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The South Tower: An alternate history of 9/11
"The Martian" meets "Edge of Tomorrow" in the World Trade Center.
It’s the morning of 9/11. Up in the World Trade Center’s South Tower, Nick Sandini is pitching for work when United Airlines Flight 175 smashes into the building, just a few floors below him.
As the tower burns, Nick discovers that the way down is blocked by fire and devastation . . . and the doors to the roof are locked. There seems to be no way out. But when the tower’s collapse triggers a time loop that resets Nick to the moment of impact, he realizes that it’s time to improvise.
From reader reviews on Amazon.co.uk:
“Reading the novel is a visceral, sweaty-palms experience. You feel the character’s desperation by the terse descriptions, the confused conversations and the charging pace. But just when you find yourself breathless, Canna gives you some relief, inserting moments of reflection, black comedy and even romance that give this story a satisfying emotional balance. And in the end, there’s a resolution that’ll give you goosebumps. And plenty to ponder.” D Martin
“Couldn’t put it down. Best book I have read all year. The book is BLOODY BRILLIANT. I can’t gush enough. I genuinely loved it.” Miss C.
“Alex's novel resonated with my creative imagination and I was awestruck by his creative, solution focused mindset. It is respectful of the real life tragic events that occurred and adds a small glimmer of optimism to the truly catastrophic events of 9/11 in the fact that there were survivors of the tragedy. Alex's personal experience of being affected by terrorism penetrates deep into the narrative and Alex uses his experiences to paint a vivid emotional picture of the events within the book. Highly recommended!” Oliver
“It’s a wild, wild ride, along the lines of the Tom Cruise & Emily Blunt movie, Edge of Tomorrow/Live, Die, Repeat. Everything – or almost everything – is framed in 56-minute, adrenaline-soaked bursts, which become almost unbearably tense in the last few chapters.
( . . . ) The South Tower leaves plenty of loose ends dangling in the breeze of its final collapse. The format of the book doesn’t allow for everything to be carefully wrapped up, but there’s a novelist’s-perspective afterword that offers some insights on why more people weren’t rescued and I found this quite gripping too. But after you finally set the novel aside, I can promise you’ll still be left with plenty to think about.” Celia Dyer
It’s the morning of 9/11. Up in the World Trade Center’s South Tower, Nick Sandini is pitching for work when United Airlines Flight 175 smashes into the building, just a few floors below him.
As the tower burns, Nick discovers that the way down is blocked by fire and devastation . . . and the doors to the roof are locked. There seems to be no way out. But when the tower’s collapse triggers a time loop that resets Nick to the moment of impact, he realizes that it’s time to improvise.
From reader reviews on Amazon.co.uk:
“Reading the novel is a visceral, sweaty-palms experience. You feel the character’s desperation by the terse descriptions, the confused conversations and the charging pace. But just when you find yourself breathless, Canna gives you some relief, inserting moments of reflection, black comedy and even romance that give this story a satisfying emotional balance. And in the end, there’s a resolution that’ll give you goosebumps. And plenty to ponder.” D Martin
“Couldn’t put it down. Best book I have read all year. The book is BLOODY BRILLIANT. I can’t gush enough. I genuinely loved it.” Miss C.
“Alex's novel resonated with my creative imagination and I was awestruck by his creative, solution focused mindset. It is respectful of the real life tragic events that occurred and adds a small glimmer of optimism to the truly catastrophic events of 9/11 in the fact that there were survivors of the tragedy. Alex's personal experience of being affected by terrorism penetrates deep into the narrative and Alex uses his experiences to paint a vivid emotional picture of the events within the book. Highly recommended!” Oliver
“It’s a wild, wild ride, along the lines of the Tom Cruise & Emily Blunt movie, Edge of Tomorrow/Live, Die, Repeat. Everything – or almost everything – is framed in 56-minute, adrenaline-soaked bursts, which become almost unbearably tense in the last few chapters.
( . . . ) The South Tower leaves plenty of loose ends dangling in the breeze of its final collapse. The format of the book doesn’t allow for everything to be carefully wrapped up, but there’s a novelist’s-perspective afterword that offers some insights on why more people weren’t rescued and I found this quite gripping too. But after you finally set the novel aside, I can promise you’ll still be left with plenty to think about.” Celia Dyer
- GenresScience Fiction
335 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 23, 2019
34 people are currently reading
69 people want to read
About the author
Alex Canna
3 books11 followersGrowing up in South Africa and the USA, I studied psychology and philosophy before becoming a windsurfing entrepreneur, a reluctant intelligence officer (working in a slowly decomposing nuclear bunker) and an advertising writer. I now live in Pembrey on the South Wales coast.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
February 17, 2022
My rating 4.7
The book "The South Tower: An Alternate History of 9/11 (Kindle Edition)" by Alex Canna is excellently written and very well crafted the character. I have to admit that the author put in the effort and studied every detail related to the 9/11 attack on the Twins Towers, even though this is a science fiction novel.
The story follows Nick, who comes to his workplace in the North Tower. His job is to assess the dangers of attacking skyscrapers. Nick is waiting for a big presentation in front of a big corporation that secures the buildings, but then there is an attack on the Twin Skyscrapers, and Nick dies for the first time. But a problem arises for Nick when he realizes that he woke up 56 minutes before the skyscraper collapsed. Nick finds himself in a time loop, and he faces himself with the task of discovering how to save the people trapped with him in a tower. Whether Nick will succeed and how many times he will die depends on his imagination.
The book you will read in one breath, and I was thrilled by the writer's imagination. I would recommend the book to fans of science fiction related to time travel.
The book "The South Tower: An Alternate History of 9/11 (Kindle Edition)" by Alex Canna is excellently written and very well crafted the character. I have to admit that the author put in the effort and studied every detail related to the 9/11 attack on the Twins Towers, even though this is a science fiction novel.
The story follows Nick, who comes to his workplace in the North Tower. His job is to assess the dangers of attacking skyscrapers. Nick is waiting for a big presentation in front of a big corporation that secures the buildings, but then there is an attack on the Twin Skyscrapers, and Nick dies for the first time. But a problem arises for Nick when he realizes that he woke up 56 minutes before the skyscraper collapsed. Nick finds himself in a time loop, and he faces himself with the task of discovering how to save the people trapped with him in a tower. Whether Nick will succeed and how many times he will die depends on his imagination.
The book you will read in one breath, and I was thrilled by the writer's imagination. I would recommend the book to fans of science fiction related to time travel.
May 3, 2020
What a ride.
The story starts peacefully by presenting Nick, the main character, going to a job interview. He’s a risk consultant and he is presenting his theory to an insurance company in the South Tower of WTC, Manhattan, New York. He’s even using as an example in his speech, something that happened a few minutes later, the 9/11 attack, that we all know about.
The ride begins immediately after and through the whole book we are inside a vortex. The author does very well presenting a very vivid description of what happened. We’ve all seen on the news the horrible consequences of the attack but still, we can’t even imagine what the people affected had been through.
From the time of the impact until the upper part of the South Tower collapses, there are 56 minutes. Trying unsuccessfully to escape, Nick and many others, including Tasha, have done their best. Too many obstacles on the way and not enough help from the outside. Still, in an alternate universe or so-called time loop, Nick gets to relive those 56 minutes over and over again, trying numerous ways to escape. He learns what works, what doesn't work, he gets to meet many people and learns lots of things about them. It seems to be a never-ending return to the moment of the impact for Nick. He was the only one that seemed to go through this. This sense of déjà-vu was pulling his brain apart. He was exhausted indeed but he felt that this parallel reality could be stopped only when he’ll succeed to save as many lives as possible. He falls in love with Tasha and the one time when he manages to escape he returns, because she doesn't. After countless 56 minutes, Nick finally escapes.
