quite accurate. The characters' names are changed in the novel; for example, the main protagonist William Pierce is changed to Edward Pierce and Edward Agar to Robert Agar. Crichton stated that he did not want to be constrained by what actually happened. The true story of the robbery can be found in David C. Hanrahan's book The First Great Train Robbery. Reception The New York Times called it "Mr Crichton's best thriller to date." The Los Angeles Times described it as "marvellous fun." The book was one of the biggest best selling novels in the US in 1975. Three audiobook versions have been released: an abridged version read by Michael Cumpsty released on audio cassette in 1996 by Random House (). two unabridged versions on CD, one read by Simon Prebble and released by Recorded Books, LLC in 2000 () and one read by Michael Kitchen and released by Brilliance Audio in 2015 (). Film adaptation The novel was later made into a 1978 film entitled The First Great Train Robbery directed by Crichton starring Sean Connery as Pierce, Donald Sutherland as Agar and Lesley-Anne Down as Miriam. Unlike the real incident, only Pierce is captured and tried and all of the protagonists are seen to escape to freedom after the trial. The film was nominated for Best Cinematography Award for the British Society of Cinematographers, and the film was also nominated for Best Motion Picture by the Edgar Allan Poe award by the Mystery Writers Association of America. The film score by Jerry Goldsmith was short, but a favourite in the composer's repertoire and an extended version of the music was released in 2004. References 1975 American novels American crime novels American novels adapted into films Novels by Michael Crichton Alfred A. Knopf books Fiction set in 1855 Novels set in London Novels set on trains ja:大列車強盗