortunately, like me, Harry knows virtually nothing about the racing scene, but in order to solve the case, he is going to have to learn pretty damn quickly! It was an original touch to have both the reader and the protagonist learn horse racing tidbits alongside each other and I always felt all aspects were explained sufficiently.

This is a confident, expertly plotted novel and Francis's writing is so masterful and alluring that you are pretty rapidly immersed in the story. The format is refreshing in that it makes use of a linear timeline and is told in first person narrative from Harry's perspective. What I absolutely loved about Crisis is that the perpetrator is well hidden and not easily guessable, something that I very rarely find these days - many thrillers are so very predictable, but not this one. The plot is well thought out and put together and holds your interest from start to finish. Even as a seasoned thriller reader I found myself being surprised time and time again by what was happening, that is the mark of a great novel in my opinion. As if all that wasn't enough the explosive conclusion leaves you shocked but ultimately satisfied.

Many thanks to Simon & Schuster for an ARC.

Another twisty,turny thriller from a master storyteller. A main character who knew nothing about horse racing allowed me to learn about handicapping,betting and buying and selling of horses.
A great story.

An amazing horse racing based thriller by Felix Francis. He is certainly doing his father proud and keeping up the family tradition of producing great books.
I love legal thrillers so this book particularly appealed to me as the main character is a lawyer who is appointed by a horse owning Sheikh to get to the bottom of a what happened to cause a fire in which one of his horses died.
Full of intrigue and drama and enough twists and turns to keep me guessing as to the outcome.
Would certainly recommend to all Felix and Dick Francis fans as well as newcomers to the author. I would also mention that although Dick and Felix are renowned for horse racing books and this is featured in all of their books, one doesn’t have to know anything about racing to enjoy their books.
Thanks to NetGalley for a Kindle copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

An enjoyable romp through the Newmarket racing scene. Not sure what the Queen Mother would have made of the twist.

As a big Dick/Felix Francis fan I was not disappointed with this latest thriller. As usual it is a very easy read, written in the first person past tense (thank God-not the pretentious present tense that so many modern writers choose to use), and follows a straight-forward linear path.
The story is set around a fire on a racing stables in Newmarket and several horses are killed, including the favourite for the Derby. But then a human body is found too.
Our narrator, Harrison “Harry” Foster is a lawyer turned crisis manager working on behalf of the horses owner, wealthy Sheikh Karim, and it is his job to find out who started the fire.
The novel then becomes a traditional whodunnit with all the questioning and lying as is usual in such books, with lots of twists and turns along the way. You certainly do not have to be a lover of horse racing to enjoy this book, as racing takes very much a back seat, but there are a few snippets of information dotted throughout the book concerning horse racing for the complete beginner.
If you like an easy read then I highly recommend this book, I read it in a couple of sittings and was thoroughly entertained as usual. It just wasn’t quite up to the standard of the last few books for me, but still much better than many novels I have read this year.

Crisis,  Felix Francis

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre:, General Fiction (Adult)

Like many young girls I was a horse obsessed kid, but where other dropped off in their teens I kept on, much to the surprise and probably dismay of my very non horsey family. Kids intervened for a while, and I got my horse fix by reading Dick Francis novels until I was able to finally get my own horse....
I still love to read, though my tastes have changed and broadened considerably. I'd read pretty much all the Dick Francis novels when he died, and a few by other former jockeys, but for me they didn't have the DF magic. I had a read a couple of the collaboration novels but TBH I didn't think of Felix as being the writer, I assumed he was more the researcher...then I saw this on Netgalley and thought “why not”.

Well, Felix, I did you a grave disservice, reading this was like the old Francis magic, a gripping tale wrapped up and tangled in numerous little side issues, with some wonderful characters. I am so sorry I didn't recognise that earlier.
Of course in suspense novels, in PI investigations and the like there has to be a little artistic licence, and I suspect that Harry's crack “researchers” wouldn't have been able to pull out all that info...but it makes for a fun and interesting story.

