The 2018 Reading Challenge - #4 - A Book Involving a Heist
Hello bookworms :)
Are you having a good time? How is your reading challenge going?
I am starting...already...to struggle a little to be honest...
Today I have my choice for the catogry - A Book Involving a Heist
for you and I chose -
The Great Train Robbery
by Michael Crichton
The Great Train Robbery is a bestselling 1975 historical novel written by Michael Crichton. Originally published in the USA by Alfred A. Knopf. It is the story of the Great Gold Robbery of 1855, a massive gold heist, which takes place on a train travelling through Victorian-era England on 22 May 1855.
Again a little summary from goodreads:
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"Lavish wealth and appalling poverty live side by side in Victorian London -- and Edward Pierce easily navigates both worlds. Rich, handsome, and ingenious, he charms the city's most prominent citizens even as he plots the crime of his century, the daring theft of a fortune in gold. But even Pierce could not predict the consequences of an extraordinary robbery that targets the pride of England's industrial era: the mighty steam locomotive.
Based on remarkable fact, and alive with the gripping suspense, surprise, and authenticity that are his trademarks, Michael Crichton's classic adventure is a breathtaking thrill-ride that races along tracks of steel at breakneck speed."
*
I´ll give it a 8 out of 10
I love the style of writing in this book ^^
Also I did really not know he also wrote Jurassic Park or even that there was a book...shame on me...never knew and now I want to read it ;)
I never read anything by Michael Crichton before and therefor I have no idea how good this book is in comparison to his other works but I read often that this is one of his best works and I can say that I enjoyed reading it.
It is a documentary of that heist and along with it you get the grand tour of the criminal underworld.
I learned all about it all the way from rogues to pogues and all about this long and carefully planned crime. Edward Pierce, the "putter-up," and his gang Robert Agar, his "screwsman", Clean Willy, the snakesman, Barlow, Miss Miriam and the railway guard Burgess along with many other witting and unwitting accomplices....all the characters in the story more or less part of the crime its implementation and prevention?! ;)
200 pages planning the robbery, 22 actually pulling it off, and a mere 44 to wrap it up, which seems to be just about the right mix ^^ and eve tho there might be a few tiny plot holes in it, its so nice to read if you get yourself into it and just go along.
For a little more inspiration and some alternatives ^^
(all summaries are from goodreads and easily found when searching for the title):
Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts by Julian Rubinstein
Elmore Leonard meets Franz Kafka in the wild, improbably true story of the legendary outlaw of Budapest. Attila Ambrus was a gentleman thief, a sort of Cary Grant--if only Grant came from Transylvania and was a terrible professional hockey goalkeeper. During the 1990s, while playing for the biggest hockey team in Budapest, Ambrus took up bank robbery to make ends meet. Arrayed against him was perhaps the most incompetent team of crime investigators the Eastern Bloc had ever seen: a robbery chief who had learned how to be a detective by watching dubbed Columbo episodes; a forensics man who wore top hat and tails on the job; and a driver so inept he was known only by a Hungarian word that translates to Mound of Ass-Head. Ballad of the Whiskey Robber is the completely bizarre and hysterical story of the crime spree that made a nobody into a somebody, and told a forlorn nation that sometimes the brightest stars come from the blackest holes. Julian Rubinstein's bizarre crime story is so odd and so compelling that it is completely irresistible.
Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan
The men wear masks. Their guns are drawn on the bank manager. She nervously recites the alarm code, and the tumblers within the huge vault fall. The timing and execution are brilliant. It could be the perfect heist. But as the huge sum of cash is stolen, so too is one man's heart -- and that man is the Prince of Thieves...
Chuck Hogan's brash tale of four men -- thieves, rivals, friends -- being hunted through the streets of Boston by a tenacious FBI agent, and the woman who may destroy them all, is a spectacular, stylish, heart-pounding thriller.
The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes
The most powerful man in the republic framed her, threw her in prison, and stole a priceless elven manuscript from her family. With the help of a crack team that includes an illusionist, a unicorn, a death priestess, a talking warhammer, and a lad with a prophetic birthmark, Loch must find a way into the floating fortress of Heaven's Spire–and get past the magic-hunting golems and infernal sorcerers standing between her and the vault that holds her family's treasure. It'd be tricky enough without the military coup and unfolding of an ancient evil prophecy–but now the determined and honourable Justicar Pyvic has been assigned to take her in. But hey, every plan has a few hitches.
Some more inspiration?
Which book did you choose for this category?
Did you read The Great Train Robbery?
This is actually the first time I ever read a book just for it having a heist in the plot ^^
With lots of love
♥♥♥
Verena
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