Reflex
M. Joseph, 1980; Putnam, 1981
Pictures, puzzles, and blackmail. Jockey Philip Nore solves the riddles while finding the answers to his past and the keys to his future.
Characters
- Philip Nore
- jockey, amateur photographer.
- Steve Millace
- jockey, 23 years old.
- George Millace
- photographer, Steve's Dad, dies in a car accident, leaves the puzzles that Philip solves.
- Jeremy Folk
- solicitor at Folk, Langley, Son and Folk, 25 years old.
- Grandmother
- wants Philip to find his half-sister for her.
- Duncan & Charlie
- photographers who took care of Philip for three years & taught him photography.
- Caroline Nore
- Philip's "lost butterfly mother."
- Amanda
- Philip's half-sister, raised by members of a religious cult called Colleagues of Supreme Grace.
- Victor Briggs
- Daylight's owner, asks Philip to lose races.
- Daylight
- racehorse.
- Harold Osborne
- trainer, Philip is his main jockey.
- Marie Millace
- Steve's mom.
- Samantha Bergen
- took care of Philip for awhile when he was young.
- Clare Bergen
- Samantha's daughter, works as a publisher's assistant.
- Lance Kinship
- film director, welcome at parties for the drugs he brings.
- Ivor den Relgan
- wants to be a member of the Jockey Club.
- Dana den Relgan
Favorite passages
Pictures, puzzles, and blackmail. Jockey Philip Nore solves the riddles while finding the answers to his past and the keys to his future. Sometimes Dick Francis just has the most profound things to say about life! One of my favorite quotes from Reflex is
Most people think, when they're young, that they're going to the top of their chosen world, and that the climb up is only a formality. Without that faith, I suppose, they might never start. Somewhere on the way they lift their eyes to the summit and know they aren't going to reach it; and happiness then is looking down and enjoying the view they've got, not envying the one they haven't.
Chosen by members of the reading group in the late 1990s. From Reflex by Dick Francis.
The group read it
We discussed Reflex on October 20, 1997.
This page was first written for the reading group's original site in the late 1990s and was lost when AOL Hometown closed. It has been recovered from the Internet Archive.