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Dan Lenson #13
The Towers
After surviving the attacks on September 11, 2001, Dan Lenson finds himself quickly drawn into a covert SEAL team in search of the terrorists responsible. Their mission: kill Osama Bin Laden.On the morning of September 11, 2001, Commander Dan Lenson is visiting the Pentagon, and his wife is at a job interview at the World Trade Center. In the action-packed scenes that follow, Dan fights his way through flames and destruction to safety, and tries to reach his wife on her cell phone, but the terrifying few seconds before they're cut off do nothing to calm his fears.
Dan immediately becomes involved in the military reaction to the attack. His SEAL team is assigned to Task Force Rhino, a mission that takes him to Afghanistan and the borders of Pakistan in order to hunt down, capture, or kill Osama bin Laden and other senior members of the Taliban government and al Qaeda leadership.
The 13th Dan Lenson novel, The Towers is a fascinating, accurate depiction of the events of September 11 and the military response, informed by sources in the Navy, the SEALS, the NCIS, and the author's own military experience. Full of fast-paced sequences and heart-pumping drama, David Poyer takes the reader into the center of the action and face-to-face with the terrorist enemy.
320 pages, ebook
First published August 30, 2011
48 people are currently reading
157 people want to read
About the author
David Poyer
82 books241 followersAka D.C. Poyer.
DAVID C. POYER was born in DuBois, PA in 1949. He grew up in Brockway, Emlenton, and Bradford, in western Pennsylvania, and graduated from Bradford Area High School in 1967. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1971, and later received a master's degree from George Washington University.
Poyer's active and reserve naval service included sea duty in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Arctic, Caribbean, and Pacific, and shore duty at the Pentagon, Surface Warfare Development Group, Joint Forces Command, and in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. He retired in July 2001.
Poyer began writing in 1976, and is the author of nearly fifty books, including THE MED, THE GULF, THE CIRCLE, THE PASSAGE, TOMAHAWK, CHINA SEA, BLACK STORM, THE COMMAND, THE THREAT, KOREA STRAIT, THE WEAPON, THE CRISIS, THE CRUISER, TIPPING POINT, HUNTER KILLER, DEEP WAR, OVERTHROW, VIOLENT PEACE, ARCTIC SEA, and THE ACADEMY, best-selling Navy novels; THE DEAD OF WINTER, WINTER IN THE HEART, AS THE WOLF LOVES WINTER, THUNDER ON THE MOUNTAIN, and THE HILL, set in Western Pennsylvania; and HATTERAS BLUE, BAHAMAS BLUE, LOUISIANA BLUE, and DOWN TO A SUNLESS SEA, underwater diving adventure.
Other noteworthy books are THE ONLY THING TO FEAR, a historical thriller, THE RETURN OF PHILO T. McGIFFIN, a comic novel of Annapolis, and the three volumes of The Civil War at Sea, FIRE ON THE WATERS, A COUNTRY OF OUR OWN, and THAT ANVIL OF OUR SOULS. He's also written two sailing thrillers, GHOSTING and THE WHITENESS OF THE WHALE. His work has been published in Britain, translated into Japanese, Dutch, Italian, Hugarian, and Serbo-Croatian; recorded for audiobooks, iPod downloads, and Kindle, and selected by the Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club and other book clubs. Rights to several properties have been sold or optioned for films, and two novellas appeared in the Night Bazaar series of fantasy anthologies.
Poyer has taught or lectured at Annapolis, Flagler College, University of Pittsburgh, Old Dominion University, the Armed Forces Staff College, the University of North Florida, Christopher Newport University, and other institutions. He has been a guest on PBS's "Writer to Writer" series and on Voice of America, and has appeared at the Southern Festival of Books and many other literary events. He taught in the MA/MFA in Creative Writing program at Wilkes University for sixteen years. He is currently core faculty at the Ossabaw Writers Retreat, a fellow of the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and a board member of the Northern Appalachia Review.
He lives on Virginia's Eastern Shore with novelist Lenore Hart.
DAVID C. POYER was born in DuBois, PA in 1949. He grew up in Brockway, Emlenton, and Bradford, in western Pennsylvania, and graduated from Bradford Area High School in 1967. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1971, and later received a master's degree from George Washington University.
Poyer's active and reserve naval service included sea duty in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Arctic, Caribbean, and Pacific, and shore duty at the Pentagon, Surface Warfare Development Group, Joint Forces Command, and in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. He retired in July 2001.
