SYNDICATE

Life isn’t safe even for a syndicate manager in the upper echelon of British horse racing.

Chester Newton is worried how Potassium, the current star of his syndicate, Victrix Racing, will run in the Epsom Derby. When Potassium wins by a nose, Chester breathes a sigh of relief and turns to the party planned for the 25th anniversary of his wedding to Georgina; the 21st birthday of their son, James; and the 19th birthday of their daughter, Amanda. That’s where signs of trouble pop up. Darren Williamson, the undesirable older boyfriend Amanda’s brought to the party, reports that she’s gone missing after a row, and DS Christine Royle, of the Thames Valley Police, doesn’t share Chester’s anxiety about her return. Royle turns out to be right, sort of, since Amanda is shortly found doped with ketamine, unable to remember anything about how she disappeared. The punchline—a phone call from an anonymous person with a squeaky voice who points out how easy it would be to snatch Amanda again—sets the plot in motion, as Squeaky Voice repeatedly calls Chester to demand that several of Victrix’s favorites, including Potassium, lose their races. Chester can’t figure out what the motive for these calls is, who’s behind them, whether he should do their bidding, or how he can fix the races if he decides to give in. His nondecision to play it by ear, taking each threat as it comes, and his seduction by younger American Toni Beckett make each step in the story less predictable, and the customary insider details about the racing scene set up the denouement with commendable precision.

Perhaps the strongest installment of this venerable franchise since Francis took the reins from his jockey father.