Product Description
Wine merchant Tony Beach has expertly catered his latest society soiree, but the fun’s over when a team of hit men crash the party…literally. The event leaves Tony with a bitter aftertaste of suspicion–and sets off a mystery that’s an intoxicating blend of deception, intrigue, and murder…. More >>
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Proof, what a joke. I enjoyed every Dick Francis novel to some extent, but Proof was a flop. It’s all about a wineseller who is recuited by the police to help them uncover a smuggling sceme at a racecourse. What I really didn’t like was that it really didn’t have any horses in it. I don’t what to deture any readers away from a book that I thought was horrible, but I really do think there are much better ones to read than this.
Rating: 1 / 5
Francis can usually be counted on for a good, well-written story. There are always elements the reader can count on: a badly injured hero who is one of the nicest guys you could know; a villain without even a semblance of a conscience; and a terrible crime. All three are present in Proof, but something is lacking.
Proof lacks the intensity of most of his mysteries. It reads well and quickly, but without the usual depth Francis normally gives to his stories. The opening scene of carnage is fast and furious and up to the standard. Between that and the few active scenes is a lot of exposition about alcoholic beverages, shipment of same, and the hero’s past.
The reader does come away with knowledge not usually known, such as the ability of some people to discern even the slightest nuance of liquor or wine. And it is compelling enough to make finishing the book necessary. Not his best, but Francis always has good moments at least.
Rating: 3 / 5
A reasonably good mystery that was somewhat tempered by one annoying fact – the author had obviously never used plaster of paris before, or understood how it is to be used. This grated throughout what would have otherwise been a good book – a solid mystery with a bunch of different pieces that converge and fall into place quite nicely at the end. In the end, a small slip-up will probably cause me not to read any more of his books. It’s like the author of Deadly Doses: A Writer’s Guide to Poisons put it – if you’re going to poison someone, make sure you do you homework. This should hold true for any method of murder… Also, he mentioned the Elephant Child and the Limpopo River, and in reading that text, I’m not at all sure it actually had the implications he meant!
Rating: 2 / 5
This book does everything right: it introduces the reader to a new world, it has a tight plot and engaging characters, and it uses emotion effectively. Tony Beach is, in his own eyes, a coward and a failure. Both his father and grandfather were distinguished military men, while he, after years of searching for something he can be good at, has settled into a modestly comfortable life as a wine merchant. As the story opens, Tony is still grieving for the death of his wife, whom he loved very much, and he is still living under the shadows of his great forebears. In the course of the story, however, Tony is able both to come to terms with his loss and to discover strengths of his own. The crimes described in the story are not pretty, but the story is about more than crime. My favorite part of the book is the ending, where Tony finds out that he has more in common with his father than he ever thought.
Rating: 4 / 5
This is my favorite book from one of my top-five all-time writers
Rating: 5 / 5