Victorian Train Robbery, with Gentleman Thief

<3

I have no objectivity here. A gentleman thief robs a train. It's a true story. It CANNOT be a true story. Yet it is.

Strongly recommended if you like heist novels and/or Sean Connery. I haven't seen the movie of this yet, but they got him to play the gentleman thief back in the day, and I can only say, "Hee hee hee."

This is a fanciful re-imagination of the Great Train Robbery of 1855 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_G...). Crichton weaves a great heist story, full with fun planning details, mishaps, and colorful characters. In the spirit of Victorian imagination, he colors his protagonist, Edward Pierce as a gentleman rogue, a man with mysterious past but impeccable manner, charm, and money to go with it. He is also a criminal mastermind extraordinaire.

Crichton paints a vivid portrait of contemporary British society, complete with a deep dive into the criminal underbelly. Trains have revolutionalized the era: all of a sudden, ardous travel that took days before could be completed in a few hours, while comfortably sitting and even reading. Speeds reached unprecedented heights: at 50 to 70 miles an hour. People did not even yet understand that falling at such great speed was way worse than falling from a horse. In such an environment, trains were romanticized, and no one could imagine that a successful robbery could take place on a moving train, which was that made the 1855 heist so scandalous.

I was a bit thrown by the “fiction as fact” style of writing at first. Crichton presents his narrative as nonfiction, taken from news articles, court testimonies, police reports, memoirs and such. I was confused to whether, and what, was real. Well, the broad outlines are the same: gold was stolen from big safes on the way from London to Folkstone, with the help of a guard, using copies of the keys; and the money was replaced by lead pouches. Crichton’s story is way more fanciful, with much enhanced characters, and completely invented news articles and courtroom drama.

I enjoyed it. We watched the movie, which Crichton wrote, starring Sean Connery and Donald Sutherland. It is okay… rather wastes Sutherland’s talents. The book is a lot better.

10/10 for the train, and it’s a real train, a true f’in choo choo running on literal steam. We love us a good and proper train.

Seriously though its a piece of historical fiction that was incredibly fascinating and seemingly well researched (idk how I would begin to disprove and quite frankly I don’t care to

3/10

I was not expecting this to be written as a factual book with a little bit of dramatisation thrown in to cover the unknown parts of the history. It didn't work for me in the slightest. The large info dumps were scattered throughout, pretty much every chapter starts with them and then almost as an afterthought parts with characters added in.

I started skimming this about 100 pages in, if this was any larger I'd have quit on it at that point (I'd feel bad for DNF'ing two books in a row too). The characters were bland and not well drawn out but I guess they barely had any time to be drawn out as I was too busy learning about hinges and shit for a safe about 150 years old. Fun times.

The climatic ending was never so, from the introduction we learn the outcome of the heist albeit a small surprise at the end. But at that point no flying shits were given.

In summation, this guy should stick with dinosaurs.

As a novel, this book is too dry, technical and lacks luster. As a nonfiction account of a historical event, it's very interesting and well told.

But then I learned he literally made it all up! He made up the transcripts, the dialogue and quotes, the newspapers he “quoted” from, all of it! Even some of the books he mentioned weren’t actually real. In that light, the book is genius!

I learned a lot about the time period as he would dive off into a tangential essay about some aspect of Bictorian life that was germane to whatever plot trail he was next going to unveil.

I had a hard time with a lot of the period slang; some I could figure out from the context, some he did explain, but a lot of the time I felt the conversations read like The Jabberwocky. A Victorian criminal glossary would've been welcome. Modern dictionaries did not help with a lot of the jargon used in this book.

Other than that, it was an enjoyable read.

Not my favorite of his books (that's gotta be Jurassic Park), but this is his best writing.

If I am capable of guilt when it comes to my literary tastes The Great Train Robbery could be a "guilty pleasure," but how can a man who did his honours thesis on Michael Crichton's The Great Train Robbery feel any guilt over loving The Great Train Robbery?

He can't. And I don't.

It is an exemplar of what I call cinematic writing: novel length prose that the author ultimately intends for the screen.

The characters are skill-based and maleable (sometimes even interchangeable), the chase -- either figurative or literal -- is all important, and the skeletal structure of the plot is all about the goal. As long as the goal remains the same, the pieces that get the writer/filmmaker there can alter to suit mood, economics, aesthetics or any other pragmatic concern without harming the spirit of the tale.

I used The Great Train Robbery in my thesis because it was the one book that Michael Crichton directed himself. He wrote the novel, wrote the screenplay, cast the main characters, and made all the alterations that moved his story from one medium to another. The novels that followed The Great Train Robbery continued to embrace the cinema in their conception, but The Great Train Robbery was the finest expression of Crichton's love for the screen because even he, the author, had to make changes to take his novel to the screen.

For anyone who loves cinema and novels, for anyone who loves screenwriting, for anyone who loves screen adaptation, both manifestations of The Great Train Robbery are essential texts. And how can you beat the teaming of Sean Connery and Donald Sutherland And how can you beat the teaming of Sean Connery and Donald Sutherland? You can't (not even with Harrison Ford or Elliot Gould).

