ARC Review: Iced by Felix Francis

Iced
Author: Felix Francis
Publication: Crooked Lane Books (July 12, 2022)

Description: In the tradition of Clive Cussler and James Lee Burke, Iced, the latest in Francis's fictional world, is a heart-pounding thriller that will keep you racing to the next page.

Seven years ago, Miles Pussett was a steeplechase jockey, loving the rush of the race. But after an unfortunate event, he left horseracing behind and swore he would never return. Now he gets his adrenaline rush from riding headfirst down the Cresta Run, a three-quarter-mile Swiss ice chute, reaching speeds of up to eighty miles per hour.

Finding himself in St Moritz during the same weekend as White Turf, when high-class horseracing takes place on the frozen lake, he gets talked into helping out with the horses. Against his better judgement, he decides to assist, but things aren’t as innocent as they seemed.

When he discovers something suspicious is going on in the races, something that may have a profound impact on his future, Miles begins a search for answers. But someone is adamant about stopping him—and they’ll go to any length to do it.

My Thoughts: This latest by Felix Francis was an intriguing story about a man named Miles Pussett. It contains a number of flashbacks that talk about his past and the things that made him the man he is now. 

Miles is the son of a famous jockey and had always wanted to follow in his famous father's footsteps. But his father died in a road accident with Miles was twelve leaving his family is some financial dire straits. His mother dies by suicide some five years later. Miles feels a lot of guilt about both events. He was with his father when he died and believes that his father took the brunt of the crash in order to save his son. He feels that he could have saved his mother if he had been paying better attention but conflicts about his future plans had them estranged at the time of her death.

These two events damage Miles's mental health. It doesn't help that, as a jockey, he faces a lot of other stresses ranging from the obsessive need to lose weight to remain eligible to race and the pressure put on him to win races and the public's written and spoken pressure when he doesn't win. 

These various pressures lead to nightmares, panic attacks, and an overuse of alcohol as an anesthetic. He is lucky to find support from the young nurse trainee he meets when a panic attack leads to hospitalization and from the Sabrina Dickinson who is the wife of his employer racehorse trainer Jerry Dickinson. 

When the story begins, Miles is in St. Moritz taking part in the Cresta run. He's abandoned the entire horseracing industry to preserve his mental health but the speed and danger of racing down an icy course at high speed fills his need for adventure. But St. Moritz is also the site of winter horseracing on ice and Jerry Dickinson is there with a couple of his horses. Miles gets pulled in to help when Dickinson's usual groom breaks an ankle and finds himself pulled into danger again.

This story was a thriller. Someone does try to murder Miles by dropping a bag of cement onto the Cresta course which could have killed Miles when his sled hit it. He was lucky to escape with a dislocated shoulder and broken collar bone. 

As Miles investigates who might have wanted him dead, he learns some things about his past that explain some things. I didn't feel that the mystery aspect of this story was the strongest part. For me, the crux of the story was about Miles's regaining his mental health and the changes he makes to build a happy life. 

Favorite Quote:

Competitors, family, friends, fellow club members and all forms of assorted other hangers-on sit at long, jampacked tables on the terrace, drinking beer or wine, telling and retelling tales of past exploits on the ice, all at full volume.

Some of their stories are even true.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.