A good read, however I found this book somewhat tedious in parts. One of two novels that inspired Irwin Allen's blockbuster disaster movie "The Towering Inferno", I saw the movie before I read the book, and it doesn't live up to what I expected. Not quite as hard hitting as I would have liked, the technical details are well written, but it lacks a punch elsewhere.

Richard Martin Stern's The Tower is one of the two novels that Irwin Allen's production of The Towering Inferno was based, the other being The Glass Inferno by Scorita and Robinson.

On the gala opening of the latest world's tallest building, an unstable construction worker detonates a bomb and starts a fire that spirals quickly out of control, leaving the celebrants trapped on the top floors. As the fire climbs closer and the situation grows grimmer, the characters true natures are revealed, and some are not pretty. The elements Irwin Allen used in his film version are easily found, but they work far better in the source material. An excellent suspense story with a refreshing and somber finale, highly recommended.

THE TOWER
Richard Martin Stern
ISBN 0679503633

"The Tower" is the world' stallest building at 125 storeys. Built in downtown New York, the city has put millions towards its construction. Its architects and designers think it is perfect, but on the day of the opening copies of unauthorized changes are sent to them.
Meanwhile, an ex-employee at the tower, John Connors, has entered the building posing as an electrician. Unknown to the security guards he is carrying, in his tool box, plastic explosives with which he will seek revenge.
While preparation is under way for the opening ceremony the contractors are seeking to find if the changes were made, and what they mean. The building's architect, Nat Wilson is determined to find who forged his signature on the change orders.

The ceremony goes ahead as planned, but disaster soon strikes. A fire on a 4th floor apartment as well as an explosion in the basement wreak havoc with the organisers. As the investigators soon discover; the changes were extremely serious. The situation has suddenly gotten out of hand: 120 or so people, trapped 1500 feet up, with governors and senators amongst them, and a raging fire beneath them.
The fire soon eradicates both the stairs and elevators as possibilities for escape. The men on the ground must work against the clock, and the searing heat of the flames, to rescue the "hostages" of the tower.

Stern tells this tale at a terrific pace, building the suspense right up until the final trumpet; blown on a slightly different note. His characters develop their personalities through-out the book and finally show what each of them is made of.