The Taking of Pelham One Two Three

Zusatztext "Chillingly real."-- Houston Chronicle "A cliff-hanger."-- The New Yorker "Harrowing, terrifying, and so, so good."-- Business Week Informationen zum Autor Milton Freedgood was a professional publicist for several movie studios before he decided to concentrate on his writing. Under the pesudonym John Godey , he wrote several novels. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three was the most successful. He died at his home in West New York, NJ on April 21, 2006. Klappentext THIS AFTERNOON IN NEW YORK CITY, AFTER A SUBWAY TRAIN LEFT THE PELHAM STATION AT 1:23 P.M., THE EVENTS OF THE DAY TOOK A TERRIFYING DETOUR "You will all remain seated. Anyone who tries to get up, or even moves, will be shot. There will be no further warning. If you move you will be killed" Four men, armed with submachine guns, have seized a New York City subway train, holding all seventeen passengers-and the entire city-hostage. The identities of the hijackers are unknown. Their demands seem impossible. Their threats are real. Their escape seems inconceivable. Only one thing is certain: they aren't stopping for anything. ONE STEEVER Steever stood on the southbound local platform of theLexington Avenue line at Fifty- ninth Street and chewed hisgum with a gentle motion of his heavy jaws, like a softmouthedretriever schooled to hold game firmly but withoutbruising it. His posture was relaxed and at the same time emphatic,as if a low center of gravity and some inner certitude combinedto make him casually immovable. He wore a navyblue raincoat, neatly buttoned, and a dark gray hat tiltedforward, not rakishly but squarely, the brim bent at a sharpangle over his forehead, throwing a rhomboid of shadowover his eyes. His sideburns and the hair at the back of hishead were white, dramatic against the darkness of his complexion,unexpected in a man who appeared to be in hisearly thirties. The florist's box was outsize, suggesting an opulent,even overwhelming burst of blooms inside, designed forsome once- in- a-lifetime anniversary or to make amendsfor an enormous sin or betrayal. If any of the passengerson the platform were inclined to smile at that joke of aflorist's box, in respect of the unlikely man who held it sonegligently under his arm, aimed upward at a forty- five degreeangle toward the grimy station ceiling, they managedto suppress it. He wasn't a man to smile at, howeversympathetically. Steever did not stir, or show any sign of anticipation oreven awareness, when the approaching train gave off itsfirst distant vibrations, gradually increasing through variouslevels and quantities of sound. Four- eyedamber andwhite marker lights over white sealed- beam headlightsPelham One Two Three lumbered into the station. Brakessighed; the train settled; the doors rattled open. Steeverwas positioned precisely so that he faced the center doorof the fifth car of the ten- car train. He entered the car,turned left, and walked to the isolated double seat directlyfacing the conductor's cab. It was unoccupied. He satdown, standing the florist's box between his knees, andglancing incuriously at the back of the conductor, whowas leaning well forward out of his window, inspecting theplatform. Steever clasped his hands on the top of the florist'sbox. They were very broad hands, with short, thick fingers.The doors closed, and the train started with a lurchthat tilted the passengers first backward, then forward.Steever, without seeming to brace himself, barely moved. RYDER Ryder withheld the token for a part of a second a pausethat was imperceptible to an eye but that his consciousnessregistered before dropping it into the slot and pushingthrough the turnstile. Walking toward the platform,he examined his hesitancy with the token. Nerves? Nonsense.A concession, maybe even a form of consecration, onthe eve of ba...

"Chillingly real."--*Houston Chronicle

• "A cliff-hanger."--*The New Yorker
• "Harrowing, terrifying, and so, so good."--*Business Week

Auteur

Milton Freedgood was a professional publicist for several movie studios before he decided to concentrate on his writing. Under the pesudonym John Godey, he wrote several novels. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three was the most successful. He died at his home in West New York, NJ on April 21, 2006.

Texte du rabat

THIS AFTERNOON IN NEW YORK CITY, AFTER A SUBWAY TRAIN LEFT THE PELHAM STATION AT 1:23 P.M., THE EVENTS OF THE DAY TOOK A TERRIFYING DETOUR…

"You will all remain seated. Anyone who tries to get up, or even moves, will be shot. There will be no further warning. If you move you will be killed…"

Four men, armed with submachine guns, have seized a New York City subway train, holding all seventeen passengers-and the entire city-hostage. The identities of the hijackers are unknown. Their demands seem impossible. Their threats are real. Their escape seems inconceivable.

Only one thing is certain: they aren't stopping for anything.