[In the following review, Corrigan briefly discusses Francis's formula and how Comeback differs from his previous novels.]

By now, fans look forward to getting three things in a Dick Francis mystery. First, there's the obligatory "race-with-a-ctose-finish" scene, in which an unlikely horse with the heart of a champion beats the racetrack favorite by a nostril hair. Francis recycles this scene to establish the moral code of his books. It goes something like this: Racing is like Life. Cowards and cheaters always lose; the good and the brave always win, damn the odds!

Another staple of Francis's books is his reverence for superior bloodlines, not only in horses but in people. The typical thriller restores order to the racing world by restoring power to the aristocracy. Usually a humble but fearless hero (often a jockey) discovers an evil plot against racing. He informs one of the patrician members of the Racing Commission—someone with a name like Sir Nigel Gout. At first, Sir Nigel's judgment is clouded (maybe by decades of guzzling gin and tonics). But Sir Nigel always rallies, the low-class bounder is arrested, and our hero rides off, usually with Sir Nigel's niece.

That's the third trademark element of a Francis mystery—the love interest. To Francis, a desirable woman is a lot like a fine racehorse. Both have glossy manes, firm withers and good breeding. And both secretly want to be reined in and mastered by our heroes.

Comeback, Francis's 30th thriller, serves up his basic winning formula with some exotic touches. Hero Peter Darwin, a young British diplomat who's just been assigned to a posting in London, finds himself caught up in the nightmarish problems of a new friend, veterinary surgeon Ken McClure. It seems that a lot of injured racehorses have died shortly after McClure has operated on them. McClure's reputation is heading to the glue factory—fast—and so Darwin puts his diplomatic skills to work to solve the mysterious deaths.

Francis substitutes suspenseful descriptions of horse surgery here for his usual suspenseful descriptions of horse racing, since most of the action takes place on the grounds of the veterinary practice. Comeback also contains one of the creepiest climaxes of any recent Francis novel and, certainly, one of the tackiest propositions ever uttered by a Francis hero—"How about a bonk, then?" says Darwin to a frisky filly, not to be confused with the thoroughbred Bishop's daughter he's set to hitch up with by novel's end. The most startling change in Comeback, however, is the class background of the villain: for once. I couldn't figure out who the bad guy was simply by noticing which one of the characters didn't know how to use a fingerbowl.