The Glass Inferno

by Thomas N. Scortia, Frank M. Robinson

It burst into flame without warning, an incendiary death trap claiming victims as powerless against the blaze as the firefighters 66 stories below. Their emotions laid bare, hundreds cringed or found new courage—millionaires, criminals, lovers, children—in a reign of raw panic from which few—or none—would escape.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Audiobook, Classics, Suspense, Adventure, Mystery Thriller

375 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Thomas Nicholas Scortia was a science fiction author. He worked in the American aerospace industry until the late 1960s/early 1970s. He collaborated on several works with fellow author Frank M. Robinson. He sometimes used the pseudonyms Scott Nichols, Gerald MacDow, and Arthur R. Kurtz.

Scortia was born in Alton, Illinois. He attended Washington University in St. Louis, where he earned a degree in chemistry in 1949. He worked for a number of aerospace companies during the 1950s and 1960s, and held a patent for the fuel used by one of the Jupiter fly-by missions.

Scortia had been writing in his spare time while still working in the aerospace field. When the industry began to see increased unemployment in the early 1970s, Scortia decided to try his hand at full-time writing. His first novel, The Glass Inferno (in collaboration with Frank M. Robinson) was the inspiration for the 1974 film The Towering Inferno. Scortia also collaborated with Dalton Trumbo on the novel The Endangered Species.

Scortia died of leukemia in La Verne, California on April 29, 1986.

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spectacular. The main plot of this novel centers on a skyscraper that catches fire, but the book is remarkably character-driven. There is no one single narrative voice, there is no heavy-handed denouncement of technology or greed, and there is no saccharine commentary overlaying the story. Instead, the chapters focus, in great detail, on interesting, flawed, delightfully human characters. The cast is also quite diverse, featuring people of different ages, skin color, gender, sexual orientation, ability, religion, and mental health. The story doesn’t center on a single “hero”; rather, the ensemble of protagonists share the stage in a story big enough for many main characters. What follows is an intensely personal story of ordinary people who find themselves in an extraordinary situation.

The writing style is wonderful, with the tension building slowly throughout the story, and with an ending that feels, if not happy, at least resolved. Characters grow and become strong, or they cower and become weak, and they die (or not), and by the end, I felt as though I had been on the journey with them. The authors have an incredibly powerful style, and as they bring together the different story threads of the many different characters, they weave an elaborate work of art.

What has stayed most strongly in my mind in the days since I’ve finished this has been the myriad ways this book is ahead of its time in terms of prejudice and social conscience. I’d go as far as to say that it’s even ahead of our time. One of the main characters is a drug addict suffering from heroin withdrawal—a side of life not often shown in novels like this. There is a gay man, but his story has no trace of tokenism; rather, he is a fully developed and nuanced character. His sexual orientation is part of who he is, and even while he faces judgment and criticism from strangers, he rises above it all with a grace and dignity that is a marvel to behold. There is a black man, surrounded by racism, whose courage leads him to action; there is a woman whose strength and tenacity outshine many men. Even ageism is examined here. I don’t want to say too much because I don’t want to spoil anything, but two women—one in her 30s and one in her 60s—are treated much differently by their acquaintances. In this case, however, the woman who is 10 years “over the hill” is the 31-year-old, while the woman whose vitality still enriches her and delights others is in her 60s. The contrast between them is stark and unexpected, and it speaks to prejudices and pressures that still exist today.

This is one of the most compelling novels I’ve read, and it’s still relevant today. A phenomenal read.

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a book written over 40 years ago, this stands the test of time perfectly. I was completely drawn in and enthralled by the events, and like any good story, it has some satisfying depth, too, on several levels.

Overall the characterization is excellent. Some of the characters themselves aren't quite so spotless--some racism and homophobia and most of all sexism are thrown about, but by the unsavory, unlikable characters. It was a bit more than you'd read in a politically correct 21st century book, but the protagonists themselves more than made up for that: there are African American and Puerto Rican characters as well as white; several women take part in the epic battle as well as men; and most surprisingly of all, one of the protagonists is gay, and treated with a dignity that must have been especially rare in 1974. Ian Douglas is far from being a stereotype, and it is a pleasure to behold. Following this middle-aged man, a strong and decent man, on both the physical and metaphorical journeys he goes through in the course of this story, was really pretty amazing, again especially for the time. Sixty-something Lisolette Müller was also a delight; in a time where most female characters were still relegated to the role of helpless bystander - to say nothing of sixty-something female chatacters - I loved Lisa and cheered for her all the way.

The Glass House itself, of course, is another character who can't escape mention. Here we have a state-of-the-art (for the time) highrise, replete with commercial floors, office floors, apartments, and an observation desk and restaurant at the top. Tons of places to explore, and we get to see them all throughout the course of the story. As someone who looks at a building and wonders at all the secrets it contains, this was a thrill.

The action and suspense are top-notch. Pacing was perfect for my tastes. It starts out slow, giving you time to get the know the characters and the scenario, but never feeling too slow...then the action starts to pick up, and pick up faster, ratcheting ever faster as things get going and so many things begin happening at the same time that you can read a handful of chapters all centered on the same moment, but from different points of view...really cool.