I really enjoyed reading this, was engrossed in trying to work out who-dunn-it so to speak, and was way off course as usual. There's a reason I can't write, and especially not anything involving mystery, my brain just isn't wired that way. Thankfully others are ;-)
I loved the characters we meet here, poor Harry, barely knowing one end of a horse from another, up against a family dynasty in horse racing.
I enjoyed the snippets of racing info, enough to keep the reader interested in the story but not so much we switch off.
Harry's specially is in sorting things out, minimising crises and sorting out wheat from chaff, and here the poor guy has a lot of chaff to sort through. It seems every turn, every hour almost at some points, bring in new people, new potential motives, and new events.

I did feel the falling in love bit felt a little out of character for Harry, he seemed the cautious type, rather than an all in from the off sort, but one of the things I missed in the DF novels was an element of romance. As a reader I tend to focus on romance plus …. those novels, those where the romance is backed by a good story, or the other way round, a good story with a romantic element. It just seems to make the story feel more real to me rather than just words on a page, so I was pleased Felix includes romance.

I'll certainly look out for more from him, and as with the DF books, his will become ones I re-read, even knowing how the story ends because the content is well worth another read.

Stars: Five, a perfect escapist read, with both drama and romance, and a cracking mystery.

ARC supplied by netgalley and publishers

Harrison Foster is a lawyer by training but works as a crisis manager for a London firm that specializes in such matters. Summoned to Newmarket after a fire in the Chadwick Stables slaughters six very valuable horses, including the short-priced favourite for the Derby, Harry finds there is far more to the ‘simple’ fire than initially meets the eye. For a start, human remains are found amongst the equestrian ones in the burnt-out shell. All the stable staff are accounted for, so who is the mystery victim?
Harry knows very little about horses, indeed he positively dislikes them. The Chadwick family are a dysfunctional racing dynasty, with the emphasis being on the nasty. Resentment between the generations is rife and sibling rivalry bubbles away like volcanic magma beneath a thin crust of respectability. Harry represents Sheikh Karim the Middle-Eastern owner of the Derby favourite Prince of Troy and, as he delves deeper into the unanswered questions surrounding the horse’s demise, he ignites a fuse that blows the volcano sky-high, putting him in grave jeopardy.
I love reading the Francis' books, of course some are better than others but all are well researched, well written engrossing reads & this book is no different. Harry is very likeable & also very good at his job, which is one of the reasons the Sheikh asks for him by name. The story is very well paced & drew me in from the start. There was also a budding romance added into the mix. Of course everything wasn’t straight forward & the more the story progressed the more twists & turns there were. I thoroughly enjoyed it & as always look forward to more to come
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

