Second Wind

By: Dick Francis

Narrated by: Michael Page

Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

The catastrophic power of a giant hurricane can raise coastal waves 30 feet high and blow through houses at devastating speeds. For TV meteorologist Perry Stuart, however, such predictions are generally hypothetical, as he chiefly predicts periods of English drizzle, with bursts of heavier rain and sunshine to follow. Stuart's profound weather knowledge and accuracy have given him high status among forecasters, but no physical baptism by storm.

Until, that is, a fellow forecaster offers him a Caribbean hurricane-chasing ride in a small airplane as a holiday diversion. But a frightening accident teaches Stuart more secrets than wind speeds, and back home in England he faces threats and danger as deadly as anything nature can evolve.

Dick Francis "has simply never failed. Every one of his opening sentences pulls the reader in and doesn't let go until the last, perfect word," according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

©2008 Dick Francis (P)2008 Brilliance Audio

Critic reviews

"Fast-moving action." ( The Washington Post)

Another Excellent "read"

This book contains many elements of interest but flying and weather are the tops.There is also a mystery of course and that is the main theme and the slowly revealed cause of some erratic behavior by the main characters. This is a good fast moving book. The characters are well drawn and one loves or hates them accordingly. The beauty of Francis' books are the element of education you get from them all twisted up in the mystery and I love that. I learned about hurricanes, weather fronts and flying. If only school was like this!

Fun tale

I read this years ago and it wasn’t my favorite Francis book, but listening to it now, it is much more intriguing than I remembered. Worth the listen.

good, mindless read

I always enjoy reading Dick Francis, even if it feels alot like eating potato chips, not very filling.

Why knew Physics could be entertaining

An interesting story set away from horse racing. Quite enjoyable.
Racing still has a bit part as the basis from which all else flows.

Not My Favorite "Francis" But...

Where does Second Wind rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I love listening to Audible audiobooks. I love Dick Francis books. Therefore, I thoroughly enjoyed reading and listening to this book; however, having said that, this particular book of his is not my favorite one. But any Dick Francis book is certainly worth the time and effort (and expense) of reading.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

I was disappointed in the ending. Maybe this is the main reason I didn't enjoy this one of his as much.

Not my favorite...very little about horses

It was ok...plot was a but hard to follow at times, and it felt like a lot of stuff was assumed. Almost nothing about horses or racing, which is one of his trademarks, so that was disappointing.

enjoyable

not Dick Francis' best, but I still enjoyed it. the narrator did a nice job. some times British narrators have trouble with American accents, especially women, but he was pretty good.

Doesn't sound like Dick Francis!

I quite enjoyed the sciency aspects of this book, especially the meteorology. But the characters were caricatures. And the tone of the narration was less-than-adept: on the shrill side, especially females. Missed Tony Britton and Simon Prebble!

Intrigue and and a Physicist

This book made me aware of how much I've learned about racing in the UK from Mr. Francis' books. This one has an avalanche of information about weather, physics, and piloting. It's not really any more information that we get in his other books, but this one seemed like more because it was all new.

I enjoyed the book, which is more of a "regular guy becomes a spy" type of story. It's not his usual, but I wouldn't mind reading more of this hero.

Not good

I usually love Dick Francis. I know it must me difficult to come up with new stories, but dang 🙄
And for Dick Francis fans, prepare your self for ... well let’s just say not my favorite narrator , although by end of book it almost wasn’t bothering me.