Ease Reading-Find Your Next Favorite Book

Hot Search

The Tower

richard martin stern

... Show More
This 343 page novel is a gripping story about the dedication of the New World Communications Tower, dominating the Manhattan skyline. A terrible discovery is made as a glittering cast of VIPs gather at the the building's structure is fatally flawed. "And then in the core of the building, a chain of accidents and a sudden insane burst of violence start an avalanche of events that threatens the center and everyone trapped in it" and the reader is drawn into the crisis.

0 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1,1973

This edition

Format
0 pages, Hardcover
Published
January 1, 1973 by David McKay Co
ISBN
9780679503637
ASIN
0679503633
Language
English

More editions

About the author

Profile Image for richard martin stern

richard martin stern

... Show More
Richard Martin Stern was an American novelist. Stern began his writing career in the 1950s with mystery tales of private investigators, winning a 1959 Edgar Award for Best First Novel, for The Bright Road to Fear.
He was most notable for his 1973 novel The Tower, in which a fire engulfs a new metal-and-glass frame skyrise. Stern was inspired to write the novel by the construction of the World Trade Center in New York City. Warner Brothers bought the rights to the novel shortly after its publication for roughly $400,000, and Stern's book, in combination with the novel The Glass Inferno by Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson, was the basis for the movie The Towering Inferno, produced by Irwin Allen and directed by John Guillermin and featuring an all-star cast. The film, shot with a $14 million budget, earned more than $100 million at the American box office.
Stern was known mainly for his mysteries and disaster-related suspense. He died on October 31, 2001, after prolonged illness. He was 86.

Readers also enjoyed

Community Reviews

Rating(3.8 / 5.0, 53 votes)
5 stars
12(23%)
4 stars
20(38%)
3 stars
21(40%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
0(0%)
53 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
Doc_Marion
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
... Show More
It took me a couple of weeks to read this book. I was reading it in conjunction with The Fifties and found myself more drawn to that book than this one. I saw The Towering Inferno so long ago and have forgotten much of it that I figured I could enjoy this novel for what it is. It's a tight novel, taking place over a single day as a gleaming new skyscraper and the VIPs inside it deal with a fire. The plot involves a terrorist as well as corruption by some of the builders of The Tower. There is very much a 70s vibe to the novel, especially in the dynamics between the male and female characters. And there is a nice ratcheting of suspense as the good and bad characters trapped in the building unravel. But again, it's a book of its time.
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
seiba_
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
... Show More
Un libro con algunos aspectos interesantes pero que no me terminó de convencer. Me gustó la alternancia de escenarios entre lo que pasaba dentro y fuera de la torre, la personificación de esta última por momentos proponiéndola como un personaje más (aunque bastante influyente) y el trabajo con la temporalidad ya que aunque la historia es lineal los distintos capítulos van adentrándonos cronológicamente en el fatídico día del incendio.
En general me pareció que la obra es bastante anticuada. Hay algunos intentos de crítica social: el autor pone en tela de juicio los motivos que llevan al ser humano a desarrollar obras como esta, una torre de 125 pisos sin ninguna necesidad; se evidencia cómo la irresponsabilidad y el egoísmo de algunos van generando un cúmulo de errores trágico; y se cuestiona sobre todo a la clase política norteamericana, tan alejada de la realidad, inmersa en su propia burbuja. Pero todas estas propuestas creo que son tratadas con superficialidad, y el autor se muestra dubitativo, más bien filosofando en torno al sentido de la vida que tomando una postura de denuncia firme. Cierto es que el tipo de escenario propuesto da lugar a mostrar cómo las situaciones límite sacan el verdadero carácter de las personas, pero creo que el autor desaprovechó la oportunidad.
También me sucedió que me costó mucho conectar con los personajes, incluso con los más "bienhechores" con sus matices como el protagonista Nat Wilson; y en general me fue difícil seguir la lectura. Martin Stern recurre mucho a los diálogos entre personajes como forma principal de desarrollar los capítulos, dando un corte teatral al libro pero también haciendo a todos sus personajes numerosos, muy diversos y poco reconocibles.
Me quedan como cuentas pendientes buscar más información, ver si el trabajo está inspirado en algún caso real, y sobre todo ver la película, pues tengo la expectativa de que eso me aclarará un poco más el panorama y me permitirá acceder a otro tipo de comprensión en relación a la historia.
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
cloud8100
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
... Show More
After watching The Towering Inferno, I read this book (one of the 2 the movie is based on) to see how it compared. Overall, I wasn't impressed with the book. The POV was strange--it felt like an odd combination of 2nd & 3rd person--the dialogue was sometimes stilted, and, with one notable exception, the female characters were maddeningly 2-dimensional and horribly cliched. However, it was interesting to watch the drama unfold. Unlike the movie and The Glass Inferno (the other book it was adapted from), there was not a series of disasters. There was the raging fire, of course, and some light explanation of how fire reacts in tall structures; the chain reaction of contractors cutting corners and the results; the different teams trying to fight the fire and rescue as many people as possible; and the actions of the 100+ people trapped on the building's top floor as the fire slowly climbs to meet them.

The setup is there for high drama and suspense but the tone is too aloof to really pull you in. The only character I felt anything for was the governor trying to keep everyone calm in the Tower Room. The rest were all so much cardboard cutouts or just too one-note to really sympathize with. However, I will say that the ending, even though expected, was done rather well. Too bad it took 250 pages of so much monotone to get there.
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
Account_Name
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
... Show More
This classic novel, written in 1973, was the source material for the 1974 disaster epic The Towering Inferno, which in itself was the inspiration for the recent Dwayne Johnson blockbuster Skyscraper. While it's an oft-quoted cliche that "The book is always better than the movie", it definitely holds true in this case, and I liked the movie. The depth of character backstory and motivations made this a veryengrossing read indeed, even knowing how it turns out at the end.
.
My Rating: 4.25/5 stars
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
Disapeared_Ghost
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
... Show More
This book was very long winded and there was way too much about it that wasn't the fire and the rescuing the people from the fire. Overall, I liked it enough to read it again someday, but while reading it, I kept wanting to just get back to the people in the tower.

The ending broke my heart and effected me for days afterwards. I'd only seen the movie and didn't realize it was based on TWO books, so I wasn't expecting how many people didn't survive.
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
Berrybird
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
... Show More
Great Book

The ending is completely different than the movie. This is well written and such a good book.
I recommend it!
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
Another_Badger
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
... Show More
Empieza lento pero para mí sorpresa no lo pude soltar hasta terminarlo. Me gustó como se describe la acción. Rascacielos y nueva york en el año 73, y aún se siente moderno, sobre todo como los personajes se van desenvolviendo en cuanto a la acción. No me gustó mucho como estaban escritos los personajes femeninos porque es bastante obvio que se ocupan como un extra a las acciones de los personajes principales. El final me dejó medio "oh, ok" se esperaba, pero como Nat Wilson no quería perder la esperanza. Lo recomiendo a quienes le gustan las novelas medio policíacas y de acción.
0 0 Reply
Leave a Review
You must be logged in to rate and post a review. Register an account to get started.