It was my ex-husband that got me reading Dick Francis and I have to say that this is probably one of the few positive things that came out of the marriage! I then went on to binge all that I had missed and gobbled up every new one that was released. And then we moved on to collaborations with Felix and now, finally, Felix's solo books. And I have to say that the transition has almost been seamless quality and substance wise.
In this book we follow Harrison 'Harry' Foster, a crisis manager working for a London firm, as he is summoned to Newmarket to oversee things after a fire at a stables. Prince of Troy, one of the horses killed was owned by his client Sheikh Karim, and also the favourite for the upcoming Derby. He's somewhat thrown in at the deep end as he is not at all familiar with the horse racing scene, so he is on a steep learning curve right from the off. A situation that is not eased by the discovery of human remains in the burnt out stable. But it's his job and he has to get to grips with things quickly but, as he soon discovers, there is so much more to what happened than he could ever imagine.
This was a cracking read from start to finish. For those who are not familiar with the racing scene, please do not shy away from this book just cos it is centred around it, bottom line is that it is in reality, a crime book that just happens to be set in a stables with all that goes on therein being intrinsically woven into the mystery. Anything that is important is explained sufficiently for the reader to understand, especially so here where the main character also knows little of the world in which he is submersed so you kinda learn the salient points together!
As Harry starts to peel back the layers of the events leading up to that fateful night we start to get the picture of a rather dysfunctional family. The Chadwicks are racing royalty with each member playing their part in the scene. The Patriarch is slowing down and passing on his wisdom and assets to his three sons. One of whom has taken over the family stable, another has started a rival stable after a bit of a rift, with the third being still active as a jockey. It soon becomes evident that the rift that has blown them apart has repercussions right through all the family members, especially the estranged sister. But I say too much...
This book has all the elements of a great mystery read. A green protagonist who learns on the job, getting into a bit of trouble along the way, a cast of many deliciously dysfunctional characters, a few twists and turns along the way and a final knock out blow that is sublime in its execution. Oh and there's a smidge of romance thrown in for good measure.
It helped immensely that I really took to Harry right from the start, always nice when that happens. I loved the way he floundered his way through things but also how once he started to gain an understanding of what he was doing, things really did get going as he tapped his every resource to glean further information necessary to fill in all the gaps. His journey and struggles through the majority of the book helped me with the, shall we just call it, schmaltzy ending which I'm not the biggest fan of but was exactly what I was expecting from the author.
Pacing was good, there was also a good balance between the racing scene and the mystery so that those of us without too much interest in horses were well entertained throughout.
The plot was also very well executed. There were enough hints along the way to make it all flow nicely when revealed, subtly delivered at times but evident with hindsight. There were quite a few lightbulb moments as I was reading, some of which burned brighter than others, many of which fizzled out quite quickly. Yes I saw some thing happening just before they were revealed but the full story was never wholly visible to me until the whole truth came out in the book.
All in all, another winner to add to the Francis stable. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Crisis continues the annual Francis tradition of producing a page turning, galloping story about horse racing.

This is Felix's thirteenth book after he took over the writing duties from his father Dick and it is an excellent easy read.

The story involves the death of a number of horses in a fire at the stables of the Chadwick family. As the authorities investigate they also find human remains.

The owner of the most high profile horse which died employs Harrison "Harry" Foster to investigate and to manage the crisis.

If you have no knowledge about horse racing then don't worry as Harry doesnt and the author uses this to fill in your knowledge without detracting from the story.

The Francis legacy is in safe hands based on Crisis. Thoroughly recommended

I would like to thank Netgalley and Simon & Schuster UK Fiction for an advance copy of Crisis, a stand alone novel set in Newmarket, featuring lawyer turned crisis manager, Harrison "Harry" Foster.

When a fire at the Chadwick training yard kills Derby favourite, Prince of Troy, and several other horses its owner, Sheikh Karim, asks Simpson White Consultancy and specifically Harry to protect his interests in the matter and find out who killed his horses. In Newmarket, knowing nothing about horses or racing, Harry's task gets more difficult when human remains are found in the fire debris and the Chadwicks prove less than open.

I thoroughly enjoyed Crisis which is an exciting thriller with plenty of twists and turns. There are no surprises in the format with a straightforward first person narrative from Harry and a linear timeline which make for easy, clear reading, some danger for the protagonist which ramps up the tension and keeps the reader turning the pages, a little romance to expand the characterisation and an explosive ending to give the reader a sense of satisfaction. It's a winning formula that had me engrossed from start to finish. Is it plausible? Probably not, but realism doesn't play much of a part in a good thriller which this is. I found myself constantly wondering what was coming next and was constantly surprised by what did. It is a very assured and well put together novel.

I don't know much about horse racing (but more than Harry) and I found the snippets of information about it that appear on a regular basis fascinating as they are interesting but not overwhelming.

As with all thrillers characterisation is not the strongest suit so Harry is interchangeable with many Francis protagonists. He is smart, quick thinking and well able to take care of himself as well as honourable and incorruptible. His love at first sight affair is not the most probable for a clear thinking man but he's apparently a risk taker so I assume this is the proof.

Crisis is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

What a fantastic book by Felix Francis I cannot recommend it highly enough definitely a one sitting read you end up obsessed with who the criminal is going to be not to be missed