Could the casualties of the real event have been prevented? I’ve read carefully the thoughts presented in the Epilogue and I can say that I’m in line with Cann's opinion. Maybe 9/11 couldn't be foreseen, but the reactions after the attack could have been different, more efficient. We need to be more prepared in the future, as unfortunately, the world we live in is not the paradise on earth…..yet.
Canna did an amazing job with the descriptions of the places and characters but also with the details of the many escapes.
The story starts peacefully by presenting Nick, the main character, going to a job interview. He’s a risk consultant and he is presenting his theory to an insurance company in the South Tower of WTC, Manhattan, New York. He’s even using as an example in his speech, something that happened a few minutes later, the 9/11 attack, that we all know about.
The ride begins immediately after and through the whole book we are inside a vortex. The author does very well presenting a very vivid description of what happened. We’ve all seen on the news the horrible consequences of the attack but still, we can’t even imagine what the people affected had been through.
From the time of the impact until the upper part of the South Tower collapses, there are 56 minutes. Trying unsuccessfully to escape, Nick and many others, including Tasha, have done their best. Too many obstacles on the way and not enough help from the outside. Still, in an alternate universe or so-called time loop, Nick gets to relive those 56 minutes over and over again, trying numerous ways to escape. He learns what works, what doesn't work, he gets to meet many people and learns lots of things about them. It seems to be a never-ending return to the moment of the impact for Nick. He was the only one that seemed to go through this. This sense of déjà-vu was pulling his brain apart. He was exhausted indeed but he felt that this parallel reality could be stopped only when he’ll succeed to save as many lives as possible. He falls in love with Tasha and the one time when he manages to escape he returns, because she doesn't. After countless 56 minutes, Nick finally escapes.
Could the casualties of the real event have been prevented? I’ve read carefully the thoughts presented in the Epilogue and I can say that I’m in line with Cann's opinion. Maybe 9/11 couldn't be foreseen, but the reactions after the attack could have been different, more efficient. We need to be more prepared in the future, as unfortunately, the world we live in is not the paradise on earth…..yet.
Canna did an amazing job with the descriptions of the places and characters but also with the details of the many escapes.
March 23, 2022
Good fast-paced time travel story!
Canna brings an action-packed science fiction about Nick Sandini. The main character is in the upper floors of the South Tower when the traumatizing plane crash event that we are all aware of takes place. Nick has only 56 minutes to escape the horrific terrorist attack.
He tries different options in order to leave the building. However, every time he makes a bad decision and dies, somehow time goes back in some type of time loop so he can learn from his mistake and try a different escape plan.
I was somewhat apprehensive about reading this story since 9/11 brings back terrible memories. It made me have a clear recollection of the day this horrible catastrophe happened. Some disturbing 9/11 documentaries I was exposed to also came to mind.
Despite the unpleasant memories I experienced linked to this particular read, I’m still giving this book four stars since it’s really well written. But most of all, the setting was respectfully handled in the story.
Canna brings an action-packed science fiction about Nick Sandini. The main character is in the upper floors of the South Tower when the traumatizing plane crash event that we are all aware of takes place. Nick has only 56 minutes to escape the horrific terrorist attack.
He tries different options in order to leave the building. However, every time he makes a bad decision and dies, somehow time goes back in some type of time loop so he can learn from his mistake and try a different escape plan.
I was somewhat apprehensive about reading this story since 9/11 brings back terrible memories. It made me have a clear recollection of the day this horrible catastrophe happened. Some disturbing 9/11 documentaries I was exposed to also came to mind.
Despite the unpleasant memories I experienced linked to this particular read, I’m still giving this book four stars since it’s really well written. But most of all, the setting was respectfully handled in the story.
April 12, 2020
When I saw this book was about 9/11 I thought "how daring", it caught my interest since the very beginning.
This book centers on Nick, a man who happens to be in the upper floors of the South Tower when the terrible event that we are all aware of takes place. The building starts to collapse, so he has to find a way to save his own life.
Nick tries different options in order to leave the building and, here comes the entertaining thing of this story, when his decision turns out to be a bad one (and therefore dies) time goes back in some kind of time loop so he can learn from his mistake and try an alternate escape attempt.
Super original action packed story that I couldn't put down.
This book centers on Nick, a man who happens to be in the upper floors of the South Tower when the terrible event that we are all aware of takes place. The building starts to collapse, so he has to find a way to save his own life.
Nick tries different options in order to leave the building and, here comes the entertaining thing of this story, when his decision turns out to be a bad one (and therefore dies) time goes back in some kind of time loop so he can learn from his mistake and try an alternate escape attempt.
Super original action packed story that I couldn't put down.
October 22, 2019
The South Tower: An alternative history of 9/11 by Alex Canna is a time-travelling take on the tragedy. It’s certainly reminiscent of the movie Edge of Tomorrow, but crossed with an episode of Jack Bauer’s 24.
The main character, Nick Sandini, has only 56 minutes to escape the heinous terrorist attack. It seems impossible, with the utter chaos of that day, but luckily Nick has more than one chance to get out alive, and save others in the process.
The novel is written with a breakneck pace, the anxiety and desperation building with each of Alex’s attempts at escape. Mr Canna does a terrific job hooking you from the very first page and doesn’t let go until the novel’s conclusion.
The main character, Nick Sandini, has only 56 minutes to escape the heinous terrorist attack. It seems impossible, with the utter chaos of that day, but luckily Nick has more than one chance to get out alive, and save others in the process.
The novel is written with a breakneck pace, the anxiety and desperation building with each of Alex’s attempts at escape. Mr Canna does a terrific job hooking you from the very first page and doesn’t let go until the novel’s conclusion.
May 2, 2020
I’m going to start by saying that I had no desire to read this book. The events of 9/11 didn’t affect me, yet I strive to ignore references to the event to avoid sinking into that depressive thought hole. Still, it’s important to step out of your comfort zone from time to time and I’m glad I did. This book is stupendous. A man, Nick, has 56 minutes to make it out of the south tower alive after it’s been struck. He relives that time over and over again, a la Edge of Tomorrow. Trying to find the right path to safety. The ride is intense and masterfully detailed. I felt every moment of this book. Well done, Alex Canna. My only advice is to get a better cover.
May 2, 2020
In The South Tower: An alternate history of 9/11 we are presented with that familiar moment in which the hero is trapped in a desperate situation and conceives of a plan with a one in a million chance of success. He then executes the plan and gets away. But in this novel we watch as he tries the other 999,999 unsuccessful ways to get away first.
It’s not spoiling anything, since it’s the premise of the book: Nick, the protagonist, repeatedly loops through the same fifty-six minute period between the moment an airplane crashed into the South Tower and the moment the Tower collapsed. This authorial device allows Nick to explore a large number of options, some very imaginative, as he tries to escape. The reader knows that he will eventually get away, otherwise, he’d be doomed to keep going through this loop forever (which would make for a very long book). The book is written with great facility, and the author has a knack for dialogue; unfortunately, I don’t think it works well as a novel.
The time loop is the authorial device that makes the book go. Author Canna probably felt he needed to explain its workings, but he can’t. There are a couple episodes in which Nick sits with a gloomy thought-obsessed type over a glass of whiskey and they knock about ideas relating to quantum physics and such, but nothing comes of it. The time loop is the author’s device and probably should be just taken as a given and not pointed at. After all, this isn’t a book about quantum physics.
The character of Nick is given a back-story which this reader found excessively contrived and it didn’t jibe with the protagonist’s character as it had been displayed in his words and actions. Nick, unfortunately, comes off as a two-dimensional plot contrivance more than a flesh and blood person.
It is also hard for the reader to follow some of the contrivances Nick conjures up during his many attempts. I often felt that I was wandering into something like Popular Mechanics as the details of a particular plan were being presented. In some cases a diagram just works better than words.
