The Great Train Robbery : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Crichton's Best
Review: The Great Train Robbery is my favorite book.

Rating:
Summary: A Captivating Book
Review: The only way a book like this can be written is by sheer skill and experience. Michael Crichton has both of these and proves that in this book. There has never been an author so adept at captivating readers and transporting them to another time. I have not yet found an equal to this book.

Rating:
Summary: A feast
Review: Captivating plot, lots of historical detail, very exciting. Based on a true story. This is one of Crichton's best book. When anyone asks me about a good book, I always tell them about this one first.

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Summary: Cheer for the bad guys, in this one your part of the gang!
Review: A great novel, Crichton has you enjoying the characters as much as the plot. Why couldn't the characters in his other novels be as intriguing? The reader feels as if he or she is in on the plot throughout the story. Everything comes together so perfectly in this novel. It puts forth such an otherworldly feel of 19th century London that makes the reader feel like a familiar of the place.

Rating:
Summary: Puts you on the pulse of 19th Century London
Review: Fascinating, and intriguing. I was inspired to read this book after watching the movie adaptation which did not all together disappoint. I was howevor swept away with the novel as it literally placed you into the reality of Victorian London. The novel provides tons of what I felt was fascinating anecdotal material. A must read.

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Summary: It's the great train books
Review: One of Michael Crichton first and best novels. You cheer the bad guys more then the cops. It feels like your one of the members of the gang. And when you thank that it won't work...It does

Rating:
Summary: Crichton's very best book and one of my all-time favorites.
Review: This book was excellent. Crichton had to do tons of research to weave together such a taught and believable tale. Read it.

Rating:
Summary: A gem if ever there was one
Review: Unlike the trash that Crichton produced later in his career (Jurassic Park, Lost Worlds, Disclosure) which required little imagination and less thought, The Great Train Robbery demands both, not only of the author but also of the reader. Removing oneself to the time and idiom of Victorian England is a serious exercise in mental acuity, but one well worth the effort. Crime has become so mechanical in our era, it is most fascinating to observe the brains behind a criminal syndicate actually having to use intelligence rather than an Uzi to accomplish his fell purpose. These are fascinating felons whom you rather hope will succeed because they put so much brainpower and effort into their felonious scheme. This book shows how well Crichton can develop a complicated plot. Too bad he lost or abandoned these skills in the pathetic prose that dominates his latter day efforts.

Rating:
Summary: Perhaps Crichton's greatest work
Review: This is a solid novel, with rich detail, colorful detail. The characters are fully developed--which is rare in Crichton novels--and really draws the reader into the book. I orginally picked up the book when I was ten years old and couldn't read through it--I thought at the time that it was an actual event and that I was reading a history text! Ouch! I picked it back up a couple of years ago and was stunned by it's quality. By far this is MC's best work. He obviously researches his topics ad nauseum before writing each novel but no where else does his research pay-off like it does in The Great Train Robbery. You can almost hear each of the characters speaking directly to you, complete in their tonality and Victorian flare. This is a must read for any novel reader.

Rating:
Summary: Crime the way it was meant to be
Review: The Great Train Robbery was recommended to me by a friend who read the book (I was reading all of Crichton's books anyway, so I decided to put the others on hold and read this first) and I positively loved it! It was wonderfully written, and the story was magnificent! Although it is not Crichton's best (Sphere, Jurassic Park) it definately deserves the 9 I gave it.