The Great Train Robbery

I have finally finished reading Michael Crichton's bestseller The Great Train Robbery last night. Stuck in my mind: The novel is based on  the robbery that took place during a train and sea journey from London to Paris on May 15, 1855. The film adaptation is starred by no other than Sean Connery. There are lots of videos on YouTube that has the title The Great Train Robbery. Although the novel was based from real events, Crichton embellished it with his great narration with his cocktail of historical facts and creative creation of storytelling. 

Michael Crichton is famous for his literary works like Jurassic Park and Disclosure.

Going back to the novel, it is a richly flavored Victorian era with stuffed with essays and digresions on trains, slang, technology, burial customs, criminals and the Scotland Yard circa mid-19th century. Oh you'll love the slang Crichton used in the story and somehow you'll feel like you are reading the writings of Anthony Burgess in his banned novel Clockwork Orange and J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye.

Here's one conversation between Edgar Pierce (our main man) and his accomplice  Agar who is a skilled screwsman :

"The day of what?" Agar persisted.  "The day of reckoning," Pierce said. "You're a tight one," Agar said. And then he added, "Wasn't that Teddy Burke trying a pull?" "Who's Teddy Burke?" Pierce said. "A swell, works the Strand?" "I wouldn't know," Pierce said, and the two men left the building rooftop. "Cor, you're a tight one,"  Agar said again. "That was Teddy Burke." Pierce just smiled.

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So what's the pull?, A tight one? Is there a dough for me here? Of course it intrigued me more when I got to the part where they were doing the minor pulls  just so the force won't detect what they're up to. You have to read the novel yourself to know exactly what I'm saying here. It's kind'a John Doe-ish and Jane Doe-ish if you won't.

Finally, let me show a video clip from the movie starring Sean Connery Donald Sutherland. Turner Classic Movies has a database of films from the time your mom and dad were still being conceived. Click here.