What the book is very good at, however, is giving one a feeling of what it must have been like to be in that tower on 9/11. It also gives the reader a very clear idea of the obstacles that the people in the tower confronted, and some of the poor decisions that were made at the time. I wonder if the author wouldn’t have been better served by writing a non-fiction book about those obstacles and poor decisions, rather than trying to make it all work as a novel. He has clearly done some serious study of the conditions that existed in the Twin Towers on 9/11.
Last year I reviewed another book about the events of 9/11. An American Story by Christopher Priest is a better novel, but it is a dishonest book. Alex Canna has written a flawed novel, but he has some good points to make. I am giving it four stars out of respect for the author’s facility with novelistic technique and the work that has quite evidently gone into this. It was also a sparklingly blemish free production from an editorial standpoint, something one doesn’t find all that often in indie works.
It’s not spoiling anything, since it’s the premise of the book: Nick, the protagonist, repeatedly loops through the same fifty-six minute period between the moment an airplane crashed into the South Tower and the moment the Tower collapsed. This authorial device allows Nick to explore a large number of options, some very imaginative, as he tries to escape. The reader knows that he will eventually get away, otherwise, he’d be doomed to keep going through this loop forever (which would make for a very long book). The book is written with great facility, and the author has a knack for dialogue; unfortunately, I don’t think it works well as a novel.
The time loop is the authorial device that makes the book go. Author Canna probably felt he needed to explain its workings, but he can’t. There are a couple episodes in which Nick sits with a gloomy thought-obsessed type over a glass of whiskey and they knock about ideas relating to quantum physics and such, but nothing comes of it. The time loop is the author’s device and probably should be just taken as a given and not pointed at. After all, this isn’t a book about quantum physics.
The character of Nick is given a back-story which this reader found excessively contrived and it didn’t jibe with the protagonist’s character as it had been displayed in his words and actions. Nick, unfortunately, comes off as a two-dimensional plot contrivance more than a flesh and blood person.
It is also hard for the reader to follow some of the contrivances Nick conjures up during his many attempts. I often felt that I was wandering into something like Popular Mechanics as the details of a particular plan were being presented. In some cases a diagram just works better than words.
What the book is very good at, however, is giving one a feeling of what it must have been like to be in that tower on 9/11. It also gives the reader a very clear idea of the obstacles that the people in the tower confronted, and some of the poor decisions that were made at the time. I wonder if the author wouldn’t have been better served by writing a non-fiction book about those obstacles and poor decisions, rather than trying to make it all work as a novel. He has clearly done some serious study of the conditions that existed in the Twin Towers on 9/11.
Last year I reviewed another book about the events of 9/11. An American Story by Christopher Priest is a better novel, but it is a dishonest book. Alex Canna has written a flawed novel, but he has some good points to make. I am giving it four stars out of respect for the author’s facility with novelistic technique and the work that has quite evidently gone into this. It was also a sparklingly blemish free production from an editorial standpoint, something one doesn’t find all that often in indie works.
February 7, 2022
Phew, what a story! I wasn’t sure about reading this book after being traumatized by the actual events of September 11th. That was a horrifying day, and I was afraid the book would stir up a lot of feelings. Instead, the story is a sci-fi thriller and page-turner, and I read it in one sitting, totally enthralled.
The sci-fi element of the story is a time loop similar to Groundhog Day. Nick Sardini returns over and over again to the point the plane slams into the South Tower, and with each iteration, he learns something new in his effort to escape the building alive. Each time he has 59 minutes before the tower collapses. That time frame keeps the book’s pace ripping!
Nick, as the main character, is perfection, an ordinary guy who attempts the impossible. His even-keeled temperament and focus on logical steps keep the book from becoming too emotionally heavy. He recruits other people trapped in the tower, and we get to know them quite well as they repeatedly problem-solve during the 59 minutes they have to figure the whole thing out.
The story is told in a very tight third-person point of view, so close that it feels like first-person, and I loved that. It made me root for Nick as if my own life depended on it. The author did an amazing job tracking the details of each loop and keeping Nick’s growing knowledge organized chronologically. I didn’t find a single plot hole, and the editing is pristine.
Despite the link to the tragic day in US history, in the end, the feeling that the book evoked wasn’t misery, but gratefulness for the many ordinary people who went above and beyond that day to save others. Highly recommended.
The sci-fi element of the story is a time loop similar to Groundhog Day. Nick Sardini returns over and over again to the point the plane slams into the South Tower, and with each iteration, he learns something new in his effort to escape the building alive. Each time he has 59 minutes before the tower collapses. That time frame keeps the book’s pace ripping!
Nick, as the main character, is perfection, an ordinary guy who attempts the impossible. His even-keeled temperament and focus on logical steps keep the book from becoming too emotionally heavy. He recruits other people trapped in the tower, and we get to know them quite well as they repeatedly problem-solve during the 59 minutes they have to figure the whole thing out.
The story is told in a very tight third-person point of view, so close that it feels like first-person, and I loved that. It made me root for Nick as if my own life depended on it. The author did an amazing job tracking the details of each loop and keeping Nick’s growing knowledge organized chronologically. I didn’t find a single plot hole, and the editing is pristine.
Despite the link to the tragic day in US history, in the end, the feeling that the book evoked wasn’t misery, but gratefulness for the many ordinary people who went above and beyond that day to save others. Highly recommended.
February 12, 2020
The South Tower: An alternate history of 9/11 by Alex Canna is science fiction that tries to blend in the realities of 9/11 attacks. The premise of this book may be real but most of the story dwells in the world of implausible imagination. It takes away the poignancy of the event, is repetitive and doesn’t have anything new to offer. It begins at a breathtaking speed, re-creating the horrifying scenario with vivid details of how people tried to get out of the tower with rubble, smoke and fire around them but it leaves glaring loopholes to be filled in by your own imagination and then slows down, going round and round in a time loop.
Hope is the only light that mentors us through catastrophe. What stood out for me is the grit, the patience and the determination that the story evokes. Having said that, I wonder who would have the time and the temperament to make parachutes or ice slides to escape; who could smile or joke and blow balloons in the death zone with “blast of heat, the carnage, the noise and the gut-punching smell” and thick smoke hovering around them?
I shuddered at the language too, as you would find curse words on almost every page and you may have to deal with unnecessary technical jargon. If you like to read absurd possibilities in the midst of crisis, this could be an interesting book for you.
Hope is the only light that mentors us through catastrophe. What stood out for me is the grit, the patience and the determination that the story evokes. Having said that, I wonder who would have the time and the temperament to make parachutes or ice slides to escape; who could smile or joke and blow balloons in the death zone with “blast of heat, the carnage, the noise and the gut-punching smell” and thick smoke hovering around them?
I shuddered at the language too, as you would find curse words on almost every page and you may have to deal with unnecessary technical jargon. If you like to read absurd possibilities in the midst of crisis, this could be an interesting book for you.
August 30, 2024
Hľadala som knihu o alternatívnej histórii a táto to má v názve. Ale nedostala som celkom to, čo som čakala - o alternatívnu históriu ide len okrajovo, viac by sa hodil podtitul "MacGyver 100+1 pokusov". Čo ma však dostalo a prečo dávam 4 namiesto 3 hviezdičiek, je pomerne dlhý Doslov, ktorý presne pomenúva čo by sa stalo, keby...
October 21, 2019
The South Tower is masterfully told, beautifully written, and absolutely heart-wrenching. The premise itself is clear -- from the book's cover if not from the back blurb itself -- and the true quality of the story is evident if only in the fact that the writing snatches you in and buckles you down for the ride. The "white knuckle" adjective on the cover had me raising an eyebrow before picking it up. I don't usually do contemporary thrillers, but I'm glad curiosity got the best of me this time. The modern historical backdrop of this fictional tale is real and palpable, evocative and chilling -- a difficult hurdle to soar over, as the story must at least meet if not surpass the power and poignancy of its backstory.
