thegreattrainrobbery

Judge A Book By Its Cover

Book Reviews and Synopses

The Great Train Robbery

Michael Crichton

Crichton, Michael. The Great Train Robbery. The Ballantine Publishing Group. New York, New York. 1975.

The Great Train Robbery, by Michael Crichton, author of Timeline, is a fantastic piece of literature. It combines true events with fictional conversations in a stunning way that makes the book seem as if it all really happened. The Great Train Robbery is a New York Times Bestseller, and for good reason.

The Great Train Robbery is set in the 1800’s when Billy the Kid was alive. It is about his most daring exploit and tells the story about the planning and execution of the job through Billy’s fictional words. It was in the height of summer when Billy came up with the idea of robbing The Express. His gang was getting lax, he decided, and no one expected any robbery in the middle of summer with the heat reaching unbearable numbers.

He planned it to a T with all the necessary things in place, but many problems and an uncooperative gang made his progress slow and painful. For one, the mail coach was guarded heavily and any attempt to take it was likely to end in failure. He bypassed the problem with difficult bribes and sometimes murder of veterans. He picked the best place to do it and made all the necessary strategic arrangements. The opposition would be fierce to their attempt on the mail coach, but his gang might be able to do it, if they would just cooperate. They were on the brink of mutiny and nothing could stop them from leaving Billy. Nothing but the Kid saving the life of the most loved gang member. This swayed circumstances so that he could proceed with the robbery.

On the day of the robbery, unforeseen problems arose and had to be dealt with quickly. Everything seemed to be collapsing but then the problem was resolved with seconds to spare and the robbery was pulled off successfully. Billy reached infamy and held onto it tightly even after he died.

The Great Train Robbery has inspired the imaginations of readers everywhere. Anyone who reads this book will be charmed into its story and will soon be hoping fervently that for once the bad guy wins out. The New York Times certainly did not error when they made it a bestseller.

4.8 out of 5 stars.

Contributed by D. Ozesmi

May 17th, 2011