writing since the 1998 publication of Field of Thirteen is over, and a
new vigor has entered his style. Longtime readers will be happy to
find the customary racetrack skullduggery, galvanized by some
fascinating new elements.
The very opening of Second Wind signals something new, with Francis's
protagonist, meteorologist Perry Stuart, fighting for his life as he
flies through the eye of storm on Trox Island, a blighted place steeped
in guano and harboring a nasty secret.
"But now, as near dead as dammit, I tumbled like a rag-doll piece of
flotsam in towering gale-driven seas that sucked unimaginable tons of
water from the deeps " When the reader encountered details of the
racing world in Francis's earlier thrillers such as Whip Hand and
Reflex, they had the satisfying ring of authenticity. The same is true
in Second Wind--Stuart's character was developed with the help of BBC
weatherman John Kettley.
Although this is a new venue for Francis, he still has a knack for
quickening the reader's pulse with a few carefully chosen words:
"Despair was too strong a word for it. Perhaps despondency was
better.
When they came for me, they came with guns."