Happily, Canna's narrative style and structure do it justice. This book is brilliant.
The book gripped me from page one, throwing me into the roiling miasma of a tense premonition. The tone, the word choice, the pacing, the imagery and the recreation of such a familiar city (with its unapologetic act of brushing you off like dandruff and mutual middle-finger salutations -- love!) and incident all come together to fuse as an excellent narrative. Canna's style informs and forms the pulse of this story; it's fast-beating and breathless just as it should be. I could feel everything, from the ear-popping semiweightlessness of a slowing elevator to the heart-stopping feel of a distant explosion to the the mad, malevolent window eyes of a plunging cockpit as "hell's volume knob" was given a twist...
Despite the flashbacks and the time loops and the frequent inconsistency of settings, there were only two or three times in the entire book that I felt disoriented, but I quickly regained my footing. I also appreciated the fact that the time-loop "resurrects" Nick and his colleagues over and over doesn't provide utter comfort (as it shouldn't), for there are always three alternatives: breaking free of the time-loop by surviving, breaking free by dying, and staying forever trapped in the nightmare of an eternal fight-or-flight panic mode. While a conclusion is eminent, it's uncertain -- all that's certain is that the end will determine the lasting flavor of the story. You'll have white knuckles, I promise.
This book is a thriller and a tear-jerker, yet it has its essential and comforting moments of humanity and hope just as it has its inevitable moments of desolation and death. It often brought to mind one of my favorite quotes of all time -- and one that is, ironically or not, linked to inexorably to 9/11 -- “The reason I don’t worry about society is, nineteen people knocked down two buildings and killed thousands. Hundreds of people ran into those buildings to save them. I’ll take those odds every f*cking day.” (Jon Stewart)
6 stars, forceably rounded down to 5.
Happily, Canna's narrative style and structure do it justice. This book is brilliant.
The book gripped me from page one, throwing me into the roiling miasma of a tense premonition. The tone, the word choice, the pacing, the imagery and the recreation of such a familiar city (with its unapologetic act of brushing you off like dandruff and mutual middle-finger salutations -- love!) and incident all come together to fuse as an excellent narrative. Canna's style informs and forms the pulse of this story; it's fast-beating and breathless just as it should be. I could feel everything, from the ear-popping semiweightlessness of a slowing elevator to the heart-stopping feel of a distant explosion to the the mad, malevolent window eyes of a plunging cockpit as "hell's volume knob" was given a twist...
Despite the flashbacks and the time loops and the frequent inconsistency of settings, there were only two or three times in the entire book that I felt disoriented, but I quickly regained my footing. I also appreciated the fact that the time-loop "resurrects" Nick and his colleagues over and over doesn't provide utter comfort (as it shouldn't), for there are always three alternatives: breaking free of the time-loop by surviving, breaking free by dying, and staying forever trapped in the nightmare of an eternal fight-or-flight panic mode. While a conclusion is eminent, it's uncertain -- all that's certain is that the end will determine the lasting flavor of the story. You'll have white knuckles, I promise.
This book is a thriller and a tear-jerker, yet it has its essential and comforting moments of humanity and hope just as it has its inevitable moments of desolation and death. It often brought to mind one of my favorite quotes of all time -- and one that is, ironically or not, linked to inexorably to 9/11 -- “The reason I don’t worry about society is, nineteen people knocked down two buildings and killed thousands. Hundreds of people ran into those buildings to save them. I’ll take those odds every f*cking day.” (Jon Stewart)
6 stars, forceably rounded down to 5.
January 18, 2020
Nick is forced to live the worst day of his life over and over and over...
It took a while to see where this one was going but in the meantime I loved author Canna’s treatise of human complacency. Having much experience in the field of risk assessment I can tell you his thoughts on this matter especially when it come to security are spot on. No matter how devastating an incident which could have been avoided occurs, people will eventually begin to ignore security and procedures thereby ushering in the next catastrophe. Locked fire doors, emergency exits used for storage, emergency communication systems with no backup, are just a few all too common causes of lives lost that could have been saved.
But enough of that, Nick is visiting the South Tower on 9/11 and has to get out before it collapses despite ‘authorities’ telling everyone to ‘remain in place’.
He tries – and fails. But by some strange mechanism he is reborn back to an hour before his death to try again. So the book is more very dark ‘Ground Hog Day’ than alternate history.
I especially enjoyed Nick’s never ending MacGyver attempts to escape the burning building in 56 minutes. Never once was one outlandish or impossible. They were all things I might have tried (well most of them). At times I wish Nick was presented as smarter, after all he came up with a lot of creative ideas but seemed to lack some basic knowledge to pull them off. I can tell you someone immersed in risk prevention and assessment picks up a lot of understanding about the way things work. But I realized in a way this played into the story unfolding because he had to rely on many other creative people too and that made the book fascinating.
Fast paced, exciting, interesting, heart wrenching and never a dull moment – highly recommended.
It took a while to see where this one was going but in the meantime I loved author Canna’s treatise of human complacency. Having much experience in the field of risk assessment I can tell you his thoughts on this matter especially when it come to security are spot on. No matter how devastating an incident which could have been avoided occurs, people will eventually begin to ignore security and procedures thereby ushering in the next catastrophe. Locked fire doors, emergency exits used for storage, emergency communication systems with no backup, are just a few all too common causes of lives lost that could have been saved.
But enough of that, Nick is visiting the South Tower on 9/11 and has to get out before it collapses despite ‘authorities’ telling everyone to ‘remain in place’.
He tries – and fails. But by some strange mechanism he is reborn back to an hour before his death to try again. So the book is more very dark ‘Ground Hog Day’ than alternate history.
I especially enjoyed Nick’s never ending MacGyver attempts to escape the burning building in 56 minutes. Never once was one outlandish or impossible. They were all things I might have tried (well most of them). At times I wish Nick was presented as smarter, after all he came up with a lot of creative ideas but seemed to lack some basic knowledge to pull them off. I can tell you someone immersed in risk prevention and assessment picks up a lot of understanding about the way things work. But I realized in a way this played into the story unfolding because he had to rely on many other creative people too and that made the book fascinating.
Fast paced, exciting, interesting, heart wrenching and never a dull moment – highly recommended.
June 24, 2025
Fuck this book. Review to come because my goodness, Alex Canna should be ashamed.
06.24.25 update: Well, here we are again. It's funny how books I despise get me out of writing slumps, but hey, I'll take whatever motivation I can cling to. Anyway, it's been two weeks and my anger has simmered down, but this is still a horrible book and, dare I say it, offensive as hell.
Let's start with Nick, our styrofoam toast "protagonist". I don't know what the hell he looks like, since he's never given a proper description. I know he works in risk management, and that he feels guilty for the death of his family. But that doesn't endear me to him as a character, because the only other thing he has is a never-ending string of asinine ideas on how to survive the collapse of the South Tower on 9/11. Parachutes made out of staples and phone cords, dozens of balloons like this is Up, climbing down the side of the tower, amateur explosives to blow open blocked doors, a freaking SAFE - this felt like a Wile E. Coyote cartoon the longer it went on. And the most hilarious thing? All they needed to do was clear a bit of one of the stairwells instead of just giving up immediately when seeing it was blocked, and Nick wasn't even the person to discover this.
The side characters are just as flat and boring as Nick. Tash is the typical love interest who all men lust over, Garret is the typical frat boy douche, and everyone else has a one-note defining trait (former scientist, aspiring engineer, spineless weasel, the worst boss imaginable). Not one of these people is remotely sympathetic with how one-dimensional they are. Oh, and I just love how Canna decided to throw in Garret sexually harassing and assaulting female co-workers, as if him just being rude for no reason wasn't enough to know he was meant to be a bad person. That little subplot was definitely needed and not at all pointless since it effectively goes nowhere; we don't even know if Garret makes it out alive, so I guess it's a good thing we had concrete proof that he was a horrible human being who deserved to die. I think.
