Third Race at the LT Racetrack: Book 1, Banker

Dick Francis Shared Read 2021 – January – February

Banker, Published in 1982



Synopsis: An investment banker arranges the purchase of a champion racehorse and gets caught up in murder in this New York Times bestseller that’s “fraught with violence, conspiracy and, of course, horses” (The Boston Globe).

Tim Ekaterin raised millions of dollars to finance the purchase of Sandcastle, a champion racer, only to discover an apparent defect in the horse. Investigating further, Ekaterin learns that the business of investment banking is nothing compared to the cutthroat world of horseracing—a world where violence and murder only raise the stakes…

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Any and all comments, questions, or quotes that come to mind as you read are welcome. Please use spoiler tags for anything that might be a spoiler.



edited to add: This is the first Dick Francis I ever read. My husband's mother, MiL#1 (his dad remarried...) loved horses and suggest I try him. I don't remember if she suggested Banker or if I just found it at a thrift store first; either way, I loved it and was hooked!

On the wiki!

Thank you, Jim!

I've pulled Banker from my shelves.

Introduction

It's difficult to say where disaster begins, to point to one particular happening as the first significant step towards distant cataclysm. Tim Ekaterin, looking back, saw the beginning as the day his boss stepped into a fountain. Onwards from there he came across people and events as yet unconnected but which when woven together by time and chance led towards violent explosive action and the threat of death.

Set in the worlds of thoroughbred racing and merchant banking, Banker covers a span of three years, growing from quiet harmless-seeming seeds to a wholly horrific harvest.

Yesterday I finished Banker, it was an enjoyable read. No review yet, maybe tomorrow.

This does not surprise me, Anita! I, on the other hand, am on page 14. *smile*

My copy is on its way.

My short thoughts about Banker:
I like how Dick Francis describes professions that are remotely related to horseracing, like investment banking in this book. I would have liked to read a bit more about Tim Ekaterin after the end of the book, just a few months more. But I often think that with Francis books, a bit longer, or a sequel, would have been nice ;-)

>8 FAMeulstee: I agree with all those points, Anita. I've always felt it's a sign of how well Francis wrote characters that we often want to keep hanging out with them after the book is done.

I'm starting Banker tonight, so I'll have more to contribute soon. I mean, I've read it a jillion times, but not recently. :-)

>8 FAMeulstee: Dick Francis could create characters that we find real and sympathetic who have lives beyond the plot line so we can care beyond the end of the book.

Here's a great passage from the Second Year, October:

The horses came over the next fence down the course like a multicolored wave and thundered towards the one where we were standing. The ground trembled from the thud of the hooves, the air rang with the curses of jockeys, the half-ton equine bodies brushed through the birch, the sweat and the effort and the speed filled eyes and ears and mind with pounding wonder and then were gone, flying away, leaving the silence.

Banker by Dick Francis
1/3/21 to 1/12/21





From Amazon:

Tim Ekaterin raised millions of dollars to finance the purchase of Sandcastle, a champion racer, only to discover an apparent defect in the horse. Investigating further, Ekaterin learns that the business of investment banking is nothing compared to the cutthroat world of horseracing—a world where violence and murder only raise the stakes...

Why I wanted to read it: First in the Dick Francis SHARED Read for 2021. I mentioned wanting to read it at the end of the 2020 thread and several folks expressed interest in it and another year of Dick Francis.

Things I liked:

Tim Ekaterin himself – hard worker, not entitled.
The plot – devious, subtle.
Oliver and Ginnie Knowles – deserving of the loan to buy Sandcastle.
The action takes place over the course of three years and is well fleshed out.

Things I disliked:

Gordon having to die so that Tim could be with Judith. The stolen kisses and hugs.
Ginnie dying after so much pain was taken for us to get to know her.
Using physical descriptions to say more about the women characters than the men. Defining women in what were even then stereotypes.

Six word review: Slow paced intricate mystery, vivid characters.

>12 karenmarie: Mostly agree, Karen, except your first dislike. I thought it was a way out of the situation, not nice, but acceptable.

I started to read my copy yesterday. So far I like it.

My copy has arrived and I am reading! I agree about the intricacy so want to be able to devote larger chunks of time to it.

I started Banker yesterday. I’m about 70 pages in and enjoying it. Tim is another Francis protagonist whom I find to be instantly likeable.

Hi Barbara, Karen, and Joanne! Happy to see you all here.

O.K. Here's how ignorant I am after years of reading, reading, reading. I've started a reread of Banker and wondered why I never noticed early-on Alec's comment that somebody at the bank was "leaking like the Welsh." Tim repeats it with a sort of non-verbal "Sheesh." Bless Google! I find that the LEEK is the national symbol of Wales. Mystery solved and moving on.

>18 LizzieD: Thanks for the details about the comment! I don't know that I noticed it. I definitely will be rereading this book even if just diving in here and there to find those wonderful, crafted sentences and paragraphs that seem to be on every page.

>18 LizzieD: That was another things that passed me by when I first read. Back in the pre-Internet days you might stop to ponder for a moment but then you just had to move on. Next time I read it, I'll be in the know.

I finished Banker yesterday, and although I thought it was a bit slow to get going, overall, I liked it a lot.

>12 karenmarie: I agree with you, Karen, on all your points.

I hated the relationship between Tim and Judith and felt the disloyalty of it really didn't mesh with Tim's character. Overall, Tim was another very likable protagonist, though. The cruelty of the crime was pretty horrifying and I assumed correctly who the bad guy was throughout, just not how he pulled it off. I appreciated that a dog was introduced and no harm came to said dog. I expected something bad to happen to him rather than Ginnie whose death was totally unexpected and unnecessary. Just put her in a coma for a week or two! I'd have tried to talk Francis out of it. :)

I'm going to take a contrarian view of Banker... and quote in part from a post I made last year about an earlier Dick Francis book...

quote from my earlier post:

"a formula that Dick Francis would use in many future books...

-- male protagonist, age thirties, single, usually a loner, falls for an unavailable woman
-- violence becomes a major plot point
-- lots of travel, car, plane, train
-- and of course, stables/horses/racetracks"

Tim Ekaterin fits the Francis formula... the romance is set up from page one.

A writer's formula isn't necessarily a bad thing... it provides readers with a comfort zone. When you pick up a Dick Francis book, you know what to expect. It's like a warm cookie. You know what you're going to get. A variation on a theme. Well written, full of interesting information... a peek into a life or a new world few of us would ever experience for ourselves.

This is not meant to be a put-down of the Dick Francis books... I have several of his books on my shelf that I re-read and enjoy anew each time I turn the pages.

I agree about Ginny's death...it saddens me every time. NOT necessary.

I liked this reading very much.