Reading: Punter's Luck

A debut novel slipped quietly onto the shelves last year with little or no fanfare. Punter’s Luck by Peter Klein (pub. New Holland Press) is very much in the style of Dick Francis being set in and around the Australian horse-racing industry. Klein is a former strapper and knows the racing scene inside out which stands out in the way he captures the excitement and adrenaline of race day.

The story itself is a very involving thriller in which professional punter and son of a prominent horse trainer, John Punter, gets himself caught up in a missing person case. The missing person is his best friend, a man nicknamed Wombat and on his trail are some mightily pissed off drug dealers who have lost a large sum of money. Inevitably everyone involved has links with one another and the horse-racing industry which drags it all back into Punter’s closer circle.

Punter’s Luck is definitely worth the effort of tracking down and reading. It’s a fast-paced story that contains all of the elements that has made Francis’ books so hugely popular with the added drawcard for Australian readers of having a local flavour.