The Great Train Robbery : A Novel

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Summary: It's a Novel...it's a Resource book!
Review: This novel occasionally gets top heavy with details of life in Victorian England. Crichton is a master at educating the reader while propeling the plot forward. Information that is essiential to understanding the events is presented very matter-of-factly, only to be followed by another shot of pure plot adrenaline. A master scheme is brought boldly into play and one wonders if this "flash pull" will actually take place. I read this book when it was first written, and found it just as refreshing when I re-read it this week. I'm not one to read a book more than once, but this one was worth it.

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Summary: A "splendid" read
Review: As other readers pointed out already, it's fun to read a victorian novel from the guy of JURASSIC PARK, E.R. and, eh, TWISTER. But, unlike the script for TWISTER, this novel is very well done. The victorian time comes to life before your eyes, and you feel that Mr. Crichton did a lot of research for this novel - you even learn a lot about the victorian times here. Most important: After a slow start, this becomes a very entertaining novel, humorous, clever and fast-paced. p.s.: Crichton scripted and direted the film-version of this novel himself and it is also well done; very faithful to the book and also as entertaining

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Summary: Dont die without having read this excellent book.
Review: Using wit and personal experiences, CRICHTON has written this book in such an uncanny way that once have picked it up you can't put it down until you have finished. When you get to the last pages of the book you are excited, captured by the context of the conclusion and also you feel a sense of loss and sadness as you realise the time spent reading the book wasnt enough and feel an ongoing urge to pick it up and read it again

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Summary: Vintage Crichton - story plus educational material
Review: I have read lots of Crichton - liked some, not others. I sought this out in my friendly library and was glad I did. He tells a good story while at the same time informing you of lots of Victorian England facts. It's a short read and I never lost interest even when detailing the cultural intricacies of English society. Occasionally I did have to slow my reading speed down as he presented dialog in the English cockney vernacular. The author did explain words that you may never have heard before, nor will again

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Summary: GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY is a good look at a historical event!
Review: THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY is indeed what you'd call a good book. It is full of interesting nineteenth-century facts that show Crichton researched the topic thoroughly. It is a book that takes the reader into a world only imagined by people that don't know much about the 1800's

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Summary: Students learn cultural history the easy way.
Review: High school students DO read; it's just that they need to be interested, and Michael Crichton is one author who interests them. Because of popular shows such as E.R. and Jurassic Park, his name is familiar, and they know he isn't dull, so, when studying the Victorian Period, why not put Crichton right up there with Dickens? The Great Train Robbery, in addition to being a mental thriller, gives students insight into the Industrial Revolution and its effects on the city: from crime to the Crystal Palace, it's all there in an easy-to-read, action-packed paperback. English and history teachers throughout the country would do well to add this piece of historical fiction to their required reading list

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Summary: starts boring, ends great
Review: The last of MC's books I've read, because I tried reading it before, but the old Victorian time setting and boring start turned me off. But after several chapters, the story gets moving, and it's even rather humorous. Quite different from rest of MC's novels, but a "you'll be glad you read it."

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Summary: Realistic story of a victorian train robbery
Review: Crichton does a masterful job in telling the story of some men brought together for one reason... To rob a train. No one else could do a better job then Crichton even though t his is off his beaten path. The story focus is on the planing of this hiest and then all the bugs and glitches that occur and how they finaly come through. But the story's best attribute is the true to life dictation of victorian life. He accomplished this by using true to life description and using victorian slang. This book is well worth sitting down and spending the time reading it.

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Summary: A masterful true crime story set in Victorian times.
Review: Crichton shows his highest writing skill in this story of a robbery in Victorian times. With details of months of planning, carefully staged break-ins (and break-outs), faked romances and faked deaths, climbing of buildings, and walking on moving trains, this story would be a huge credit to Crichton's inventiveness, but it's all true. You'll be astounded at the uses made of dead cats, country rats, chimney sweeps and belled coffins, and you'll delight in the telling of the story in full Victorian slang. By the end, you'll wish you had been there to be a part of it all.

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Summary: A masterpiece
Review: This book is fabulous. Its a very intruiging look at the master plan behind one of the greatest robberies of all time. This book doesnt just describe the robbery, it describes the months of planning and preparing that went into it. Its very interesting to see just how brilliant Peirce really is. If u havent read this book u really should.