Straight Summary
Dick Francis

Straight Summary

In the novel, greed and ambition beget evil, overshadowing people's good qualities, distorting reality, and initiating chain reactions that lead to death. Derek comes across this note by his dead brother: "The bad scorn the good, and the crooked despise the straight," an appropriate philosophical legacy to add to his material inheritance. As in earlier works, Francis here again deals with the racing scene, showing how the desire to capitalize on a horse's abilities inspires talented professionals to betray a trust that others have placed in them. An added dimension in the novel is the presence of drugs, with their destructive effects on men's morality and on animals' performances. The story lines involving the gemstone importing business and the attempts of a shady character to get a local gaming license emphasize the pervasive destructiveness of greed and evil.

Straddling these worlds of sport and commerce, admirable Derek Franklin...

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