Book Description

A fictional retelling of the story behind the great train robbery, providing a sinister portrayal of the loyalties and fear operating within criminal and police circles in the sixties. If you thought the great train robbers were unlucky to get caught, you don’t know half the story... In the early hours of the 8th August 1963, several men hold up a GPO mail train in rural Buckinghamshire. Two and a half million pounds (equivalent to over £45 million today) is snatched from under the noses of the GPO, the police and the establishment. This creates a gang of heroes who the public fall in love with; some of whom, like Ronnie Biggs, become a part of British folklore. But behind the bravado lays a darker story; one of greed, betrayal, and both thieves and police turning on each other. Eddie Maloney, an IRA fundraiser, and Tommy Lavery, a northern crime boss, know who the robbers are and where they live, because they hired them for the job. The men traditionally seen as ‘Robin Hoods’ were set up and all, with the exception of Biggs, are brought to justice – unsurprising, given that Maloney and Lavery reach deep inside the investigating Flying Squad. There is a reason that most of the money from the robbery was never recovered – the two men at the top systematically robbed and cheated the men who did the dirty work. In the aftermath, will there be honour between the two masterminds of the operation – the two men who were never caught? There have been some attempts to catalogue the story of the great train robbery in the past, almost all from a factual perspective, looking at both the thieves and police. This fictionalised account adds a fascinating twist to the story and will appeal to lovers of thrillers – especially crime thrillers – and those interested in true crime.