Poyer began writing in 1976, and is the author of nearly fifty books, including THE MED, THE GULF, THE CIRCLE, THE PASSAGE, TOMAHAWK, CHINA SEA, BLACK STORM, THE COMMAND, THE THREAT, KOREA STRAIT, THE WEAPON, THE CRISIS, THE CRUISER, TIPPING POINT, HUNTER KILLER, DEEP WAR, OVERTHROW, VIOLENT PEACE, ARCTIC SEA, and THE ACADEMY, best-selling Navy novels; THE DEAD OF WINTER, WINTER IN THE HEART, AS THE WOLF LOVES WINTER, THUNDER ON THE MOUNTAIN, and THE HILL, set in Western Pennsylvania; and HATTERAS BLUE, BAHAMAS BLUE, LOUISIANA BLUE, and DOWN TO A SUNLESS SEA, underwater diving adventure.
Other noteworthy books are THE ONLY THING TO FEAR, a historical thriller, THE RETURN OF PHILO T. McGIFFIN, a comic novel of Annapolis, and the three volumes of The Civil War at Sea, FIRE ON THE WATERS, A COUNTRY OF OUR OWN, and THAT ANVIL OF OUR SOULS. He's also written two sailing thrillers, GHOSTING and THE WHITENESS OF THE WHALE. His work has been published in Britain, translated into Japanese, Dutch, Italian, Hugarian, and Serbo-Croatian; recorded for audiobooks, iPod downloads, and Kindle, and selected by the Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club and other book clubs. Rights to several properties have been sold or optioned for films, and two novellas appeared in the Night Bazaar series of fantasy anthologies.
Poyer has taught or lectured at Annapolis, Flagler College, University of Pittsburgh, Old Dominion University, the Armed Forces Staff College, the University of North Florida, Christopher Newport University, and other institutions. He has been a guest on PBS's "Writer to Writer" series and on Voice of America, and has appeared at the Southern Festival of Books and many other literary events. He taught in the MA/MFA in Creative Writing program at Wilkes University for sixteen years. He is currently core faculty at the Ossabaw Writers Retreat, a fellow of the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and a board member of the Northern Appalachia Review.
He lives on Virginia's Eastern Shore with novelist Lenore Hart.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
April 26, 2021
By now, you've either read about the announcement or seen it discussed on local, national, and cable news outlets: the United States will withdraw all remaining troops from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021. The announcement was made while I was reading "The Towers," David Poyer's thirteenth entry in his Dan Lenson series. The book is a well-researched, engrossing look at an event that brought the reality of terrorism to American shores and the combined military and civilian response to that reality. And Dan Lenson himself is not the primary focus of the story. He happens to be at the Pentagon when it is attacked; he suffers injuries but recovers and is sent to Afghanistan to provide assistance to the Joint Special Operations team. Other characters in the narrative are Dan's wife Blair Titus, who survives the collapse of the South Tower of the World Trade Center; Teddy Oberg, a former Navy SEAL who ditches a possible movie-making career for a return to active duty against a shadowy enemy; and Aisha Ar-Rahim, an African-American female NCIS agent and practicing Muslim, who is investigating a terror cell in Yemen. A well-told story and worth checking out.
June 17, 2023
Besides being a story told from the perception viewpoint of someone who has a Naval background, this specific book will bring back intense memories of the occurrence on 9/110/01, especially for all of us readers who were there in the area surrounding the Twin Towers, even if we weren't in Manhattan, we were close enough to see and smell what occurred and the aftermath dealing with that event. As the book states, we will never forget, no matter how the progressive viewpoint tries to change the story of the events.
The story is told through several people's experiences that day and what they did afterward. The main person in the story is Dan Lenson, who is a multiple awarded medal winner of the highest degrees, for some reason, has been kept from being promoted to a higher level position, but has been kept in a position where he is on the frontline level. In this book, he has an appointment at the Pentagon with the vice chief of naval operations, Niles, who assigned him, to the Tactical Analysis Group when he refused a medical retirement suggestion. Before his meeting, he had a quick conversation with Torgild Schrade, CEO of Graywolf Security Enterprises, who offered him a job when he retired from the Navy. On his way out, he notices on the screens in the conference rooms, live video footage of what was occurring at the World Trade Center, where his wife Blair, a former Undersecretary of Defense, was having a job offer interview in the south tower. And then watched in horror when the second plane hit that tower. Before he could attempt to get in contact with his wife, a plane hits the Pentagon and he goes into rescue mode, despite his injuries and getting his lungs damaged by the smoking jet fuel. Meanwhile, Blair gets herself and others down the stairs mostly to the bottom before they get covered up with debris. Both of them wake up in hospitals. he suffered mostly minor burn injuries and lung damage that he will eventually recover from. Blair suffered severe injuries, fractures to her right hip and arm, and crush and burn injuries to the right side of her face and eye, which will require reconstruction. She will gain mobility after physical therapy and pain and will require several reconstruction operations for her face. Dan comes to see her after he is released from his hospital and signs up to work for Graywolf Securities as the Naval liaison for the Tomahawk missiles that will be used in the upcoming attack plans.
