Forfeit by Dick Francis

rachelmanija mentioned in a past conversation that this book had a particular interesting trope in it. I couldn't remember if I'd ever read it. Turns out I have, but not at all recently - I vaguely remembered it in a faint deja-vu kind of way as it went along, but nothing specific - and this might even be one of the Dick Francis books I read in my teens. (I read a number of them during my teenage "read all the things" phase, but at the time never latched onto Francis as an author I particularly realized I enjoyed. I appreciate him a lot more now.)

I really loved this book, but it's difficult to talk about without spoiling various aspects of the premise that are revealed slowly as it goes along, so I'll put the initial discussion under a cut for people who like no spoilers at all, and then a couple of specific ending spoilers under a different cut.

( General premise spoilers )

And then, as mentioned, the ending spoilers, which I also loved.

( Ending spoilers )

I definitely think this is among my favorite of Francis's books.