Reflex

So in 1984 before my 17th birthday, I first read this book, Reflex, by Dick Francis. It was amazing. It was my first mystery, and since then I have read all 40 or 50 by Frances and some of his son Felix Francis books many times over. Not all of them, but most of them I've read multiple times. The Felix Francis books I've only read a few of. Dick Francis is an amazing writer, and Reflex is one of his very best. Philip Nore is basically orphaned. His mother was a drug addict who left him with various people to take care of him when she was on a bender, and his grandmother simply hates him for a reason we learn later in the story. She is dying, and she implores him to find her missing granddaughter, his sister he didn't know he had. He is a jockey, and prefers to stay in his own private world, but over time he agrees to help his grandmother. One of the people who raised him taught him photography, and so in his spare time he moonlights at taking pictures, but doesn't realize how very talented he is. Over the course of the story, he meets certain people and reunites with others, comes to realize he has a new future with more companions and a different career. This review was not intended to be eloquent, just explanatory. If you like Dick Francis, if you like protagonists who are typically capable loners who don't fuss much, if you like mystery, and if you like well written books, I highly recommend Reflex as one of the best Dick Francis books ever written.