Track down the movie, re-read the book, and appreciate them both for what Crichton was trying to do.

Aside from the somewhat dull history lessons that pop up here and there, this tale was a nice, fun read. Pierce, the main antagonist/protagonist, comes off as a clever rogue who you want to see succeed, even though his actions endanger lives, none more so than his own. The planning and execution of the robbery is explained in detail, evincing a brazenness one can't help but admire.

Definitely recommended.

A fabulous book in the historical thriller genre. I learned a great deal about Victorian London upon reading.

Published in 1974. Very similar to Devil in the White City. Both books present a masterful villain in a city known for its historically high crime. Perhaps less dramatic than Devil in the White City but more educational. You know who the villain is from the first page so the book tells you how he pulled off the heist. There is a major plot twist at the end that is the icing on the cake.

My favorite Michael Crichton book and it’s not even fiction.

Може би най-добрата хейст книга, която ми е попадала в ръчичките. Преполагам и годините в които се развива действието допринасят. Крайтън, както винаги си е избарал перфектно проучването и картината която рисува на викториянски Лондон е най-плътното нещо за тази епоха. Струпванията на информация заемат половината от всяка кратка глава, но са толкова тясно свързани с обира, че не дразнят читателя, а точно напротив. Самият сюжет е структуриран по всички канони на жанра – събиране на банда, планиране, удар, последствия – а историческата правдоподобност го прави истинско удоволствие за читателя. Доволен съм, че две години чаках да си намеря книгата и не гледах филма. Сега мога с кеф да си го изгледам.
В средата на деветнайсти век Англия и Франция са съюзници в кримската война. Всеки месец от лондон с влак тръгват заплатите на войниците. Един смел и самонадеян мъж ще направи невъзможното да ги докопа. Обир планиран повече от година. Обир в който всеки детайл е изпипан и предвиден, дори предателство, дори залавяне... всичко. И все пак постоянно изникват нови перипети, които трябва да се отстранят бързо, умно и с импровизация.
Препоръчвам на всеки, който успее да се докопа до книгата.

In the very proper Victorian days of the British Empire, a shocking event caused much consternation, eventually called, "The Great Train Robbery" of 1855, the newspapers are stunned imagine such a crime in this civilized age ! Gold bullion was stolen, from the luggage compartment and the guaranteed, tamper proof safes, ( were not) of the south bound iron horse, from London which was meant to arrive on the English coast, put in a ship for France, and later given to the brave soldiers in the British Army, fighting the Russians during the Crimean campaign. They were opened by the officials in France, but surprise... it did not get there, why? A Mr. Edward Pierce the reason, a handsome, charming gentleman, well almost, the mastermind of this dastardly crime caused the theft, along with his helpers, Robert Agar an expert at making wax impressions of keys, the copies to open the two safes containing the gold bars, Barlow a former thug, Pierce's servant, carriage driver, and muscleman, he can and does the dirty work. Miss Miriam, Edward's pretty mistress, she will keep men distracted, Burgess the train guard, who is being paid not to see too well and Clean Willy, a chimney sweep in the past but is now the best around at breaking into buildings. His quite small frame can squeeze through any window or hole, weighs just a tiny sixty- eight pounds, not afraid of walking on roofs, to seek entrance, he's done it all , in his short life. But Mr. Willy is in Newgate prison, however an escape plan has been conceived , with the perfect distraction... the hanging of a notorious ax murderess, a bloodthirsty crowd of 20,000 people, are expected to watch the public execution ... This was Mr. Pierce's second attempt, the other one did not work according to his designs, Spring Heel Jack, ( love those underworld nicknames) was caught trying to steal the gold, and thrown off the train by a guard , yes by Mr. Burgess ( things change), breaking the neck of the young pickpocket, the locomotive was traveling fifty miles a hour. Edward needs information, he becomes friends with the bankers who have the keys, Henry Fowler at a gentlemen's party, discloses the safeguards against any threats to the gold, in fact boasts about them, Mr. Pierce is very interested . He romances the plain looking daughter Elizabeth of the bank president, Mr. Edward Trent for information, the lady is becoming a burden, to the anxious father, she's twenty- nine . A nervous finale of the robbery, a man insanely jumping on top of the fast moving train, from section to section, Mr. Pierce needs to open the compartment door where the gold is, Agar, is already hidden inside, awaits. While Edward Pierce is ...
precariously dangling on the side, only a rope to keep him alive. It will take courage or stupidity to succeed ... Michael Crichton's novel , (based on a true story ) is a great read, fun, entertaining, a good book one can enjoy, without any serious messages, only recollections of pleasant memories. What could be better...

2021’s Book 1. After a reading break lasting six weeks, I took this one on my shelf to ease back into reading.

I quite liked the descriptive nature of the 1850’s Victorian England and how the crime is setup. The focus of this book is more on the planning than the execution and the ending does seem a little rushed. But nonetheless a fast read that has hopefully gotten me my reading mojo back.