AMATEUR jockey and racing journalist Rod Hutchinson is the victim of a sting. He gets beaten on an odds-on favourite, is convicted of not trying and of accepting a bribe. His amateur licence is withdrawn and he loses his job.

His fight to prove his innocence is continually thwarted by violent attacks – including one where he comes close to being burned alive – and by villains who fear they will be exposed if he resumes writing.

That’s the plot for the new novel entitled Stitched Up, by Michael Clower, formerly of The Sporting Life, Racing Post, and now living in South Africa where he is still active as a racing journalist and is The Irish Field’s South African correspondent.

This is Michael’s second racing thriller, following Riding For a Fall, which was described in the South African press as “a fast-moving, action-packed book, well up to the standard of his racing biographies”.

Michael is also the author of the widely acclaimed Mick Kinane, Big Race King (The Sporting Life’s Racing Book of the Year), Champion Charlie, The Legend of Istabraq and Kings of the Turf.

Stitched Up (£8.50) and all of Michael’s titles can be ordered on Amazon. We just hope he hasn’t based this book on any Irish jockeys.