Last Hurrah

Right, I'll stick to something non-controversial today.  That's easy because nobody could disagree with what I'm about to write.  (If it is indeed possible to write something that nobody disagrees with).  I've just read a really good book and, as it's racing-related, I thought I'd write about it here.  It's a novel called Last Hurrah, written by Robin Dawson.  You may have heard of it as I believe that it was reviewed in the Racing Post last month, but I'd missed the review so hadn't heard of it.  Happily, though, William Huntingdon brought it to our attention, and I'm really glad that he did because I have just finished reading it this afternoon, and it's a great read.

It's a long book, about 440 pages, and there is plenty on each page, ie the writer hasn't had to do the padding-out trick of using a huge type face, and it's not all dialogue.  I took me probably 40 pages to get into, but once I had read the first few chapters and had started to warm to the characters, I raced through it.  The final 100 or so pages flew by and I came to the end thoroughly satisfied, which isn't always the case as one can often find novels just grinding to a halt and/or leaving one thinking that all the ingredients of the plot haven't really ended up adding up.  That's definitely not the case with this one, as it ended without loose ends or questionable conclusions.

I say that I was thoroughly satisfied, which I was, but I was satisfied while still wanting more, ie to know how things went for the main characters thereafter.  And the icing on the cake was that the volume ends with an announcement that a sequel is already in the pipeline, so I'll snap that up as soon as it comes out.  The author Robin Dawson has been about as thoroughly immersed in the racing game as it is possible to be.  I read that he worked for Sir Noel Murless in the '70s, and I'm guessing that that might be where his and William's paths first crossed.  It's clear that there's plenty of the racing world in there as he's seen it, and plenty of the characters too - it's great fun speculating on whom the characters are based.  I always like to get some reading done over Christmas, which is particularly good this year as I currently have quite a pile of books waiting to be read.  Anyone who likes racing and is looking for a Christmas read couldn't go wrong with this one.