The book came highly recommended to me by Jaya, Tarinee, and Smitha. There must be something special about this book that they've such high regards fof this book. So I put all other books on my current read shelf on hold and started reading this. And I am so glad that I read it. This book is a perfect blend of historical fiction, crime, and heist.

As the title suggests, it is about a train robbery. But once you start reading, you find that it is much more than that. It tell us about the culture, law, politics, society, and industrial revolution and its effect of Britain of that time.

Story revolves around Edward Pierce and how he successfully excutes this robbery. Though robbery came much later in the story, it was a real delight to read how Pierce picked his cronies and planned the heist. He too great care with every minute detail of his delight. I loved specially the scenes where he takes the impression of keys.

Michael Crichton's story telling is top class. It captured my attention right from chapter one. I could not put it down until I read the last page.

Highly recommended to everyone. Once again many thanks to Jaya, Tarinee, and Smitha for recommending this gem to me.

This was probably my least favorite Michael Crichton book.

Though based on a real crime, this book is truly fascinating to read and unputdownable!

The way in which one man, Edward Pierce, planned and carried out a daring gold heist from a seemingly impenetrable railway carriage is incredible the way it is told here.

Pierce's target was the gold bullion that was sent as payment for troops engaged in the Crimean war in France. By all accounts, this gold was transported in tamper proof safes with several more safeguards and the thought of all of these being breached was impossible. However, Pierce did get through them all and in spectacular fashion.

From figuring out the make and type of the safes to the number and location of its keys to actually procuring the keys, Pierce displayed real ingenuity, not the least being the way he found people to accomplish tasks at every stage and thus formed a team of conspirators.

Even more astounding was the way he solved problems in his plan that he perceived and the quickness with which he adapted to issues he did not or could not know about. He found such daring solutions that evoke a reluctant appreciation for the man and his calm demeanor.

As the day of the actual robbery,22nd May 1855, came near, Pierce was ready for action, even throwing in some red herrings to send Scotland Yard off on a wild goose chase.

The norms and practices of Victorian England that influenced and aided him in perfectly carrying out his mission are very interesting to read about. Including them was a nice touch especially as the author has poked fun at the haughtiness of the authorities who failed to even guess at what was actually happening under their very noses.

The actual robbery itself reads like a movie scene; in fact, the thrill is more than those we may have seen on screen precisely because there were no rehearsals and no safety nets to fall back on and everything was timed down to the second. There were some heart in the mouth moments even allowing for dramatisation in the telling but then that's acceptable! Pierce had the kind of quick thinking brain that made him a dangerous opponent and the police turned out to be no match for him.

Pierce as he is portrayed here, actually evokes a great deal of grudging admiration for what he achieved with only his smart brain and willingness to take risks without any of the tools and technology we have today and this book turned out to be a grand adventure all the way! Definitely a very good read for true crime and historical fiction fans!

I just completed one of the most enjoyable reading experiences of my entire life. I rarely...rarely give a work of literature five stars. Unlike many Goodreads’ reviewers, I do not take five stars lightly. Five stars demands perfection in every way, and perfection is how I judge The Great Train Robbery.
I am ashamed that as a professor of British Literature, I had never heard of this monumental event in Victorian history. Perhaps it has eluded me because it serves as an embarrassment to the English. I’ve never come across mention of it in any British Literature textbook, which I find more than a bit curious. In any event, the robbery occurred, and what a robbery it was. In this novel, Crichton (who I am increasingly impressed with) provides us not only a wonderful narrative of every single event leading up to, during, and following this crime, but he takes advantage of the narrative events to provide us a keen insight into Victorian life, from every angle and viewpoint, and I enjoyed this aspect of the novel almost as much as the story of the robbery itself.
Edward Pierce was the mastermind behind the theft of 12,000 English pounds back in 1852 (or so). The crime truly was in many ways the crime of the century. Pierce faced insurmountable odds to pull off this caper, and the fact that this is a story of real life—to consider that this actually happened, puts most narrative fiction to shame. One simply can’t conceive of a more perfect criminal plan and caper if one tried. What I also just love about this story is that while Pierce is the criminal, we actually root for him! I might even say “we” root for him. He’s a deliciously likable criminal, and I can’t say I thought I’d ever admit that about ANY criminal.
I won’t comment a bit on how this story ends. All I will say is that rarely have I completed a novel with this big of a smile on my face. That is what great literature should do for us...take us out of our miserable reality and into the world of a fantasy and unbelief. The fact that this fantasy was a historical reality simply boggles my mind. It goes without say, I highly recommend that every person on the planet read this novel. You won’t soon forget it.

I first read this in high school and enjoyed it. I just re-read it and think it might be my favorite of all of Crichton's books. It has a great blend of historical fiction, nonfiction, and the author's natural ability to provide a sense of excitement and adventure. Highly recommended even if you typically only enjoy Crichton's science fiction.

Michael Crichton has another side it seems, that of the detective historian. The Great Train Robbery is Crichton’s retelling of a famous train robbery in mid-19th century Victorian England and the enigmatic mastermind behind it, William Pierce.

In telling us this tale, Crichton takes us on a tour of Victorian England and its’ culture and morals. It is educational and compelling and paints a vivid Dickens-like picture of the London underworld, full of British criminal slang and flavor. The actual train robbery, an English Ocean’s 11-type heist, is brilliant, with its' intricate setup and last minute snafus. This book is a joy to read, or to listen to in my case, as Michael Kitchen absolutely nails the voicing in the audiobook version. 5 cracking stars.