In Yemen, Aisha is a CIA analyst, who is investigating a terrorist cell organization that turns out to have a connection to Osama Bin Laden, that she finds out through her contact connections to the women in the area since the local government is hiding the fact that they are playing both sides. Teddy is a retired veteran who re-enlists when the Towers were hit and his team, is highly involved in the attempt to catch Osama Bin Laden from escaping Afghanistan to Pakistan by trying to block the escape passage through the mountains.
The story is told through several people's experiences that day and what they did afterward. The main person in the story is Dan Lenson, who is a multiple awarded medal winner of the highest degrees, for some reason, has been kept from being promoted to a higher level position, but has been kept in a position where he is on the frontline level. In this book, he has an appointment at the Pentagon with the vice chief of naval operations, Niles, who assigned him, to the Tactical Analysis Group when he refused a medical retirement suggestion. Before his meeting, he had a quick conversation with Torgild Schrade, CEO of Graywolf Security Enterprises, who offered him a job when he retired from the Navy. On his way out, he notices on the screens in the conference rooms, live video footage of what was occurring at the World Trade Center, where his wife Blair, a former Undersecretary of Defense, was having a job offer interview in the south tower. And then watched in horror when the second plane hit that tower. Before he could attempt to get in contact with his wife, a plane hits the Pentagon and he goes into rescue mode, despite his injuries and getting his lungs damaged by the smoking jet fuel. Meanwhile, Blair gets herself and others down the stairs mostly to the bottom before they get covered up with debris. Both of them wake up in hospitals. he suffered mostly minor burn injuries and lung damage that he will eventually recover from. Blair suffered severe injuries, fractures to her right hip and arm, and crush and burn injuries to the right side of her face and eye, which will require reconstruction. She will gain mobility after physical therapy and pain and will require several reconstruction operations for her face. Dan comes to see her after he is released from his hospital and signs up to work for Graywolf Securities as the Naval liaison for the Tomahawk missiles that will be used in the upcoming attack plans.
In Yemen, Aisha is a CIA analyst, who is investigating a terrorist cell organization that turns out to have a connection to Osama Bin Laden, that she finds out through her contact connections to the women in the area since the local government is hiding the fact that they are playing both sides. Teddy is a retired veteran who re-enlists when the Towers were hit and his team, is highly involved in the attempt to catch Osama Bin Laden from escaping Afghanistan to Pakistan by trying to block the escape passage through the mountains.
April 28, 2025
This is a departure from the normal Lenson Naval sagas. Both Lenson and his wife are injured in the 9/11 attacks - he in the Pentagon, she in the towers. Instead of focusing the action on those two, we are introduced to a Navy Seal and much of the action in the book follows his deployment to Afghanistan and efforts to capture or kill Osama bin Laden and other high al-Qaeda officials. Parallel to that effort, Lenson is also sent to Afghanistan to assist in Naval Intelligence efforts. I'm not sure that I enjoyed this book as much as others in the series. It was well written and all action and story lines were believable. I'm just not sure if I appreciate the variance from the central plot line of the previous books. I suppose that this was Poyer's way for addressing the tragedy of 9/11. I'd still recommend the book and think that it's a worth while read.
May 30, 2018
As with previous books. If you like Poyer and the Dan Lenson series you will enjoy this book. I can't determine if we are supposed to like or loath Oberg, but I think I lean more to loath. I will probably read book 14, but I'm really hoping the author goes back to focusing on Dan instead of these other characters that he seems to be putting a lot of effort in to.
July 26, 2018
Tense reading
The book reads real, not too much over the top scenes. You get caught up in the characters and you start caring about them.
I wasn't a Seal, I was in the Marine Corps, but I knew a few Seals and they are all high speed low drag and the word can't doesn't exist in their vocabulary.
I think you'll enjoy the story.
The book reads real, not too much over the top scenes. You get caught up in the characters and you start caring about them.
I wasn't a Seal, I was in the Marine Corps, but I knew a few Seals and they are all high speed low drag and the word can't doesn't exist in their vocabulary.
I think you'll enjoy the story.
February 4, 2018
A most trying time and many courageous people came out with determination and duty to right the the wrongs to innocent people. My compliments to the author for the handling of this time so many of us have lived through.