The "alternate history" subtitle is what pisses me off the most about this book. Canna seems to be under the impression that he knows exactly what everyone should have done on 9/11 in order for more people to be saved, and while I understand it's important to hold institutions accountable for their failures, there are some things he just doesn't get right at all. The "Gore Floor" is probably the most accurate thing in this book, and of course it's needlessly detailed, something I probably wouldn't have minded if the characters and setting and plot were as in-depth as those few pages were. But beyond the outlandish and, frankly, childish ideas Nick comes up with to save himself and Tash, Canna didn't bother to do research on certain facts about what happened that day - or, if he did, he just decided to ignore parts of it to fit into his "alternate history". The biggest offenses I picked up on are as follows:
•People on the top-most floors of the North Tower could have been saved by a specific kind of military helicopter. It's well known by now that the smoke and heat from the fire prevented that from being remotely possible, so to suggest in both the narrative and the afterword that it could have been is inaccurate and disrespectful. It's already gut-wrenching enough to know how badly the people at the top of the North Tower suffered before having to choose death by smoke inhalation, immolation, or jumping; insisting that at least 100 of them could have been spared IF ONLY THEY HAD NOTICED THAT ONE CORNER OF THE ROOF THAT WAS UNAFFECTED (allegedly) WAS SOMEHOW MAGICALLY CLEAR FOR RESCUE makes a mockery of death that everyone already knows was senseless and tragic.
•One of the upper floor of the South Tower was a makeshift infirmary right before it collapsed. Even children are smart enough to know that that's just a stupid idea for so many reasons: the fire, the smoke, the IMMINENT DANGER OF STAYING IN A TOWER ON THE BRINK OF COLLAPSE. There's no evidence to suggest paramedics and EMTs treated survivors en masse inside the towers, let alone so near the crash site of the South Tower.
•While he's not named, a firefighter with a "large mustache", as well as all the 911 operators, keep telling people to "stay put" and wait for help. While it's not explicitly stated, Joseph Pfeifer comes to mind with that description, and to depict him as a mindless drone following orders from higher ups is absolute nonsense. The man lost friends and his younger brother that day, and saved so many others by GETTING THEM OUT AND TO SAFETY, not telling people to just sit and wait for rescue. As for the 911 operators, there are recordings available of operators speaking with victims trapped and staying on the line with them, not cutting them off callously as if they were inconvenienced to be speaking with people minutes away from death. Villainizing people who don't deserve it is straight-up despicable.
•All the elevator technicians were sent home after the first plane hit the North Tower. That's not even close to the truth, which is that they either evacuated or stayed to help emergency responders. None of them were "sent home", as Canna claims. I'm not sure where he got this idea, but this is one that he pushes as absolute fact. It's one thing to "rewrite" a historical event with obvious fictional elements; it's quite another to peddle claims that take two seconds to verify by Google.
•I can definitely picture people making business deals and going about their day in the South Tower after the second plane hit, as if there wouldn't be a mass evacuation. No, people for sure were just trying to buy and trade stocks and going about their day as usual, not getting to safety before being injured or losing their lives. Even if this is supposed to be played for laughs because of juxtaposition, the rest of the book isn't strong enough to support this.
Maybe this was Canna's way of grieving over the events of 9/11, but this wasn't the way to do it. His "rewriting" of history is already fictitious, but with everything he depicts and gets wrong, it just makes his insistence of knowing better than everyone else that much more laughable. Aside from that, it's just not a very good book to begin with. Pages and pages of dialogue with no indicator of who was speaking for paragraphs at a time make for a very boring reading experience, and with everyone speaking more or less with the same tone and vocabulary, there's no variety and characters that are already paper-thin become more lifeless as a result. Maybe if this wasn't focused on looking at 9/11 in hindsight and was solely about a fictional skyscraper, it wouldn't have been as offensive...it would still be boring as all hell, but at least it wouldn't have pissed me off as much as it did.
06.24.25 update: Well, here we are again. It's funny how books I despise get me out of writing slumps, but hey, I'll take whatever motivation I can cling to. Anyway, it's been two weeks and my anger has simmered down, but this is still a horrible book and, dare I say it, offensive as hell.
Let's start with Nick, our styrofoam toast "protagonist". I don't know what the hell he looks like, since he's never given a proper description. I know he works in risk management, and that he feels guilty for the death of his family. But that doesn't endear me to him as a character, because the only other thing he has is a never-ending string of asinine ideas on how to survive the collapse of the South Tower on 9/11. Parachutes made out of staples and phone cords, dozens of balloons like this is Up, climbing down the side of the tower, amateur explosives to blow open blocked doors, a freaking SAFE - this felt like a Wile E. Coyote cartoon the longer it went on. And the most hilarious thing? All they needed to do was clear a bit of one of the stairwells instead of just giving up immediately when seeing it was blocked, and Nick wasn't even the person to discover this.
The side characters are just as flat and boring as Nick. Tash is the typical love interest who all men lust over, Garret is the typical frat boy douche, and everyone else has a one-note defining trait (former scientist, aspiring engineer, spineless weasel, the worst boss imaginable). Not one of these people is remotely sympathetic with how one-dimensional they are. Oh, and I just love how Canna decided to throw in Garret sexually harassing and assaulting female co-workers, as if him just being rude for no reason wasn't enough to know he was meant to be a bad person. That little subplot was definitely needed and not at all pointless since it effectively goes nowhere; we don't even know if Garret makes it out alive, so I guess it's a good thing we had concrete proof that he was a horrible human being who deserved to die. I think.
The "alternate history" subtitle is what pisses me off the most about this book. Canna seems to be under the impression that he knows exactly what everyone should have done on 9/11 in order for more people to be saved, and while I understand it's important to hold institutions accountable for their failures, there are some things he just doesn't get right at all. The "Gore Floor" is probably the most accurate thing in this book, and of course it's needlessly detailed, something I probably wouldn't have minded if the characters and setting and plot were as in-depth as those few pages were. But beyond the outlandish and, frankly, childish ideas Nick comes up with to save himself and Tash, Canna didn't bother to do research on certain facts about what happened that day - or, if he did, he just decided to ignore parts of it to fit into his "alternate history". The biggest offenses I picked up on are as follows:
•People on the top-most floors of the North Tower could have been saved by a specific kind of military helicopter. It's well known by now that the smoke and heat from the fire prevented that from being remotely possible, so to suggest in both the narrative and the afterword that it could have been is inaccurate and disrespectful. It's already gut-wrenching enough to know how badly the people at the top of the North Tower suffered before having to choose death by smoke inhalation, immolation, or jumping; insisting that at least 100 of them could have been spared IF ONLY THEY HAD NOTICED THAT ONE CORNER OF THE ROOF THAT WAS UNAFFECTED (allegedly) WAS SOMEHOW MAGICALLY CLEAR FOR RESCUE makes a mockery of death that everyone already knows was senseless and tragic.
•One of the upper floor of the South Tower was a makeshift infirmary right before it collapsed. Even children are smart enough to know that that's just a stupid idea for so many reasons: the fire, the smoke, the IMMINENT DANGER OF STAYING IN A TOWER ON THE BRINK OF COLLAPSE. There's no evidence to suggest paramedics and EMTs treated survivors en masse inside the towers, let alone so near the crash site of the South Tower.
•While he's not named, a firefighter with a "large mustache", as well as all the 911 operators, keep telling people to "stay put" and wait for help. While it's not explicitly stated, Joseph Pfeifer comes to mind with that description, and to depict him as a mindless drone following orders from higher ups is absolute nonsense. The man lost friends and his younger brother that day, and saved so many others by GETTING THEM OUT AND TO SAFETY, not telling people to just sit and wait for rescue. As for the 911 operators, there are recordings available of operators speaking with victims trapped and staying on the line with them, not cutting them off callously as if they were inconvenienced to be speaking with people minutes away from death. Villainizing people who don't deserve it is straight-up despicable.
