Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Hurtles along like a runaway express train. Harrowing, terrifying, and so, so good."
-BUSINESS WEEK

"This one rates all the adjectives... grippingly suspenseful, chillingly real."
-NEWSWEEK

"A cliff-hanger...fast-moving and believable."
-NEW YORKER

"Enthralling."
-LIBRARY JOURNAL --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Description

Four men seize a New York City subway train and hold its passengers hostage. Their escape would seem inconceivable. Only one thing is certain: they aren't stopping for anything. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Amereon Limited (June 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0884116492
• ISBN-13: 978-0884116493
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,590,414 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and Suspenseful A great book, June 19, 2000

By	jojo mahoney (Santiago, Chile (at the Salinto Caliente, uh, towers)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three (Hardcover)

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, although it has a confusing and long title is one of the best books I've ever read. The plot is simple: Four desperate men hijack a subway train and hold sixteen people hostage for $1 million. If they do not have their money by the designated time they will beging to kill hostages. This book reads fast with short sections that describe the thoughts and actions of individual characters. The highly detailed novel points out the flaws of the individuals hijacking the train, and how this is a very desperate but well planned attempt to get money. Tension builds as the hijackers have quarrels amongst themselves, and with the passengers. One may ask, How do they expect to get off of a subway train and get away? Well they do, at least some of them. The ending is kind of a letdown since I found myself cheering the hijackers on in a way, but it still fits the book and the character very nicely. If you are looking for a good hostage/terrorist story, this is the best of the bunch

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Showing its age, June 24, 2009

By	W. Taylor "Loves to read" (New Zealand) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (Paperback)

One of the more interesting things while reading this book was how people thought and reacted before terrorism became something we all now live with. The increased security and surveillance we now accept as the norm would have been tossed out as a crazy idea by the characters of the book.

I had read the book many years ago and remembered it as enjoyable and did enjoy reading it again, it is an easy read but not a book you can't put down.

3.0 out of 5 stars A train can be a scary place for a hijacking, September 28, 2009

By	Denzel Lockheart "Up the Irons" (Edmonton, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (Paperback)

IMAGINE: You are on a train to work one day, you know, just your usual, typical day. All of a sudden, three men who would not look like terrorsts take over, stop the train, and hold everyone on the train Hostage. If a ridiculous amount of money is not delivered to them in 90 minutes, every minute after that they kill someone. That would suck being on that train, would it?

I didn't even know this was a book until back in May, when the movie was to be released next month. I saw the trailer and it looked quite cool, something worth watching in the theater on A Saturday afternoon. I eventually did see the movie, but before I did I decided I would read the book after seeing it on a shelf in the bookstore.

This is not a bad book. It has an interesting concept behind it, though nothing original- it has been done before. It's your typical terrorist suspense novel, and has a lot of suspense in it. It also provides some good insight into the characters, especially Ryder. He's a cool character, and there seems to be quite a lot going on surrounding him.

Unfortunately this book suffers from being boring in a lot of places. While I like the flashbacks, there seems to be a bit too many of them- and half of them are too long. And the dialogue was ridiculous in places too ("I hope my c--- smells pretty for you"?????). Also, Godey seems to go on and on forever about one thing too. What was with the whole thing about Ryder's past? That was... in a word... unnecessary.

In short, It's not a bad book, and it's worth it for a rainy day crime read.