November 18, 2018
Another great Dan Lesson Book
This one takes us back to a time we would rather forget when the twin towers came down. Especially poignant to me; I worked on the 102 nd floor in the 1980s. So if writing and an interesting take on the hunt for OBL. A HARD BOOK to put down.
This one takes us back to a time we would rather forget when the twin towers came down. Especially poignant to me; I worked on the 102 nd floor in the 1980s. So if writing and an interesting take on the hunt for OBL. A HARD BOOK to put down.
August 16, 2019
Pay Back
This novel is a bit different from the previous novels in the series. And that is a good thing. A different pace that places the reader in the heat of battle following the devastating hit on the twin towers. A welcome and extremely realistic side trip.
This novel is a bit different from the previous novels in the series. And that is a good thing. A different pace that places the reader in the heat of battle following the devastating hit on the twin towers. A welcome and extremely realistic side trip.
March 13, 2025
another great read
Poyer's characters continue to demonstrate their devotion to duty and exceptional courage. This was another very good story, very believable and action packed. All our old friends had a part and did well. Highly recommended.
Poyer's characters continue to demonstrate their devotion to duty and exceptional courage. This was another very good story, very believable and action packed. All our old friends had a part and did well. Highly recommended.
September 1, 2018
Realistic
April 14, 2019
Another fine book by David Poyer. Great storyline, good characters. an enjoyable read
February 17, 2020
Good story about a sad day ,in the USA. Hard to put down once started.
September 8, 2023
As with the previous book, The Crisis, too little of Dan Lenson.
Interesting at the start, got dull and formulaistic at the end
Interesting at the start, got dull and formulaistic at the end
March 27, 2012
Early on the morning of September 11, 2001, Navy Commander Dan Lenson, having just been passed over for promotion to Captain, is heading for an interview at the Pentagon, expecting that it will essentially be the end of his military career. At the same time his wife Blair Titus, a former Under-Secretary of Defense, is flying to New York City for an interview at the World Trade Center. Each is caught in the wrong place at the wrong time when the terrorists fly their planes into the Pentagon and World Trade Center Towers, respectively. David Poyer paints a vivid picture of the harrowing events that followed those crashes and how, both Dan and his wife very narrowly escape being incinerated. Although his injuries were fairly significant, Dan recovers quickly, and soon finds himself in Afghanistan as a member of the Joint Special Forces team responsible for overthrowing the Taiban government.
The second and third of the three main characters in THE TOWERS are: NCIS Agent Aisha Ar-Rahim, a Muslim-American on assignment in Yemen at the time of the 9/11 attacks, and former Navy SEAL Teddy Oberg, who is trying to sell investors in Hollywood on making an action military movie at the same time.
Agent Aisha Ar-Rahim soon undertakes a most dangerous mission to find to learn the current hiding place of Osama bin-Laden. Meanwhile, Teddy rejoins the SEALs and becomes the senior enlisted member of a task force assigned to hunt down and kill bin Laden and the senior Taliban leadership.
The author uses alternating chapters from the points of view of each of these characters to tell the harrowing roles played by these diverse members of the war on terror and how each made their own important contributions.
David Poyer is a great storyteller, and THE TOWERS is no exception. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I most definitely recommend to readers who enjoy such books.
The second and third of the three main characters in THE TOWERS are: NCIS Agent Aisha Ar-Rahim, a Muslim-American on assignment in Yemen at the time of the 9/11 attacks, and former Navy SEAL Teddy Oberg, who is trying to sell investors in Hollywood on making an action military movie at the same time.
Agent Aisha Ar-Rahim soon undertakes a most dangerous mission to find to learn the current hiding place of Osama bin-Laden. Meanwhile, Teddy rejoins the SEALs and becomes the senior enlisted member of a task force assigned to hunt down and kill bin Laden and the senior Taliban leadership.
The author uses alternating chapters from the points of view of each of these characters to tell the harrowing roles played by these diverse members of the war on terror and how each made their own important contributions.
David Poyer is a great storyteller, and THE TOWERS is no exception. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I most definitely recommend to readers who enjoy such books.
September 14, 2012
I am a great fan of David Poyer and his Dan Lenson naval novels. "The Towers" is a bit different than the rest. Poyer places Dan Lenson and his wife in the very heart of the terrorist attacks and Lenson himself as part of the retaliation against the terrorists in Afghanistan. But, Commander Lenson's story occupies only about a third of the book, the other two-thirds involve two other main characters and their roles in the anti-terrorist strikes. The most compelling of these stories revolves around a SEAL platoon and its hunt for Osama Ben Laden (the unsuccessful, fictional hunt, not the later, successful operation).