•All the elevator technicians were sent home after the first plane hit the North Tower. That's not even close to the truth, which is that they either evacuated or stayed to help emergency responders. None of them were "sent home", as Canna claims. I'm not sure where he got this idea, but this is one that he pushes as absolute fact. It's one thing to "rewrite" a historical event with obvious fictional elements; it's quite another to peddle claims that take two seconds to verify by Google.
•I can definitely picture people making business deals and going about their day in the South Tower after the second plane hit, as if there wouldn't be a mass evacuation. No, people for sure were just trying to buy and trade stocks and going about their day as usual, not getting to safety before being injured or losing their lives. Even if this is supposed to be played for laughs because of juxtaposition, the rest of the book isn't strong enough to support this.
Maybe this was Canna's way of grieving over the events of 9/11, but this wasn't the way to do it. His "rewriting" of history is already fictitious, but with everything he depicts and gets wrong, it just makes his insistence of knowing better than everyone else that much more laughable. Aside from that, it's just not a very good book to begin with. Pages and pages of dialogue with no indicator of who was speaking for paragraphs at a time make for a very boring reading experience, and with everyone speaking more or less with the same tone and vocabulary, there's no variety and characters that are already paper-thin become more lifeless as a result. Maybe if this wasn't focused on looking at 9/11 in hindsight and was solely about a fictional skyscraper, it wouldn't have been as offensive...it would still be boring as all hell, but at least it wouldn't have pissed me off as much as it did.
March 2, 2020
The South Tower
An Alternate History of 9/11
If you're old enough, you remember exactly where you were when you first saw the news about the attacks on the World Trade Center.
Alex Canna takes this well known tragedy and gives it a time loop. The South Tower, An Alternate History of 9/11 is a thriller wrapped in a mystery. Our hero Nick Sandini, who was attending a meeting high up in the South Tower when the first plane hits, tries endlessly to flee the building. London-based Canna says a near miss with the Piccadilly Line bomb on 7/7 led to his interest in 9/11.
It's the ultimate escape novel. Nick's repeated and often elaborate and ingenious efforts to get out of the building end in disaster, over and over again. Seemingly he dies, but on the next page there he is, back in the same meeting room, ready to try again. From episode to episode, he learns and remembers, and each attempt is more efficient than its predecessor. Canna provides just enough detail that we can make sense of the complex devices he's invented. Nick knows the South Tower will collapse in less than an hour and that adds urgency to his efforts.
Along the way he collects various characters who give him a hand, but only one, a young Indian woman named Tash, is fully realized as a person. As new characters arrive on the scene, they rather curiously take a moment to politely introduce each other. Some characters have unexpected skill sets, like the woman who knows how to make explosives. Some are bullies and one is positively loathsome.
There is finely crafted suspense in these hectic scenes which are interspersed with occasional periods of relative calm, most of which are plausible. In Part Two Canna uses one of those rest stops to give us some valuable back story about Nick and Tash. It was about that point in this fairly long book that my interest shifted from the suspense to the mystery. I just wanted to know how the time loops were happening.
For this reader, there were a few too many loops, despite the numerous cleverly wrought contraptions for leaving the building. But I can recommend it wholeheartedly for fans of nail biting suspense.
An Alternate History of 9/11
If you're old enough, you remember exactly where you were when you first saw the news about the attacks on the World Trade Center.
Alex Canna takes this well known tragedy and gives it a time loop. The South Tower, An Alternate History of 9/11 is a thriller wrapped in a mystery. Our hero Nick Sandini, who was attending a meeting high up in the South Tower when the first plane hits, tries endlessly to flee the building. London-based Canna says a near miss with the Piccadilly Line bomb on 7/7 led to his interest in 9/11.
It's the ultimate escape novel. Nick's repeated and often elaborate and ingenious efforts to get out of the building end in disaster, over and over again. Seemingly he dies, but on the next page there he is, back in the same meeting room, ready to try again. From episode to episode, he learns and remembers, and each attempt is more efficient than its predecessor. Canna provides just enough detail that we can make sense of the complex devices he's invented. Nick knows the South Tower will collapse in less than an hour and that adds urgency to his efforts.
Along the way he collects various characters who give him a hand, but only one, a young Indian woman named Tash, is fully realized as a person. As new characters arrive on the scene, they rather curiously take a moment to politely introduce each other. Some characters have unexpected skill sets, like the woman who knows how to make explosives. Some are bullies and one is positively loathsome.
There is finely crafted suspense in these hectic scenes which are interspersed with occasional periods of relative calm, most of which are plausible. In Part Two Canna uses one of those rest stops to give us some valuable back story about Nick and Tash. It was about that point in this fairly long book that my interest shifted from the suspense to the mystery. I just wanted to know how the time loops were happening.
For this reader, there were a few too many loops, despite the numerous cleverly wrought contraptions for leaving the building. But I can recommend it wholeheartedly for fans of nail biting suspense.
April 22, 2021
This is a great example of a classic time-loop story as Nick finds himself returning again and again to the moment the plane smashed into the tower. Can he find a way to escape, and possibly help others out, too?
Curiosity first drew me to this book. I was curious to see what the author would do here - having lived through that time and remembering seeing most of the tragedy live on television. I was concerned about the setting - but it was well and respectfully handled in the story.
Elements I liked:
The time-loop is well done and the story well-written. The fast pace and suspense held my attention, gripped me really, taking me from hope to despair and back again. Each time through the loop I hoped would see Nick finding the solution! The story really had me rooting for Nick and those others who tried to help.
The author did a really good job of showing how the same people can react to the same situation differently depending on some apparently small things. The story also showed the great variety of reactions people can have to extreme circumstances – both the helpful reactions and the harmful. And the story avoided the hazard of too much repetition that can be a problem in stories of this type.
I liked how the author used the idea of repeated exposure to stress to help hone a person’s reactions to unprecedented events. The story really illustrated this.
Elements I struggled with:
Just a couple of times, I had trouble keeping straight which of the secondary characters Nick was interacting with in a particular loop. A little minor thing that didn’t affect my enjoyment but had me pausing to dig through my memory—and sometimes the book—to figure out who they were from previous interactions.
Overall:
I really enjoyed this story. It’s an exciting, engaging thriller and well worth reading.
Curiosity first drew me to this book. I was curious to see what the author would do here - having lived through that time and remembering seeing most of the tragedy live on television. I was concerned about the setting - but it was well and respectfully handled in the story.
Elements I liked:
The time-loop is well done and the story well-written. The fast pace and suspense held my attention, gripped me really, taking me from hope to despair and back again. Each time through the loop I hoped would see Nick finding the solution! The story really had me rooting for Nick and those others who tried to help.
The author did a really good job of showing how the same people can react to the same situation differently depending on some apparently small things. The story also showed the great variety of reactions people can have to extreme circumstances – both the helpful reactions and the harmful. And the story avoided the hazard of too much repetition that can be a problem in stories of this type.
I liked how the author used the idea of repeated exposure to stress to help hone a person’s reactions to unprecedented events. The story really illustrated this.
Elements I struggled with:
Just a couple of times, I had trouble keeping straight which of the secondary characters Nick was interacting with in a particular loop. A little minor thing that didn’t affect my enjoyment but had me pausing to dig through my memory—and sometimes the book—to figure out who they were from previous interactions.
Overall:
I really enjoyed this story. It’s an exciting, engaging thriller and well worth reading.
June 17, 2025
The middle of this book was fascinating. It reminded me of the old school Choose Your Own Adventure books where you keep hitting bad ending after bad ending. The imagery of the deaths were emotional at times. I actually took a nap after reading a portion of the book and had intense dreams set in that universe. The author describes the setting and events very well.
