Dick Francis is best known for his horse-racing mysteries. After last year’s short story collection, Field of Thirteen, Francis is back with a full-length novel. Second Wind has hints of classic Francis -- secondary characters are owners or trainers -- but, in spite of the horse motif on the book cover, the main character is a BBC weatherman and the principal setting is a hurricane in the Caribbean. This departure from Francis’s usual form is not a complete success.
Perry Stuart is a physics Ph.D. and meteorologist on BBC television. He is devoted to his disabled grandmother. Perry and his friend, fellow weather broadcaster and amateur pilot, Kris Ironside, have always wanted to fly through a hurricane. After an outing to a horse training facility and a racetrack where Perry encounters various and sundry horsey types including the Darcys and the Fords, an opportunity arises to travel to Florida and perhaps fly through Odin, which has the potential of developing into a hurricane. His grandmother has the heebie-jeebies, which is usually an indication of danger, but Perry assures her there is almost no risk.