Trois ans après le 11 Septembre, des terroristes cachent une bombe atomique au cœur de New York. Si le président américain n'oblige pas les Israéliens à quitter toutes les colonies des territoires arabes occupés, Manhattan sera rayée de la carte. Faut-il céder à ce chantage ? Des terroristes peuvent-ils vraiment se procurer une bombe atomique et l'introduire sur le territoire américain ? Y a-t-il, pour les forces de l'Etat le plus puissant de la planète, la moindre chance de la trouver et de la désamorcer ? Peut-on évacuer New York ? Le compte à rebours commence... Deux ans d'enquête, une quantité impressionnante de documents examinés, dont beaucoup ultra-confidentiels ; plus de trois cents personnes interrogées aux Etats-Unis, en Israël, en Grande-Bretagne, en Inde, dans les centres les plus secrets de la guerre contre le terrorisme... New York brûle-t-il ? Un thriller diabolique, un roman d'une force exceptionnelle au cœur de notre temps et de sa folie.
Dominique Lapierre was born in Châtelaillon-Plage, Charente-Maritime, France. At the age of thirteen, he travelled to America with his father who was a diplomat (Consul General of France). He attended the Jesuit school in New Orleans and became a paper boy for the "New Orleans Item". He developed interests in travelling, writing and cars and later traveled across the United States as a young man.
In the early 1950s Lapierre was conscripted into the French army. After one year in a tank regiment, he was transferred to SHAPE headquarters to serve as an interpreter. There he met a young American Army corporal, Larry Collins, a Yale graduate and draftee. They became instant friends. When Collins was discharged he was offered a job with Procter & Gamble. Two days before reporting to work, the United Press offered him a job as caption writer at their Paris office, for much less money than offered by Procter & Gamble. Collins accepted the offer and was soon picked up by Newsweek to be their correspondent in the Middle East. When Lapierre was discharged, he found work as a reporter for the magazine Paris Match. Several years later they decided to join forces to tell a big story which would appeal to both French and anglophone audiences. Their first bestseller Is Paris Burning? sold close to ten million copies in thirty languages. In this book they mixed the modern technique of investigation journalism with the classical methods of historical research.
After that they spent four years in Jerusalem to reconstruct the birth of the State of Israel for the book O Jerusalem!. Lapierre is proud that after spending a great deal of time in Jerusalem he knows each alley, square, street, and building in the Holy City intimately.
Two of Lapierre's books – Is Paris Burning? (co-written with Larry Collins) and City of Joy – have been made into films. Lapierre and Collins wrote several other books together before Collins' death in 2005.
He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award in the 2008 Republic Day honors list.
Entretenida en plan telefilm de sobremesa. Demasiado inverosímil en algunos sentidos. Demasiadas casualidades que llevan a la resolución final. Sé que le novela tiene apenas algo más de una década, pero también es increíble lo mal que ha envejecido, especialmente en cuanto a la caracterización de los personajes femeninos, algunas de cuyas intervenciones me han dado vergüenza ajena. Se deja leer, pero esperaba otra cosa.
I was waiting at a friend's apartment before we could go out together. As usually happens in such appointments the person got delayed and I spotted this book lying on a table. By the time we were all set to go, I had finished a good three chapters of the book. The most famous boogeyman of the west : Bin Laden had come in as a character and an attack plan was being hatched against the US. I forgot all about it this book after that and it was only later in the library that I picked it up. Very ordinary fare is what I felt about the whole thing.
The plot is rather straightforward : Arab terrorists smuggle a nuclear bomb into NY and make an outrageous demand of America. A lot of investigation and high profile meetings later, America ends up saving itself and the world. Everyone lives happily thereafter ! This book features an ensemble cast : George W, Condolezza Rice, Pervez Musharraf, Ariel Sharon, Osama Bin Laden and a cameo by Saddam Hussein. The kind of story where a fictional plot is placed on real characters. The strength of the story is in the amount of research that the authors have done. It is fiction that works on a frighteningly possible scenario and the authors have ensured that they detail out the nightmare that will ensue if such a case came to life in reality.
The weakside however is that while the authors are brilliant writers of non-fiction, their fiction leaves a lot to be desired. Some of the dialog breaks down to worn down cliches and cyclostyled words which kills off a lot of joy. Comparing authors and their writing style is sacrilegious but this is terrain where Fredrick Forsyth or Robert Ludlum would have been surefooted. Colins and Lapierre make their prose work but not with the glitz and glamor that thriller writers usually bring to the table.
An absolutely average thriller.
Tail-end : Ace actor from India - Kamal Hassan came out with a movie named Vishwaroopam in early 2013 which told of the exploits of an Indian intelligence agent in NY. I remember seeing the movie and thinking that the ideas this man had in terms of the plot are quite unique. Now that I have been through this book, I know where his ideas stemmed from ! Oh no, I did not use the word plagiarism anywhere did I ?
Novela sobre un ataque terrorista. Me ha gustado que mezcla realidad y ficción. Habla también del conflicto Israel-Palestina. No sé si cuando los autores escribieron el libro en 2004 se podrían imaginar hasta dónde ha llegado la situación ahora. Es heavy. Tiene algún toque machista en los personajes femeninos, pero tampoco le voy a pedir peras al olmo.