The beginning and ending were lacking though. The start of the book felt a bit amateurish in execution, and for me the ending came out of nowhere. I'm not a time loop expert so I had no idea what was going on, but it felt like the story was getting so big in trying to pull off a huge rescue, that when it actually happened I was like "that's it already?" I was left wanting a bit more of a conclusion or explanation.
I'd be interested in a sort of mythbusting on what eventually happens, as it's fascinating to think about. I also think it would be interesting to get another story from the author set in one of the other planes.
The beginning and ending were lacking though. The start of the book felt a bit amateurish in execution, and for me the ending came out of nowhere. I'm not a time loop expert so I had no idea what was going on, but it felt like the story was getting so big in trying to pull off a huge rescue, that when it actually happened I was like "that's it already?" I was left wanting a bit more of a conclusion or explanation.
I'd be interested in a sort of mythbusting on what eventually happens, as it's fascinating to think about. I also think it would be interesting to get another story from the author set in one of the other planes.
December 6, 2023
This was a really strong read.
I’m a few days removed from completing it, but in additional to handling the 9/11 attacks with, I feel, as much grace and sensitivity as one can, Alex Canna took a really interesting direction with the sci-fi plot.
This is the story of Nick Sandini, someone who carries with him an enormous amount of guilt over the death of his family, who is planted on the upper floors of the South WTC tower during the attacks, who is reborn time and time and time again to live those final moments before the tower crumbles.
He tries different methods of escape, from the ridiculous to the inventive to the desperate. In rare occasions, he saves a life at the cost of his own, or survives the collapse only to perish of his injuries, or not saving enough people. Canna makes this about the emotional journey of Sandini, suffering the torment of death after death while taking it upon himself to not only save himself, but as many as possible.
Meeting a variety of people in each iteration, several fascinating comments are made that elevate this book above simple time loop fictions. As the big bang itself was miraculous and perfect, what if it took many, many times to get right. What if Nick is going to keep trying until he gets it right, and that’s how it works sometimes, and it will continue until the universe is satisfied. What if he’s a cognizant video game character, a character in a book, and rejects this proposal only after sitting through death after death, proving the lack of entertainment for a player. In one timeline a character remarks that while he gets to live in future timelines, she dies each and every time, and she doesn’t get to come back.
The final solution is really powerful, and don’t think I missed the pink tie on that dead body.
Highly recommended.
I’m a few days removed from completing it, but in additional to handling the 9/11 attacks with, I feel, as much grace and sensitivity as one can, Alex Canna took a really interesting direction with the sci-fi plot.
This is the story of Nick Sandini, someone who carries with him an enormous amount of guilt over the death of his family, who is planted on the upper floors of the South WTC tower during the attacks, who is reborn time and time and time again to live those final moments before the tower crumbles.
He tries different methods of escape, from the ridiculous to the inventive to the desperate. In rare occasions, he saves a life at the cost of his own, or survives the collapse only to perish of his injuries, or not saving enough people. Canna makes this about the emotional journey of Sandini, suffering the torment of death after death while taking it upon himself to not only save himself, but as many as possible.
Meeting a variety of people in each iteration, several fascinating comments are made that elevate this book above simple time loop fictions. As the big bang itself was miraculous and perfect, what if it took many, many times to get right. What if Nick is going to keep trying until he gets it right, and that’s how it works sometimes, and it will continue until the universe is satisfied. What if he’s a cognizant video game character, a character in a book, and rejects this proposal only after sitting through death after death, proving the lack of entertainment for a player. In one timeline a character remarks that while he gets to live in future timelines, she dies each and every time, and she doesn’t get to come back.
The final solution is really powerful, and don’t think I missed the pink tie on that dead body.
Highly recommended.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 10, 2022
A breathtaking book-could not put it down after picking it up. Alex balances masterful dialogue and action very well with an amazing core concept of 9/11 mixed with Edge of Tomorrow. He clearly did his research, I even caught a hint of some conspiracy theories. My only issue was that the ending was a little abrupt and safer than I expected, but it served the story. The main character, Nick, was also a little too much of a perfect action hero who lacked emotion. The writing is very well edited to the point where it feels professionally published, and the book is maintained through a creative flow and the author's unique imagination.
June 6, 2024
9/11 strikes me as odd choice for a thriller novel but I wanted to stick with it just for curiosity. To be honest, it was mostly shock and awe with gory bits thrown in for good measure.
Brief mentions of real victims, identified by the injuries they suffered was jarring. Knowing who those people were from real survivors account highlighted how frivolous this novel is. 9/11 isn’t the event to play Groundhog Day with.
In the final notes from the author, there was some lazy researching when he referenced the Manchester Arena bomb in 2017 in the UK. The ARIANA Grande (her first name was missing) concert took place on MONDAY 22nd May 2017 not a Saturday night.
Brief mentions of real victims, identified by the injuries they suffered was jarring. Knowing who those people were from real survivors account highlighted how frivolous this novel is. 9/11 isn’t the event to play Groundhog Day with.
In the final notes from the author, there was some lazy researching when he referenced the Manchester Arena bomb in 2017 in the UK. The ARIANA Grande (her first name was missing) concert took place on MONDAY 22nd May 2017 not a Saturday night.
August 21, 2021
Wow!
Well written, thought provoking, a real page-turner. Many scenarios, about how a person might be able to escape a disaster, with no time to plan... unless you are made to re-live your last moments over and over, until you get it right.
Well written, thought provoking, a real page-turner. Many scenarios, about how a person might be able to escape a disaster, with no time to plan... unless you are made to re-live your last moments over and over, until you get it right.
July 2, 2025
Profoundly good
Alot different to my usual read but found this intensely interesting and a real page turner. Wasn't sure to begin with why this book was written regarding such a horrible event but explains all at the end.
Happy reading 📚
Alot different to my usual read but found this intensely interesting and a real page turner. Wasn't sure to begin with why this book was written regarding such a horrible event but explains all at the end.
Happy reading 📚
March 18, 2020
A great read
Wow, what a concept, this was an awesome book, I couldn't put it down. Well done. I highly recommend this book.
Wow, what a concept, this was an awesome book, I couldn't put it down. Well done. I highly recommend this book.
November 4, 2025
…what have I just read?
February 22, 2020
In movie terms, The South Tower could be Groundhog Day meets The Towering Inferno.
While the novel could be considered in terms of Nick Sandini’s determination to live and persistence in trying to find an escape route from the burning skyscraper, I found it was Alex Caana’s imagination and skill as a writer that kept the pages turning. That said, but the middle, it was becoming a bit repetitious and I wondered how Alex planned to wrap up the story. No spoilers here, but I found the ending a letdown. I would read another of Alex’s stories.
While the novel could be considered in terms of Nick Sandini’s determination to live and persistence in trying to find an escape route from the burning skyscraper, I found it was Alex Caana’s imagination and skill as a writer that kept the pages turning. That said, but the middle, it was becoming a bit repetitious and I wondered how Alex planned to wrap up the story. No spoilers here, but I found the ending a letdown. I would read another of Alex’s stories.
February 9, 2020
For a story that is “entirely a work of fiction”, portraying events that are “the work of the author’s imagination” there seems to be a lot of this story that is already familiar. I feel like it would have been a more interesting story if it were about an escape from an anonymous incident. I wouldn’t have had the same pre-conceived ideas and the same foreknowledge. Because we know from the start that a plane is going to hit the tower block, the beginning seems painfully slow.
I like the author’s writing style, but I don’t think there was enough of a story in this to stop it from feeling repetitive and strained. It could have worked as a short story, but as a novel, it didn’t hold my interest for long enough. If you are interested in the World Trade Centre and 9/11 stories, you might like this alternative fiction. It wasn’t for me.
I like the author’s writing style, but I don’t think there was enough of a story in this to stop it from feeling repetitive and strained. It could have worked as a short story, but as a novel, it didn’t hold my interest for long enough. If you are interested in the World Trade Centre and 9/11 stories, you might like this alternative fiction. It wasn’t for me.
