Decider by Dick Francis
"Decider" by Dick Francis is a compelling detective novel that showcases the author's mastery in blending suspense with complex character development. The story follows Lee Morris, an architect with a stake in the historic Stratton Park racecourse, as he navigates the challenges posed by the eccentric aristocratic shareholders who have conflicting visions for the facility. Unlike Francis's earlier protagonists, Morris is a figure of privilege, grappling with a loveless marriage and the responsibilities of fatherhood while trying to secure a safe environment for his children amidst escalating threats from those determined to destroy the racetrack for development purposes.
Francis's narrative style reflects his evolution as a writer, incorporating contemporary language and themes that resonate with modern readers, while maintaining a sophisticated portrayal of social dynamics. The novel features a combination of action and moral dilemmas, illustrating the protagonist's resilience in the face of sabotage, intimidation, and violence. Through Lee Morris, Francis not only delivers an engaging mystery but also offers insights into the tensions between personal ambition and family duty, making "Decider" a noteworthy entry in the detective fiction genre. The story serves as both an homage to horse racing and a commentary on societal change, appealing to fans of both traditional mystery and modern literary themes.
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Decider by Dick Francis
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of World Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1993
Type of work: Novel
The Work
Decider shows Francis at the peak of his form. There is plenty of action and suspense, but his complexity of characterization explains why critics regard him as a serious writer. Like Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Elmore Leonard, and John le Carré, Francis has transcended his genre by treating it with the same scrupulous care customarily given to mainstream fiction. Francis has been honored by fellow detective-fiction writers because he has helped elevate their profession for critics and the public.
The amateur-detective, first-person narrator of Decider is Lee Morris, an architect who happens to own a small interest in the historic old Stratton Park racecourse. The major shareholders are the self-willed, eccentric, outspoken, snobbish members of an aristocratic family who have conflicting ideas about what should be done with the facility.
Francis’s heroes invariably face family problems or personal handicaps that affect their behavior. In Decider, the hero endures a loveless marriage, cares for five rambunctious children, and copes with the problems caused by the Stratton family. His concern for his children’s safety, his Achilles’ heel, almost gets him killed.
Interestingly, Francis’s worldview has widened over the years, with his increasing maturity, fame, and prosperity and with the world itself changing since 1962. Later novels such as Decider are full of Americanisms, such as “wimpish,” “rough trade,” “look-see,” “max,” “the slammer,” “Peter Pan syndrome,” “sob stuff,” and “trashed.” His heroes and heroines now dine in restaurants that serve haute cuisine and vintage champagne. He writes about the upper class with the assurance of one accustomed to moving in such circles.
The hero of Decider is not a member of the working class like the jockey-detective in Dead Cert or the overworked, financially harassed journalist-detective in Forfeit; Lee Morris owns real estate and shares of a racetrack. Decider sounds modern and sophisticated, whereas Dead Cert reads like an old-fashioned English detective novel, with a chaste love relationship leading toward marriage (“Kate’s kisses were sweet and virginal”), and quaint British expressions such as “Rum looking cove,” possibly incomprehensible to speakers of non-British varieties of the language. Alan York of Dead Cert moves in a world of jockeys, taxi drivers, bartenders, and other working-class types; Lee Morris of Decider moves with ease in the upper reaches of bourgeois society.
Stratton, determined to destroy the stately racetrack so that it may be sold to tract housing developers, tries sabotage, intimidation, murder, kidnapping, and torture to get his way, but Morris, a typical Francis hero, becomes tenacious under pressure. Although Stratton’s henchman plants dynamite and causes extensive wreckage, Morris ultimately exposes the mastermind and saves the racetrack, an ornate Victorian structure that might be said to symbolize Francis’s love for the world of horse racing.