Twice Shy (A Dick Francis Novel)

Any book by Dick Francis is worth reading, but some are better than others, and this is not one of his best. It's about a computerized system for betting on races that some crooks are trying hard to get hold of. My major problem is that it's two, two, two books in one. The first half is about the man who discovers the system, and the second is about his son, many years later, who is hunted down by the same crooks who think he now has it. The story is a little contrived, the son and his girlfriend aren't really likeable, and horses appear only peripherally.

Wonderful read and always a surprise ending. I’ve read his work many times and never tire of them. Great book.

This is not my favorite Dick Francis book, but it is good. Although I've read it at least twice before over the past two decades, I still was surprised a couple of times. It's very strange to have two consecutive protagonists in a Francis book, especially since they have very different views of the world.

This book is now a bit dated, computer technology has come a long way since digital cassette recorders and floppy disks, but if you put yourself back into the 80s and not think about cloud storage and usb drives, you will find this story about two brothers being pursued and threatened by the same bad guy quite compelling.

Dick Frances has once again gone into great detail about horse racing. This time his focus in on the betting. Always a good read.

Twice Shy is an interesting departure from the norm for Dick Francis, in that the narrative switches from an older brother to a younger dealing with the same villain. Computers have changed since this book was written, but that does not alter the interest of the mystery. A good novel with the same kind of engaging characters that mark the best of Francis' books.

As always these are really exciting books. This one deserves 5 stars for the way it just keeps you on the edge of your seat wondering what is going to happen next, and how they will survive such a ruthless adversary. Thoroughly enjoyable reading. The book is not too long that you get bored with it.

More entertainment by Francis! Some scenes require one to suspend reality, such as the very ineffective bodyguard; but that's part of the fun.

I thought I had read all the Dick Francis novels when they first came out , but I don't remember this one. Interesting to read about computer systems from 40 years ago and see how far we have progressed with them. We had an Amstrad in the early 90s, I think we had to load disks onto it.Good plot, truly scary villain. I wondered why Jonathan and his wife didn't consider adoption if they were so desperate for a child, and why her friend didn't know that babies cry a lot and need changing, you don't have to have a baby yourself to know that! Apart from that, another good yarn from Dick Francis.

One of the pleasures of reading this is to remember how far computing has progressed since it was written. The archaic nature of the hard-ware and the simplistic programming reminded this reader of his first forays into PCs and computer games, Amstrads and Sinclairs!As so often with Francis, the plot is driven by the inexplicable decision of the narrators not to involve the police when they are threatened and attacked by the obvious villains. No whodunnit element in this story but engaging nonetheless.

well, you can't go wrong with a genuine early-written Dick Francis can you? I especially enjoy the way that Mr Francis merged factual non-racing plot lines into his racing elements. Very cleverly done. I read this title for the first time _many_ years ago but have never forgotten the plot or the characters - one of my favourites I think.

Nice to read a “new” Dick Francis again! Set in the days of the beginnings of computers, must have taken more than usual research for the team. Also unusual to be told by two characters. A nice read

Whilst I found the book quite a good read, the first part is written in the first person, however part way through it switches to being written in the first person, but that first person is a different one. Its probably me being a bit thick but it took me a few pages to twig this fact and my poor little grey cells were a bit confused.