10-lb Penalty

At nearly 18, easy-going Benedict Juliard has no stronger ambition than to ride in steeplechases as an amateur jockey. His father, George, driven by powerful urges towards a life of public service and politics, asks his only son to enter a pact that neither of them will commit any act that could destroy the fathers growing reputation and career. Ben agrees lightheartedly, but five years later finds himself targeted in a vicious attack mounted by his fathers increasingly violent political enemies. Through the son, the father is to be discredited and destroyed, exactly as George feared. As George makes his ambitious drive towards occupancy of No. 10 Downing Street, Ben is plunged into a frightening morass of lies and treachery. In practice, a 10-lb penalty is the maximum extra weight a winning thoroughbred is normally set to carry in a horse race. A 10-lb penalty can be a killer.