#150 in Historical fiction
The Great Train Robbery
- 317
- Pages
- about 6 h
- Reading time
Affiliate link: buying through it supports BookRank at no extra cost to you.
Our view
Crichton rebuilds the gold robbery of 1855 in “The Great Train Robbery” as a Victorian heist story grounded in fact. Some readers enjoy it chiefly for its explanations of how the period’s technology and society worked and for its eye for human behaviour. Others find it slow to take hold, with a long approach to a robbery that is over in a few pages. It suits readers who want history with their crime.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Great Train Robbery is a best-selling 1975 historical novel written by Michael Crichton, his third novel under his own name and his thirteenth novel overall. Originally published in the US by Alfred A. Knopf, it was later published by Avon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. The novel tells the story of the Great Gold Robbery of 1855, a massive gold heist that takes place on a train travelling through Victorian-era England on 22 May 1855. Most of the book takes place in London. A 1978 film adaptation was written and directed by Crichton.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.6 across 149 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 50% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Historical fiction average of 8.0. That is how 7.8 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.6 | 16 | 11% |
| Hardcover | 7.6 | 133 | 89% |
Frequently asked
How long is The Great Train Robbery?
It has 317 pages — shorter than 80% of the ranked books in Historical fiction.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Historical fiction — with scores between 7.7 and 7.9, closest to this book.