November 23, 2019
This is one of the most thought-provoking books I’ve read in a while. On one hand, I wonder, “How soon is too soon to start writing 9/11 based fiction?” It’s been eighteen years, but for people who watched it live, or even witnessed it firsthand, it might not seem like that long at all. Some of you readers out there might find this a little too unsettling to get into, but others will definitely find it fascinating. NIck, a man who goes to a job interview on one of the upper floors of the South Tower of the World Trade Center, suddenly finds himself in the middle of a disaster as a plane strikes the building. Learning that the stairways are blocked, he and some others attempt to get to the roof, only to find that it’s inaccessible. Sadly, their attempt to escape comes to a sudden end as the building collapses, yet instead of dying, Nick finds himself right back at the moment of impact, with his knowledge of the disaster intact. This repeats itself again and again as Nick tries to learn from the mistakes of his previous escape attempts to navigate his way out of the building.
Some of his escape attempts border on absurd, which causes certain points of this book to almost read as dark comedy - not sure if this was intentional or not, but without giving too much away, I’ll say that the most conspicuous part where this happens involves a news helicopter. Many of Nicks attempts are quite creative, and some, to varying degrees, actually work. As for why he continues to reloop after these “successes”, you’ll have to read that for yourself. The best thing about this book is it’s never boring. It gets to the meat of the action within the first chapter and doesn’t let up until the end. For those of you who are okay with the subject matter, I suggest you check it out.
Some of his escape attempts border on absurd, which causes certain points of this book to almost read as dark comedy - not sure if this was intentional or not, but without giving too much away, I’ll say that the most conspicuous part where this happens involves a news helicopter. Many of Nicks attempts are quite creative, and some, to varying degrees, actually work. As for why he continues to reloop after these “successes”, you’ll have to read that for yourself. The best thing about this book is it’s never boring. It gets to the meat of the action within the first chapter and doesn’t let up until the end. For those of you who are okay with the subject matter, I suggest you check it out.
January 15, 2020
If you’ve seen Edge of Tomorrow, you’ll know what someone on a ‘Live, Die, repeat’ time loop is probably experiencing. The South Tower: An alternate history of 9/11, is an action packed and innovative story.
Nick, an insurance specialist, has an interview in the South Tower. He just about makes it on time. While explaining his risk evaluation model to senior executives, they are interrupted by an incident on the North Tower. Very soon after, he witnesses an airplane bank and impact the tower he is in.
He tries to make it out with everyone else, but their attempts are futile when the tower collapses. A flash later, he’s on the floor, at the time of the airplane impact. This time around, he seeks assistance from a colleague and makes more headway, but the tower collapses. A second later, he’s back at the moment of impact.
Nick has an advantage. He’s constantly learning what works, and what doesn’t. He’s picking up on his colleagues’ traits and figures how to get them to help him, quickly and without hesitation. He makes numerous relentless attempts to get it right, to save himself and a few hundred others. Can he learn enough to act quickly? Can he ever make it?
Alex Canna’s exploration of the numerous options survivors might have tried out, in an attempt to escape a monstrous fire below themselves, is deeply insightful. He’s packed heaps of urban survival knowledge into simply narrated drama.
It's gripping enough that you'll probably read the book in one sitting. I did.
Nick, an insurance specialist, has an interview in the South Tower. He just about makes it on time. While explaining his risk evaluation model to senior executives, they are interrupted by an incident on the North Tower. Very soon after, he witnesses an airplane bank and impact the tower he is in.
He tries to make it out with everyone else, but their attempts are futile when the tower collapses. A flash later, he’s on the floor, at the time of the airplane impact. This time around, he seeks assistance from a colleague and makes more headway, but the tower collapses. A second later, he’s back at the moment of impact.
Nick has an advantage. He’s constantly learning what works, and what doesn’t. He’s picking up on his colleagues’ traits and figures how to get them to help him, quickly and without hesitation. He makes numerous relentless attempts to get it right, to save himself and a few hundred others. Can he learn enough to act quickly? Can he ever make it?
Alex Canna’s exploration of the numerous options survivors might have tried out, in an attempt to escape a monstrous fire below themselves, is deeply insightful. He’s packed heaps of urban survival knowledge into simply narrated drama.
It's gripping enough that you'll probably read the book in one sitting. I did.
January 17, 2020
The South Tower is a speculative science-fiction tale centered around the events of 9/11. The hero is stuck in a repeating time-travel loop, trying to make things right. Think Groundhog Day in a very grim setting. There is plenty of action, as people try to cope with something which no one could have imagined. Much has been written about the events of that day, and the author seems to have done quite a bit of research into the gruesome details. It does
take a strong stomach to read some of this, but of course some things cannot be prettied up. I was a little disappointed that there is no resolution the ‘why’ of the repeating time-travel, but I am not sure what good resolution could have been written to that part. All in all, this is a very good read.
take a strong stomach to read some of this, but of course some things cannot be prettied up. I was a little disappointed that there is no resolution the ‘why’ of the repeating time-travel, but I am not sure what good resolution could have been written to that part. All in all, this is a very good read.
October 14, 2019
If at first you don’t succeed . . . Nick is an insurance underwriter from the Midwest attempting to improve his professional future in New York City. This begins with a scheduled presentation which happens to take place on one of the upper floors of the South Tower. His nervousness and impatience is palpable as he navigates the city’s crowded streets the morning of 9-11, the fateful day of the terror attacks. In a weird twist some of his selling points in his presentation involve a nearly prophetic scenario of what was about to happen.
In an even more bazaar twist, Nick’s actions following the plane’s impact, enters into a time loop where he is able to adjust his various choices in an effort to save himself and others. The story was well-written and absorbing as we witness Nick’s thought process during the tragedy. We witness an unbelievable assortment of possible solutions being presented along with an even greater amount of disastrous consequences resulting from his actions as the intensity increases. An extremely thought provoking story, which is presented well. I think the danger element would have seemed greater if Nick hadn’t felt assured of always getting another chance to get it right. Highly Recommended.
In an even more bazaar twist, Nick’s actions following the plane’s impact, enters into a time loop where he is able to adjust his various choices in an effort to save himself and others. The story was well-written and absorbing as we witness Nick’s thought process during the tragedy. We witness an unbelievable assortment of possible solutions being presented along with an even greater amount of disastrous consequences resulting from his actions as the intensity increases. An extremely thought provoking story, which is presented well. I think the danger element would have seemed greater if Nick hadn’t felt assured of always getting another chance to get it right. Highly Recommended.
October 29, 2019
Ever since 9/11, most people have probably asked ourselves "Could more people have found a way out from above the impact zones?" and "Was there anything the authorities could have done to save more lives?"
The South Tower is an ultra-engrossing attempt to answer those questions. By following one particularly resourceful and determined person through a series of time loops, this very well-researched thriller works through a multitude of thought experiments: 'What about a helicopter rescue?' 'Could people have got down the elevator shafts?' 'Could the collapses have been delayed?' and many more, some of them quite jaw-dropping while never straying into Hollywood-ish fantasy.
While that's going on, the author also creates powerful emotional journeys for the main characters. Read it if you want to be left breathless, with a lump in your throat, and very, very thoughtful.
The South Tower is an ultra-engrossing attempt to answer those questions. By following one particularly resourceful and determined person through a series of time loops, this very well-researched thriller works through a multitude of thought experiments: 'What about a helicopter rescue?' 'Could people have got down the elevator shafts?' 'Could the collapses have been delayed?' and many more, some of them quite jaw-dropping while never straying into Hollywood-ish fantasy.
While that's going on, the author also creates powerful emotional journeys for the main characters. Read it if you want to be left breathless, with a lump in your throat, and very, very thoughtful.
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