Naked Paddock

An engaging romp through the fast, furious world of professional motor sports.

South Florida novelist Ducote draws on her life as the globe-trotting wife of decorated race car driving professional Chapman Ducote in a bracing novel that swells with action and intrigue. Coleton Loren, one of Miami Beach’s fastest and most successful race car drivers, is handsome, shrewd and, for his chosen sport, uncharacteristically tall. His racing prowess has earned him not only fame but an opulent lifestyle that feeds his ego and his womanizing. Nothing, however, prepares him for an unexpected accident on the track that fractures his right leg. Although the injury jeopardizes his chances in the upcoming Le Mans racing series, it also introduces him to young, beautiful Dr. Camilla Harlow, commissioned to rehabilitate the dashing racer back to prime form. She soon finds herself unethically enamored of her needy patient, and embroiled in Loren’s adrenaline-fueled lifestyle. Ducote creatively portrays the story’s secondary characters, including Loren’s ruthless, former racing team owner Jose Gomez (who’s constantly at odds with Loren’s agent, Ira Goldstein); wealthy financier Arthur Elrod; and George Wachner, Loren’s longtime friend and an aging Le Mans pro driver, who’s reluctant to retire before defeating his nemesis, Klaus Ulrick. The story moves at a brisk clip and incorporates just enough sex, action, duplicity, murder and coast-to-coast melodrama to keep readers glued to the page. Ducote employs plenty of racing vernacular and knows the fast-paced, thrilling racing atmosphere well; she notes in her acknowledgments that many plot twists are derived from real-life events. At more than 400 pages, readers may find the story a bit bloated at times, and some of the prose a bit awkward, but those who enjoy a rollicking story full of twists, turns, action and romance will surely be satisfied. Ducote’s cliffhanger ending is a true shocker and hints at possible further installments in Coleton Loren’s wild world.

A hyperactive ride for fans of high-octane fiction.