The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton

I have to admit, I should have started reading Crichton earlier. This is my first book of him, I am thoroughly impressed by the immersion it offers. Paradoxically this book is quite an entertainer as well as educates at various levels, which is what I do not seek in my books. I like horror fiction, however if you want a page turner that never bores and entertains throughout then this is your book. What I like is the fact that this has been very well researched and structured in way, you don't feel like skipping pages out of curiosity, you tend to enjoy your way through this book.
The highlights of the book are definitely the plot, Loosely based on a true story, characters have been given the right treatment, the setting is perfect, so much Victorian English slang just went above my head, for example I didn't know that a policemen was called a crusher, snakesman means an accomplice in the robbery who is adept at crawling tight spaces. Man the slang is so in your face, you feel like starting a new trend by learning it all and starting to use it.
The fact that the robbers are caught but the loot never recovered and then they escaped, was cool. Also the briefings on various historical events like the 1857 revolt in India and the Crimean war were very informative. Why did I not read this, earlier? What really drew me in was the discussion earlier in the book about the nature of criminals and the general assumption that mostly a criminal has to be someone who was troubled as a child or someone from lower classes, was interesting. Victorian England amazes me and it is definitely dripping from every page of this book.
Recently Michael Crichton passed away, actually on November 4 2008.
Even though the plot for the book was a true event, it was never recorded as to what happened to Pierce and his accomplices. The book makes me wanna believe that they did escape after all.