El genial dúo de escritores Dominique Lapierre y Larry Collins ha vuelto a unirse tras más de 20 años de separación creativa. En su nuevo libro, “¿Arde Nueva York?”, relatan la última e inquietante amenaza que se cierne sobre Estados Unidos: una potente bomba atómica va a explotar en Nueva York llevándose consigo millones de vidas. ¿Imaginan quiénes son los malos? Bin Laden, Sadam Husein, el terrorista libanés Imad Mugnieh... Los autores del “thriller”, que han dado a la literatura universal títulos como “¿Arde París?”, “Esta noche, la libertad” o “El quinto jinete”, han creado una historia cargada del realismo que siempre ha caracterizado sus trabajos. Magazine adelanta extractos de la obra, que han sido hilados por los propios autores, por medio de textos explicativos. ¿Llegará Osama Bin Laden a apretar el botón para destruir al “Gran Satán” americano? Estaba muy entusiasmada con los autores, pero parece una pura novela policiaca, bastante deficiente.
I remember watching an interview of a very famous method actor, where the interviewer asked him that even if he had so many cult and arthouse movies to his credit, why he sometimes chose substandard movies that had no intention to do any sort of justice to his talent and capabilities. To that he smiled and answered, "Sometimes, I need money too, you see. And if it comes easy but honest, then why not? So once in a while, I do stuff that doesn't require me to apply an ounce of my brain."
I tend to put this book by Dominique Lapierre, Larry Collins in to that easy-money-no-brain category that some great artists/authors get themselves linked to. Cause, I refuse to believe the creators of "Freedom at Midnight" and "O Jerusalem" would write such ho hum thriller involving Osama, Saddam, Bush et al.
Though this book didn't have the usual volume of a Dominique lapierrie Larry Collins novel it definitely did have the quality of theirs.
Its not the same as a rob ludlum or Fred Forsyth novel's where research and attention to the minutest details will be extraordinary, this still was a fast pacy and fun read.
It clearly shows that both these authors were out of their genre and didn't dwell too deep into building a personality of the protagonist, it was more a matter of fact statement about them.
This was not a well written novel. There were several grammatical errors and not enough back story for the characters. And to top it all off there were instances where there was head hopping. The idea of the story is not bad and that is why I am giving it three stars instead of one. The dialogue seemed force and was not organic to the situation. The ending was not very suspenseful and if I were the authors I would have wanted to at least rewrite the ending.
Ce qui était intéressant dans ce livre c’est les recherches historiques derrière. La situation États Unis Moyen Orient décrite, nous rappelle à quel point les guerres de religion ont été et sont profondément dévastatrices.
Mi nota es un 4/10. ¿Arde Nueva York? es una novela escrita por Dominique Lapierre y Larry Collins que se centra en un escenario de terrorismo en la ciudad de Nueva York. La trama se desarrolla en septiembre de 2004, cuando un grupo de extremistas, liderados por Bin Laden, logra introducir una bomba nuclear de veinticinco kilotones en Manhattan. La historia comienza con la introducción de la bomba nuclear en Nueva York por parte de un grupo de extremistas. La demanda de los terroristas es clara: exigen la retirada de Israel de los territorios ocupados desde 1967. La amenaza de una explosión nuclear en una de las ciudades más importantes del mundo pone a prueba la capacidad de respuesta del gobierno estadounidense y de las autoridades locales. El presidente George W. Bush se encuentra en una situación extremadamente delicada, ya que cualquier decisión que tome podría tener consecuencias catastróficas. Mientras tanto, el alcalde Michael Bloomberg enfrenta desafíos logísticos enormes para intentar evacuar la ciudad y proteger a sus ciudadanos. John Barron, un periodista decidido, se embarca en una misión para descubrir la verdad detrás del complot terrorista. Su investigación lo lleva a desentrañar una red de conspiraciones y a enfrentarse a peligros constantes. En resumen, "¿Arde Nueva York?" es una novela que combina elementos de suspense, política y drama humano para ofrecer una visión de un posible escenario de crisis en una de las ciudades más emblemáticas del mundo. Si no has leído el libro no lo leas ya que es un libro que no te aporta absolutamente nada, sola la sensación de haber perdido el tiempo.
It is an exciting account of the post 9/11 America, when some terrorists attempt to nuclear bomb New York. The scientific and technological weapons, systems, used by Americans to thwart the terrorists' bomb is very fascinating. These guys have written an excellent book on India's freedom struggle "Freedom at Midnight". Also individually, Dominique has written "The City of Joy", which got converted into a movie.
The one star was simply for the fact that is a rehash of their earlier book- The Fifth Horseman.
This book feels like a cheap and abridged version of the older book, with names and places tweaked a bit. The only objective seems to cash in on the comparatively recent notoriety gained by Bin-Laden, specially following the 9/11 attacks. The older book was far more detailed, with proper dialogues and a smooth narrative.
Idea non proprio originalissima, sviluppata pero' in un bel racconto scorrevole, anche se mai veramente coinvolgente. Poco approfondimento sui personaggi, Bush e compari che fanno la classica figura dei peracottari. Imperdibile il finale, con Bush che afferma che, nella questione palestinese, bisogna proseguire la politica iniziata da Clinton. Ma quando mai?!?!?
Not my kind of book. I bought this book at the Dollar Tree for $1. It was worth the price. My mind kept wandering and I would have to continually re-read parts I had read. I know this isn't "politically correct" but this book reminds me of a "Guy's Book". War on terror, etc.
Triste copia di Il quinto cavaliere. Ci sono parti totalmente identiche, prese pari pari... una grandissima delusione perchè amo moltissimo Dominique Lapierre!