‘Train’ Follows Delightfully Twisted Track

Nineteenth-century London is the backdrop of Michael Crichton’s novel “The Great Train Robbery.” To the Englishman, the year 1854 is one of optimism: Great Britain is the world’s wealthiest country and London its crowning city. The railroad, the world’s foremost symbol of progress, had revolutionized transportation and travel.

The advancement of man toward a utopian society seemed inevitable until, in a strange twist of fate, the railroad provided means for the most outrageous crime of the century.

Mingled with London’s mansions, gardens and glass palaces are the dark counterparts of the city’s dazzling wealth: the slums of overcrowded tenements and the taverns and pubs, the dark, smoky dens of the underworld.

Moving among these contrasting worlds with chameleonic talent is a wealthy gentleman named Edward Pierce, the unlikely mastermind behind the most intricate plot ever to shock Victorian England.

Each month, a shipment of gold is loaded aboard the South Eastern Railway, to be carried across England and later carried overseas. Storage of the cargo in impregnable iron safes and the appointment of armed guards, along with other necessary precautions, renders theft virtually impossible. London, however, had apparently never seen the likes of Edward Pierce.

From the introductory scene to the astonishing finale, Crichton has his audience hooked as he reveals how Pierce, ruthless and brilliant, beats the most overwhelming odds. The fast-paced plot, with all its jagged twists and turns, has the feel of a “Sting”-type movie, but surprisingly is based on real events. With humor and deft pacing, Crichton takes readers for an entertaining ride, and before long has us rooting for the villain.