The Bottom Line
An excellent debut performance by Daily Racing Form's Midwest correspondent John McEvoy. Racing fans of all stripes will enjoy how McEvoy artfully weaves true-life incidents into his story of race fixing and horse killings.
Pros
- Incorporates real-world racing scandals into the storyline
- The villain, Harvey Rexroth, is simultaneously evil and funny to read about
- Interesting negative commentary on the Chicago Cubs baseball team
Cons
- Barely scratches the surface on the details of life at a racetrack and horse farm
Description
- McEvoy uses fictitious names and places but most racing fans will deduce who he is referring to.
- Incidents like the suspicious death of Alydar and the rise and fall of the Racing Times are included
- McEvoy included a second plot, one of longtime Rexroth employee Red Marchik.
- The hapless Marchik, upset over being fired, keeps trying to get even with his former boss.
- Each time his plans fail, with his target not even noticing Marchik was ever nearby.
- Eventually the two plots collide, in a hilarious conclusion to a great mystery book.
Guide Review - Book Review: 'Blind Switch'
Because of its inseparable link to gambling, to many people, horse racing has always been seen as questionable, with fixed races, organized crime involvement, and insurance scams. And sadly, through the sport's history, there have been many incidents which perpetuate this notion. Working around some of these true stories, John McEvoy assembles an excellent story about a one-time race fixer who suddenly finds himself on the right side of the law. Hired on by the FBI as an informant, former amateur boxing champ and recently fired corporate employee Jack Doyle is sent in to infiltrate the stables of eccentric billionaire Harvey Rexroth, a very strange character who likes to have naked women on rollerskates skate laps around his office while he works. The FBI always suspected Rexroth's involvement in horse killings and race fixing, but never could gather enough evidence to prosecute him, and this was their best shot. Rexroth's main henchman is the banned Cajun jockey Ron Mortvedt. Unfortunately, Doyle's partner in the stakeout, New Zealander Aldous Bolger, was severely beaten by Rexroth's henchmen, which left Doyle all alone to complete the job. Eventually, it all comes together at the biggest race of the year in Chicago in September, in an ending that may not have been totally unpredictable, but entertaining nonetheless.
