Shychipmunk reviewed The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton
Review of 'The Great Train Robbery' on 'Storygraph'
4 stars
While this is an enticing story full of twists and turns and daring subterfuge and historical details, I think I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't already been familiar with the /actual/ Great Train Robbery, which bears very little similarity to the story described here except in high level details, which led me to wonder about the truth of all the rest of the so-called historical details. I agree with the comment Greg made on the Futility Closet podcast episode about the Great Train Robbery questioning why Chrichton didn't use the real story as the basis for the novel because that's just as much of a thriller.
While this is an enticing story full of twists and turns and daring subterfuge and historical details, I think I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't already been familiar with the /actual/ Great Train Robbery, which bears very little similarity to the story described here except in high level details, which led me to wonder about the truth of all the rest of the so-called historical details. I agree with the comment Greg made on the Futility Closet podcast episode about the Great Train Robbery questioning why Chrichton didn't use the real story as the basis for the novel because that's just as much of a thriller.
