Part One was mildly interesting. One is always curious to learn how a particularly complicated operation is carried out. As to the solving of the crime in Part Two, I was expecting Tommy Butler to be a detective. He wasn't. He was basically a dour, obsessive project manager who had little or no special insight into who the perps might be. He simply put together a team of men who had a lot of connections in the underworld plus one competent forensic expert, and flogged them until they brought him the names of the gang members. Then Butler would drive somewhere in his special car, arrest the unlucky chump and remove one more photo from the board. I suppose that's how the investigation was in fact carried out, but there was something unsatisfying about the whole episode. Strip out the period clothing, cars and music and what you're left with is a fairly bland and uninteresting narrative.
Review of The Great Train Robbery
