Three Strides Out

A Horse Show Novel of Suspense

By: V. S. Anderson

Narrated by: John Y. Walker

Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

Saving a champion show jumper from a burning horse trailer gives young rider-trainer Robb Slaughter one job: finding out who tied that horse in that trailer and making them pay.

For Robb, avenging that horse means atonement. Sure, he was just a kid when he left his mother screaming while her lover killed her, but that doesn’t mean he ever quit hearing those screams.

It’s the horses who’ve saved him from the torrent of unanswered cries inside his head. Clearing the big jumps on horses he cares about has given him a hard-won mental peace. He has built a good life for himself as a professional show-jumping rider, on his way to Grand-Prix stardom . . .Until that fire.

You were crazy to jump into that trailer to save that horse, everyone tells Robb. But for Robb saving the horse like he did is just the beginning. Let the police solve it, everyone says. But Robb knows no cop will ever deliver the right kind of justice. Only somebody brave enough and driven enough can hunt down the killers and exact true justice. Somebody with a visceral need to right wrongs and find peace from his own torment. Somebody like Robb.

With the help of a sharp-witted female reporter, Robb unravels the plot that put that horse in that trailer. He’s ready to do whatever he has to—until he learns that one of the people involved is a troubled young woman he has always dreamed his love could rescue. But what if saving her asks a lot more of him than saving the horse?

Set against the daily background of a hunter-jumper show barn in rigorous international competition, Three Strides Out pits a young rider’s life against fraud, money-laundering, blackmail, and murder. Like a Grand Prix class that asks horses to jump fences they can’t see over, Robb’s quest to bring killers to justice demands an ultimate commitment—and an ultimate sacrifice.

©2023 Virginia S. Anderson (P)2024 Virginia S. Anderson

Decent narration.

This is told in the first-person POV of the male lead. He is likable, the world, what little I get to see of it is likable, and the story/mystery does seem intriguing. The issue is this male lead gets off on tangents, a lot, mid-attempt at action-showing, it seems. So it can be tricky to follow. Not tricky as in hard, per se, but as in to keep paying attention as he rambles on about something other than the issue at hand.

So I do think this would be a fun mystery to read, but as is, it could be better executed. Recommend revisions, perhaps with the help of a great dev-editor? Reads more as a first draft at this stage, not as a completed book.

Horse life!
Mystery … ish.

Overall:
Okay, needs some help or polishing, I think.
2.5 stars.

Audio:
Overall sound quality is good! Professional production. The narrator’s voice is deep and raspy, fairly pleasant to listen to, and he isn’t exactly robotic, though he doesn’t exactly ‘perform’ either if that makes sense. I appreciate the lack of monotone here! 3 stars.

Overall a big disappointment.

The main characters were hard to like or empathize with. The story was dark and depressing with a depressing ending. It was nice to read a horse story where most of the horse stuff was believable and not everyone won blue ribbons. The two trainer/instructors seemed to be screw ups, however, constantly making mistakes on or with their horses. There was too much emphasis on mental illness and suicide with multiple characters which made it more depressing. It was not what was described in the synopsis at all.

More contact would have been nice

Living up like more Detail of the story And the characters. More about the children he was teaching to ride.
And the horses themselves.