Cut Throat
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4.4 • 5 Ratings
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
Jealousy and greed form a deadly alliance in the highly charged world of international showjumping.
Ross Wakelin, a talented American rider with a chequered past, has come to England hoping for a fresh start. But soon after he arrives at Oakley Manor yard he learns that all is not as it seems. Bellboy, a winner of the Hickstead Derby, was recently found in his stable with a cut throat - his violent death marked the beginning of a cruel vendetta against one of the owners at the yard.
Unwittingly, Ross is drawn into a deadly spiral of threatening events and finds himself at the heart of the terrifying campaign. Now, with more than just his career at stake, he must uncover the secrets of Oakley Manor. But as he begins to close in on the truth, he finds that someone is prepared to go to any lengths to destroy him, and knows exactly where to strike...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This entertaining, moderately suspenseful thriller about the British horsey set marks Stacey's promising if uneven debut. Beset by nightmares of the riding accident that sent him crashing into a viewing stand full of people, crippling a young girl, 27-year-old American rider Ross Wakelin is devoting most of his time to getting drunk when Lindsey Cresswell, a young British colleague, offers him a chance to return to the riding arena in the U.K. Her uncle, Colonel Preston, has a show-jumping yard in Wiltshire and needs an immediate replacement rider. Ross agrees, but he has scarcely gotten out of the car at Oakley Manor when he is greeted with the news that one of the horses is dying, the apparent victim of poisoning, the second such incident at Oakley Manor. Ross finds the overseer, former jockey Bill Scott, less than welcoming; he is also thwarted at every turn by a surly stable employee and a mean-spirited celebrity journalist cum ring announcer, the father of the young horseman he has replaced who loses no opportunity to discredit him. Soon the foul play spreads beyond the stables: Ross is accosted on a lonely road and forced into a state of drunkenness by mysterious assailants. If Ross doesn't find out who's behind it, this could be the end of his career. His anguish is made all the worse by his secret love for Lindsey, who is about to marry a rich heir. The plot turns are patently contrived, and some passages are overwritten. Still, this fast-paced first effort is absorbing, enlivened by witty dialogue and vivid descriptions of the show-jumping circuit.
