The Towers-David Poyer

The Towers
David Poyer
St. Martin’s, Sep 1 2011, $25.99
ISBN: 9780312613013

On September 11, 2001, unhappy Navy Commander Dan Lenson visits the Pentagon still upset after being passed over for promotion to the rank of captain in spite of his heroic successful efforts; while he considers retirement, the brass detests his stubborn independence. At the same time his wife Beth Blair is at the South Tower on a job interview. Both are impacted mentally and physically when the planes crash the Pentagon and Twin Towers. He escapes the flames but fears for his spouse as he loses phone contact almost immediately reaching her.

While Beth struggles with her injuries, Dan and his SEAL team are assigned to Task Force Rhino whose mission is to capture or kill Bin Laden and his Taliban allies. His unit deploys to Afghanistan but deals with DC, Kabul and Islamabad politics at the isolated mountainous Tora Bora border. At the same time in Yemen, Muslim-American FBI special agent Aisha Ar-Rahim learns the hard way what being a Muslim-American means on September 12 2011.

The latest Lenson military thriller (see The Crisis and The Weapon) is a great tale in spite of the reader knowing the outcome. The keys to The Towers are the harrowing descriptions of death, destruction and survival on 9/11, the racism that ignites starting on 9/12, and the insightful look at how well (or not) the civilian and military elements of the government work together in hostile scenarios thousands of miles away from DC where the leadership resides. This is an excellent glimpse at the immediate post 9/11 world in which crises (real does not matter) are needed to fuel the avenging vendetta.

Harriet Klausner