The reason I read this was because The Towering Inferno is based off it, one of the my favorite movies. So I was curious to see which elements they used from it for the movie. There was a second book they used as well, but currently cannot find a copy of it.

This book was better than expected. The writing was clear and the story moved along at a great pace. Richard Stern does a great job of building layers upon the story line.

You feel for the characters and understand what they are thinking. Also, he does a good job of using them to bring up points on society without beating you over the head with it.

Because the character's names are not the same in the movie, you are not sure who will live or die by the end. This keeps the tension up. Even though it was written in the 70's, it does not feel dated.

With how he describes the way the fire is fought the things going on with the tower, he brings great depth to it as well. I would recomend this book to anyone to read.

One of the two novels that was used to write the disaster movie classic "The Towering Inferno" (1974). Set in New York City the story packs a punch - mainly because of the similarities to 9/11. The fact that the World Trade Center North Tower plays a key role in the rescue effort makes the story even more powerful.

The story is suspenseful and tragic. It's obvious that Mr. Stern was saying something about our obsession with always needing to be bigger and better and that ,if left unchecked, eventually the drive to be Number One was going to result in some real serious losses.

The novel is laced throughout with observations of how our various systems are flawed. People fall through the cracks (with unintended and tragic consequences) and small and crucial details are either ignored or overlooked. Couple those failings with Human greed and unchecked ambition and it's a real Witches Brew.

As a disaster story the novel is fine. It moves along quickly and it's readable. However I would have to agree with another reviewer who states that the book is a mishmash of ideas. Mr. Stern simply overreached in some respects and as a result the plot sometimes comes to a stop while characters lecture each other. I understand what he was saying, but I wonder if a disaster/suspense novel was the best setting for such an argument.

All in all three stars. Not a bad book, but not a piece of great literature either.

Não me canso nunca dessa história .

2.5 stars

The Tower has its moments of genuine tension, but it never quite decides what kind of book it wants to be.

On one hand, it delivers some well-crafted suspense as disaster looms over the titular skyscraper. On the other, it gets bogged down in melodrama, with character conflicts that feel more like soap opera subplots than the high-stakes thriller it sets out to be. The novel introduces a large cast of characters, each with their own personal struggles and ambitions, but instead of enhancing the story, many of these elements feel like distractions from the central crisis. They also all feel the same with little to no distinguishing characteristics. Everyone is either a typical 70’s damsel in distress, a stereotypical man’s man, or the cookie cutter villain with early any real reason for their evil ways. Rather than letting the disaster itself drive the tension, the book frequently detours into interpersonal drama that never quite earns its place in the narrative.

The biggest issue is the pacing—it’s all over the place. The book moves at a snail’s pace for long stretches, weighed down by excessive detail and unnecessary exposition. Entire chapters seem devoted to minutiae that do little to advance the plot or deepen the suspense, making it a chore to push through at times. Just when the tension starts to build, the narrative shifts gears and slows down again, losing its momentum. While the disaster sequences occasionally manage to be gripping, they are too few and far between, buried beneath layers of slow-moving setup and repetitive character interactions.

The novel’s structure ultimately makes it difficult to stay fully engaged, as any excitement is quickly undercut by sluggish storytelling.The stakes should feel urgent, but instead, the novel often meanders just when it should be ramping up. The sense of danger is there in moments, but it never fully takes hold in a way that makes the reader feel the weight of the unfolding catastrophe. Some characters make frustrating decisions, while others feel like they exist only to fill space rather than add anything meaningful to the story.

The book flirts with deeper themes about hubris, human error, and the perils of modern engineering, but it never truly commits to exploring them in a way that resonates. Instead, it remains stuck between being a gripping thriller and an overwrought drama, never excelling at either.

RDC-M V 1 1974, 8/76. Disaster in a tower.

I bought this book as I love The Towering Inferno film. This film is darker and less saccharine and all the better for it. Whilst you cannot stop Paul Newman and Robert Vaughn from entering your subconscious, there are marked differences from the classic film, in my opinion enhancing the enjoyment.

I was on edge from beginning to end; a thrilling read.

A masterpiece, people.
WOOW...
Just an amazing story to read.
5 stars ♥

This was a re-read. I first read the book a year or two after it came out...

It was pretty much as I remembered it, three and a half stars. Not surprisingly there were some issues with the story as to the status of women and how the men felt about them and treated them. In the late middle seventies this was common but woudn't/shouldn't be tolerated today.
This was one of two books whose stories were combined to make the disaster film "The Towering Inferno" starring Steve McQueen and Paul Newman and a bunch of other well known actors. I saw it in the theater and then read both of the books responsible. Easy quick read that moves fast. Nothing too deep or complicated, just mildly entertaining.

A good story but rather tediously written. All the characters speak (and think) in a similar voice which is singularly unlike the way anyone actually speaks -- even in the 1970s. A lot of self-important naval-gazing stuff, to the point that I wondered if people tried to avoid Mr. Stern at cocktail parties. The Tower is worth trudging through if you're a fan of the film it inspired, The Towering Inferno, but the other book behind that movie -- The Glass Inferno -- is a better read.

Holy Crap, what a bad book. No, I mean REALLY bad. And what's really bad is that it has the makings of a very good story, buried deep inside itself.

(In the early 1970s, two novels appeared about a fire in a large skyscraper. The Glass Inferno was the other one. Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox each bought the rights to one of the books, then they realized that people wouldn't pay twice to watch a similar movie, so both movies would undercut the other. In a brilliant movie, the studios decided to pool their resources and make The Towering Inferno, a single super spectacular movie about a skyscraper fire, and split the profits.)

And it's a good thing they did, because you couldn't get a TV movie of the week out of this book. All the Towering Inferno plot elements are here -- tallest building in the world; builder's son-in-law uses substandard wiring; governor, ambassadors, senators at the dedication; breeches-bouy rescue -- but the vast majority of the book is spent ... talking. And thinking.

Yes. The architect spends a great deal of time talking and thinking about why we build buildings so big. The governor spends a great deal of time talking and thinking about why we allocate tax breaks to let builders build buildings so big. The senator spends a great deal of time talking and thinking about why he became a senator: was it to watch people put up big buildings?

And the stereotypes! The architect's wife is a chic magazine editor who is into Women's Lib (yes, the book is that old), who stays at her magazine rather than rushing downtown to be of service to her husband (don't worry -- she gets hers in the end). The NYPD cops are either "begorrah, saints presairve us" stereotypes, or highly efficient roboticized African-American stereotypes. The building contractor is a two-fisted he-man who dies of a heart attack. His daughter is a smart, capable woman who nonetheless knows her place (see Women's Lib, above).

All in all, a sad book that was a product of its time.

This book begins in a rather boring way, with uninteresting dialogue by equally uninteresting characters. But little by little, much the way a fire starts slowly, it builds to an exciting and exploding crescendo. Nat, architect, is upset to discover that some of the features of his super tall skyscraper had been cheapened, something that could likely become a safety issue, and that someone had signed his name to the changes. But even while he is tracking down the guilty party, another person has begun his own plan of sabotage against the building. It takes a few chapters before this novel gets gripping, but once it does, it becomes a page turner. The author could have used a bit more imagination in naming his characters. There are too many with closely similar first names, and two even share the same first name. He also tends to sometimes refer to them by their names, sometimes by their nicknames, and sometimes by their job description. A more consistent treatment would have made keeping track of the many characters much easier. But he does a good job of developing the characters and their personalities, both with the heroic good guys and the bad scoundrels. I wish he had taken more time with the ending; it is rather abrupt. But still, the last chapter before the epilogue is chilling in its content.