Poyer has the gift of creating and sustaining a cast of believable, three-dimensional characters who are both gifted and flawed, heroic and anxious, scarred and recovering. It is Poyer's command over character which differentiates his writing from other authors in this genre. In fact, the only author to whom he can be compares in this regard is John le Carre. That, indeed, is high praise.
If you are interested in military/thriller writing, you can do no better than Poyer's earlier novels involving Dan Lenson
Poyer has the gift of creating and sustaining a cast of believable, three-dimensional characters who are both gifted and flawed, heroic and anxious, scarred and recovering. It is Poyer's command over character which differentiates his writing from other authors in this genre. In fact, the only author to whom he can be compares in this regard is John le Carre. That, indeed, is high praise.
If you are interested in military/thriller writing, you can do no better than Poyer's earlier novels involving Dan Lenson
May 16, 2014
Dan Lenson, our modern day Naval hero, comes back again.
At first the story is contrived. Very much so, and for this I fault Poyer who has spent the years weaving our modern day navy responding to fictitious events on the worlds stage. He has a great ability to do this and instead focused the first 20% of the tale with reality that is flawed in that he has Dan and Blair both involved in the 9/11 attacks.
One perhaps, but both? In any event Dan is tasked with Naval response again at first in a believable way, and then as the intelligence aspect gets into higher gear, not. Dan has enough on his plate to be tasked with functions that others better suited to the job would be makes Dan less of a hero. And as we find Dan getting more compartmentalized though he isn't we see more of the other characters that have been introduced so that Poyer can tell us more about SEALS for instance.
It is a thrilling suspense read, and perhaps one day when the story of Lenson is complete, worthy of a reread, but for keeping us abreast of the modern navy, this is a let down. Almost a bridge between one part of the Lenson career and the next.
At first the story is contrived. Very much so, and for this I fault Poyer who has spent the years weaving our modern day navy responding to fictitious events on the worlds stage. He has a great ability to do this and instead focused the first 20% of the tale with reality that is flawed in that he has Dan and Blair both involved in the 9/11 attacks.
One perhaps, but both? In any event Dan is tasked with Naval response again at first in a believable way, and then as the intelligence aspect gets into higher gear, not. Dan has enough on his plate to be tasked with functions that others better suited to the job would be makes Dan less of a hero. And as we find Dan getting more compartmentalized though he isn't we see more of the other characters that have been introduced so that Poyer can tell us more about SEALS for instance.
It is a thrilling suspense read, and perhaps one day when the story of Lenson is complete, worthy of a reread, but for keeping us abreast of the modern navy, this is a let down. Almost a bridge between one part of the Lenson career and the next.
September 23, 2011
There are a number of Dan Lenson books 912 or 13). The series takes him from a young naval officer to a highly-decorated but undervalued Commander on the brink of retirement. This book's action centers on the obvious towers of the World Trade Center (his wife, Blair Titus, is badly injured at the site) and the Pentagon (where Lenson is damaged while helping others to escape). The result of the terroristic attack gives Lenson's career a new lease on life (and invigorates Navy Seal Tedd Oldberg's life). The book is always interesting, though it doesn't rank with a couple of the series ("The Med," say).
June 1, 2018
Another great Poyer book. Dan Lenson is in the Pentagon when the plane strikes on Sep 11 and his wife is in one of the towers. They both survive and then Dan gets in the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, as a computer expert in both weapons programming and programs that gather intelligence, analyzing, and making estimates on enemy movement. The book goes back and forth between Dan and a SEAL team that is in on the hunt. Well written.
February 1, 2015
Tough book to rate: It'a not a manly-man book in fact it lacks the fast paced action of a manly-man book. It's still too freshto be a historical fiction book. Brought back lots of memories, but is lacking in some of the emotions A must read for any Poyer fan but not good memory lane books like early Lenson novels nor manly-man like later Lenson novels
November 19, 2011
Gosh, this guy is a good author! He captures war, and politics, and those who fight with profound realism. And the frustrations of the beauracacy which hampers those on the front lines of battle.
March 10, 2014
The pages on the World Trade Center and Pentagon are gripping. Then Poyer seems to be out of his element describing SEAL ops.
May 27, 2015
Good read for the early events in Afghanistan but not up to the expected standards of David Poyer. This book had nothing to do with the Navy, well written but could have been a stand alone novel.
October 26, 2016
Excellent book and a great read.
Power is like a gritty and realistic tom Clancy; readable but authentic.
Next two books in the series are a change in scene
Power is like a gritty and realistic tom Clancy; readable but authentic.
Next two books in the series are a change in scene
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews