Crime does pay. At least for a while. You’ll see that quickly in these nine compelling and true stories of brilliant plans and guile. The thieves awaiting you seem to have it all. They are clever, cool, and determined with icy resolve. It took a lot of guts and nerves of steel to do what they did and not fold under the pressure. After all, if those hard-wrought plans had failed, they would have had plenty of time to think about what went wrong in prison. Hijack an airplane, demand a ransom and two parachutes, then disappear? Invent a device that allows you to record the combination of any bank vault, then break into bank vaults twice? Steal from a secret mob depository run by a boss known for his brutality? Rob a small-town bank in midday and ride off without a second thought? Piece of cake. The Greatest Heists Stories Ever Told will allow readers to appreciate the efforts that go into a truly magnificent heist. It is a celebration of stunning, well-planned and audacious capers that left police and armies of investigators looking for answers and scratching their heads. Among the stories included are: The Lufthansa Heist The Northfield Bank Robbery The Last Good Heist Hijack! DB Cooper’s Great Escape and many others

トム・マッカーシーが描くのは、犯罪という名の「知性の極致」です。本書は単なる事件記録を超え、冷徹な決断力を持つ人間たちが、いかに不可能を可能にしたかという美学を浮き彫りにします。周到な計画と大胆な実行、その狭間で揺れ動く極限の緊張感こそが、読者を惹きつけてやまない文学的見どころです。 そこに宿るテーマは、社会への「個の反逆」です。クーパー等の伝説をスリル溢れる筆致で再構築し、権威を出し抜く根源的な興奮を喚起させます。失敗すれば即、奈落。その極限状態で放たれる人間の強烈な煌めきを鮮やかに切り取った、極上の人間ドラマをぜひ堪能してください。