Mount!: The fast-paced, riotous new adventure from the Sunday Times bestselling author Jilly Cooper

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Racism and homophobia are also run riot through the book, with the homophobic f word used repeatedly and with another f word in front of it on one occasion. And even the ones who are main characters and who are somewhat developed—aren't really very likeable. That was always the attraction of Jilly Cooper (to me at least), virtual tomes of books with covers that told you everything without needing to read a sentence. It was only by chance watching the hotel programme of the launch of Mount that I knew about this one but I'm so glad I saw it!

It is a world in which you can tell who the baddies are because they go to elocution lessons, participate in “fain dining” and have vulgar gardens. Jilly herself had hip surgery from which to recover, and two of her beloved elderly pets also passed away, leaving her with a single dog.All the usual components were present, but they didn't tie into a particularly cohesive novel, and it felt rather as though Cooper was going through the motions to deliver the novel. There are innuendos and outright sexual comments that sprint across the line of acceptable conduct, circuit the planet to cross the line again, then draw penis emojis on that line. I'm scanning my way through the endless chapters on the intricacies of a local horse race in the hope of finding a few words on humans, preferably one I know, or a crumb or two of humour or raunch.

I can't help thinking that this would have been better as two books rather than this mad, too-busy rush of a story. But the fact that there isn’t much of a plot doesn’t really matter, because that’s not what Jilly is about. In this book his main aim is to have his stallion Love Rat become leading sire, but the competition is stiff and his enemies are out to thwart him. I like learning more about the world of horse racing and the sort of ‘how the other half live’ insight which we as readers get in these books. Isa Lovell is blonde and could not have possibly had a son old enough to race ride with Marty in the space of time since Score.Etta and Valent drink 2 bottles of champagne and a bottle of red while having geriatric sex - all I can say is that I would have been fast asleep as soon as I lay down after 1 bottle! Not too impressed with Rupert sleeping around with such abandon after years of unquestioned fidelity to Taggie, also not impressed with Taggie turning into such a doormat domestic slave. Characters have aged, some poorly, with Rupert's father needing a homecare aid, or "carer", a reflection of Jilly's personal life with her husband.

Score, p244: "Then he (Rannaldini) had rammed his cock into her, not minding if his aim was off-centre. When I got to the end I actually re-read the last couple of chapters as I wasn't ready to let the story go yet. As the action builds lives hang in the balance and Leading Sire suddenly isn't so important after all. If you are a horse lover, there are TONS of horse parts in this book (even more than Riders and Polo! Commenting on the lack of government investment in horse-racing jars with scenes of gigantic individual bets, the sums of prize money involved in racing, and private helicopters dotting down on birthday parties.Characters of foreign descent as thrown in willy nilly as if JC only put them there for political correctness. All the characters from the old books pop up at some point, culminating a big set piece party for Rupert's 60th. The first in the series, "Riders", came to print in 1985 and "Mount", published in September, 2016 is the tenth.

What I do have a problem with is that we are supposed to consider this a happy ending, with a literal tribute to Rupert at the end. If you, like me, find horses a little dull and bamboozling, simply skip the horsey bits like Linus van Pelt skips the Russian names in the Brothers Karamazov, and instead settle down with the good bits where Rupert stalks about shouting at people who haven’t had time to wash their hair and have gone all red in the face. There is no believable reason, the person he sleeps with isn't likeable, there is no built up basis that makes the events understandable.If you've read other books in the "Rutminster" series, you'll immediately recognize all the old favourite characters. Long-time fans may regret one of the major storylines, which may ruin some of the characters for you if you like your romances "safe" (and given Appassionata, feels a bit out-of-character).