Straight

Putnam, 1989

• Derek Franklin - 34, jockey
• Greville Franklin - Derek's older brother, imported and sold semiprecious stones
• Brad - Derek's neighbor, an unemployed welder who drives him around while his ankle is healing
• Derek's sisters - one in Australia, one in Japan
• Annette Adams - Greville's personal assistant
• June, Lily, Tina, Alfie, Jason - employees at Saxony Franklin
• Prospero Jenks - jewelry designer
• Elliot Trelawney - Greville's friend and fellow magistrate
• Milo Shandy - trainer, Derek rides for him
• Clarissa Williams - Greville's mistress, Lord Knightwood's wife
• Harley Ostermeyer - horse owner, boss of a giant supermarket chain
• Martha Ostermeyer - horse owner, fourth generation multimillionaire in banking
• Vaccaro - drug dealer trying to get a liquor license
• Jacob van Ekeren - jeweler in Antwerp
• Simms - chauffeur
• Thomas Rollway ("Rollo") - horse owner, Nicholas Loder is his trainer
• Nicholas Loder - trainer, trained Greville's horses
• Guy Servi - sightholder in Antwerp
• Phil Urquhart - veterinary surgeon
• Maarten-Pagnier - diamond cutters
• Superintendent Ingold

One of my favorite quotes from Straight is near the beginning, as Derek is at the hospital with Greville: "Life has a way of kicking one along like a football, or so I've found. Fate had never dealt me personally a particularly easy time, but that was OK, that was normal. Most people, it seemed to me, took their turn to be football. Most survived. Some didn't."

Other book titles in the text: Risk, Reflex, Bolt, Straight, Come to Grief, Nerve, The Danger

We discussed Straight on March 23, 1998. Members can find the meeting log in our reading group folder on AOL or at our Internet Members area.

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