Thom reviewed The great train robbery by Michael Crichton
Review of 'The great train robbery' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This 1975 best seller is an excellent historical novel of a most famous heist, drawn from court transcripts. The author gives us not just the heist but also describes London (and her relations) in 1855, peppered with a dose of Victorian criminal slang.
The majority of chapters are the planning and preparation, many months of work. The heist itself and aftermath are quickly told, but the plot is not without twists for those who don't know the details. I greatly enjoyed this trip through Victorian London.
After reading the wikipedia article, I see that Crichton's account was, in their words, "highly fictionalized". I also somehow missed that this book had been turned into a movie, and will add it to my ever growing list of films to see.