The Tower (novel)
Encyclopedia
The Tower is a 1973 novel by Richard Martin Stern
. It is one of the two books that was used to create the movie The Towering Inferno
, the other being The Glass Inferno
.
The story concerns the events in the penthouse restaurant during the grand opening celebration of a brand new high-rise building in New York City after a terrorist suicide bomber detonates a home-made explosive in the basement control room of the building. The explosion causes fires through the building, and traps the people in the penthouse. Unable to escape through stairs, attempts are made to allow them to escape by running a breeches buoy to the adjacent World Trade Center
tower. The chair device is only partially successful, and in the end, most of the people trapped in the tower die from the effects of the fires.
Stern wrote the book due to the building of the World Trade Center, in which, ironically, all the people in the Windows on the World
rooftop restaurant would die as a result of the terrorist attacks of 2001.
Richard Martin Stern
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...
. It is one of the two books that was used to create the movie The Towering Inferno
The Towering Inferno
The Towering Inferno is a 1974 American action disaster film produced by Irwin Allen featuring an all-star cast led by Steve McQueen and Paul Newman.A co-production between Twentieth Century-Fox and Warner Bros...
, the other being The Glass Inferno
The Glass Inferno
The Glass Inferno is a 1974 novel by Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson. It is one of the two books that was used to create the movie The Towering Inferno, the other being The Tower.-Plot summary:...
.
The story concerns the events in the penthouse restaurant during the grand opening celebration of a brand new high-rise building in New York City after a terrorist suicide bomber detonates a home-made explosive in the basement control room of the building. The explosion causes fires through the building, and traps the people in the penthouse. Unable to escape through stairs, attempts are made to allow them to escape by running a breeches buoy to the adjacent World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
tower. The chair device is only partially successful, and in the end, most of the people trapped in the tower die from the effects of the fires.
Stern wrote the book due to the building of the World Trade Center, in which, ironically, all the people in the Windows on the World
Windows on the World
Windows on the World was a complex of venues at the top floors of the North Tower of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan that included a restaurant, Windows on the World, a smaller restaurant called Wild Blue, and a bar called The Greatest Bar on Earth, as well as rooms for private functions...
rooftop restaurant would die as a result of the terrorist attacks of 2001.