This is a novel written to make it look more like literary nonfiction, but make no mistake, it's complete and utter fiction as far as the story is concerned. I have read my fair share of novels like this before, so there was no novelty for me there, but perhaps when he first wrote it it was less common, I really couldn't say. Most of the novel is about the planning and executing--I know you'll be shocked--a train robbery that was considered impossible to do.

I neither loved nor hated this novel which is written to make it look more like nonfiction than fiction. It isn't completely believable, but there were a number of fairly believable elements to it as well as some colourful characters. The problem for Crichton isn't his writing so much but that that I didn't read this when I was a teen and many of these types of characters were still fairly new for me. I have only read one other book of his and have no interest in books like Jurassic Park.

Mostly very interesting and enjoyable but again, was bored to tears with a few of the details about this place or that incident. Some of which really had nothing to do with the story itself and sounded more braggadocios.
However the story itself was fascinating and kept me interested in what the outcome would be.

Although "The Great Train Robbery" was a real event, I had no idea what it was all about. Sure, I had heard about it (i.e., I knew its name) and was aware that Crichton had written a book (still quite popular) about the theft and that it even inspired a movie of the same name starring Sean Connery.

And after reading this book, I think that being totally ignorant about the event highly paid-off as I enjoyed the book way much more than I had anticipated. It really felt as if the movie "Ocean's Eleven" was being reenacted in the different settings of Victorian London.

And I would advise you do the same if you are as ignorant as me (at least as far as "The Great Train Robbery" is concerned) - don't click on any links on the internet which might summarize the event for you, don't even read the blurb on this site or even on the book.

Buy/check out this book and just read the damn thing and watch the movie too (which I am going to do soon).

P.S. - I have to admit, this was so entertaining that I promptly bought Signal Red too (another train heist book based on true events).

Reflecting on my journey, albeit brief, with Crichton is interesting. Although I understand why I only rated "The Terminal Man" several months ago 3 stars - a round down from 3.5, if I recall correctly - after reading "The Great Train Robbery" I suddenly see the former as a 4 star while this is more solidly a 3 star.

Not to disparage "The Great Train Robbery" by the way; it is certainly an entertaining and fun book, and it is a fundamentally interesting tale worth telling. Crichton's telling of it is just hampered a little bit more than needed in a couple of notable ways: those being context and more-or-less irrelevant scenes and/or information. Neither of these are BIG issues, but do just barely enough to harm the intrigue of the heist to be just as memorable…which I don’t think is or should be the takeaway from a novel based on the titular Great Train Robbery.


Which I guess is where we should start. “The Great Train Robbery” is not a nonfiction, historical recounting of what happened. It is a novel, which changes names of some persons involved and may not accurately represent everything from which the information was obtained. The novel is said in the Introduction to be based on the court hearings and trials of Pierce and Agar and the guard that helped them commit their crime. In addition, some context of the events that happened as well as certain persons or locations are thrown in throughout, and certain quotes from the court hearings are included to ground the novel in its setting and story, but perhaps a bit more than they should be for a novel on the topic, in my opinion - to the point that some scenes are not entirely necessary (or at least a bit long in the tooth) for the events they build-up to, such as Pierce’s coming into acquaintance with those who would reveal the location of the first of the keys he needed, and other events seem missing from the narrative where they could be useful or interesting, such as actual scenes of the trial at the end.

What this means is that ¾ of the book is just the build-up to the event. That proportion isn’t awful, to be fair, but I would’ve preferred maybe ⅔ of that, and more time spent on the execution of the crime itself and the aftermath. (The crime itself, in its defense, is thrilling. Much of the set-up is strangely thrilling as well, but the actual execution is an absolute blast after such a detailed set-up to it. The aftermath however seemed essentially an afterthought, which kind of disappointed me.)


The main complaint I have with “The Great Train Robbery”, however, is in the context Crichton adds over the course of the novel. As I briefly mentioned earlier, sometimes he gets a little too excited about explaining certain minor details for set-dressing…which is cool at first, but plenty of times it feels unnecessary. In the aftermath, context about Britain’s relations with India at the time gets included - a good few pages of it, out of like 20 pages dedicated to the never-fully-resolved robbery, in fact. This and several other moments of page-long details about things that don’t matter hurt the pacing, even in such a short book filled with such short chapters.

On a related note, while I appreciate the authenticity of the language, the English slang - especially that which I assume is specific to this time period - is a little over the top, or at least not the most effectively used. Sometimes it feels Crichton uses it because it seems appropriate rather than because it’s effective. If this were a nonfiction account I would 100% forgive this, but for the purposes of the novel, I don’t feel it was necessary outside of dialogue. As such, I don’t think I’d recommend any Americans to audiobook this, because certain slang or terms with different meanings could make portions of the book very confusing.


But don’t let these criticisms dampen the quality of the tale. The depiction of various characters is memorable and effective; the steps taken in the set-up - and not just the ultimate robbery itself - is great fun to follow and “learn” about; the writing is simple and easy to follow (slang notwithstanding). If you want a solid tale and you’ve read and enjoyed Crichton before, “The Great Train Robbery” will not disappoint you, even if its not the most exceptional book I’ve read all year.

It is my least favorite of the admittedly few Crichton I’ve read up to this point, but it’s hard to be actually disappointed by one of his books. They’re all thoroughly solid, and sometimes that’s all you need.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Great read

Actually a really interesting book. I loved learning more about popular culture in the Victorian Era. Also, love the mastermind of this robbery. I know that sounds wrong, but he was so cool. The trial and the aftermath was great!