And then under the thriller/disaster aspect (which is an entertaining story in and of it self) as I mentioned earlier with Douglas, there is a personal journey that each of the characters embarks on, in parallel to the physical journey as they deal with the fire and its effects. That was really well done.

And yet another layer is that you can tell that the authors did their homework...apart from the story, this is something that you can read and know that, chillingly, it could happen...and has happened...again and again.

I really loved reading this and I know I will re-read it several times. What a great book.

[John (JC) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book and another called The Tower were the two books used to create the movie, The Towering Inferno. This was an excellent read. It was a bit slow at the start but it quickly picked up the speed of an out of control rollercoaster. At the end of the book I caught myself saying,”What a ride!”

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This and a similar book, The Tower, were being turned into competing film adaptations when Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox decided to pool their resources and combine the stories into one epic film The Towering Inferno, with screenwriter Sterling Silliphant drawing @ 8 characters from each novel. The result was the #1 box office film of its year.

This book features many of the characters and aspects of the movie including the characters played by Fred Astaire, Jennifer Jones, OJ Simpson and ones very similar to those portrayed by Paul Newman, William Holden and Robert Wagner, with some differences. It also features other characters, some very compelling, who were left out, such as a heroic (gay) interior designer and a teenage delinquent, addicted to drugs, among others.

It's a gripping page-turner in which the fire is another character. It's also mostly realistic and delves into the characters a bit more than the film was able to. With the scenic elevator, Promenade Room, deaf tenants, water tanks, elevator shafts and other plot elements, this book is probably closest to the film versus The Tower, but there are enough differences to keep a reader entertained so that it isn't wholly predictable.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book and saw the movie many years ago, but I have reconnected with it. It is the story of a skyscraper in one large American city. All the fail proof systems failed when the building caught fire. The private lives of those who had a part in building the skyscraper were disclosed. Some of the people had been naughty. It was an edge of your seat book and movie.

Thank you, Mr. Scortia, for a good read.

[Mayda · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Glass Tower. It’s supposed to be a show-stopper of a building. It is. It’s supposed to be envied by those in the building trade. It is. It’s supposed to be a coveted place to have shops, do business, and live. It is. It’s supposed to be safe. It almost is, but not quite. Though written in 1974, this book shows no signs of being dated. In fact, the portrayal of the characters seems quite current. Most people will be familiar with the tale and have likely seen the movie roughly based on it, but reading novel will give you a new perspective, despite knowing how it will end. The authors do an excellent job of building suspense throughout the novel. The fire itself is a major player in the drama, and they don’t let readers forget that. Many characters are introduced rapidly in the beginning chapters, but readers will soon sort out the major ones. It’s a very well-plotted and and exceedingly well-written story. If you’ve only seen the movie, do yourself a favor and add this book to your reading list.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

The better of two books melded together to create the 70's disaster film The Towering Inferno (the other book being The Tower).

This book can be hard to find in a physical edition. It is on Kindle, but some users have reported bad formatting. For those without a Kindle, Archive.org has a library borrow feature (just like your favourite brick-and-mortar library!), and they do have a copy of The Glass Inferno in their catalogue for loan; you might just have to wait your turn (just like your favourite brick-and-mortar library!).

The most important thing I can say is this: give it a chance.
The first few pages -- setting up Barton's character and the overall environment of the City, the weather, etc, drag a bit. I skimmed them, you can too; there's not much really in those pages that you won't easily pick up further on in the story as the pace picks up. The gist is: it's winter, he's an architect, he's stuck in traffic and on his way to dinner with his boss at the Glass Tower, our home for the rest of the book.

Once all the other characters start streaming into the Glass Tower and we start meeting them all, things pick up neatly. The cast is excellently well-rounded and each has their own personal story and journey through the book that's unique to them -- even the fire, or as it's referred to in its own PoV parts, the 'Beast' (don't be alarmed -- it's not silly at all).

Like a lot of other reviews have mentioned, I was surprised to find Ian Douglas in this book -- a slightly self-doubting but strong, 40-something gay man operating an interior design firm out of one of the Glass Tower's business suites while trying not to worry his partner with the reality of their business finances. Douglas is a total hero throughout the story.

Why was I surprised? Because I'd just got done reading The Poseidon Adventure.

Now that right there is a book not to read if you're made at all uncomfortable by... well... just about any sort of -ism. It gets grim, and not always in an 'enjoyable' way. With the narrator as horrible to the characters as the characters were to each other in Adventure, and their close years of publication, I was more-or-less expecting a similarly... 'dated' set of characters.

Adventure was published in 1969, and Inferno in 1974, more-or-less alongside the film based on it (the studio had bought it in '73, before the book's publication). Yet despite both being stories that focused on disaster, survival, and frequently death, Gallico's Adventure is written in a bleak, mean-spirited fashion full of all the various -isms and -phobias and stereotypes that you might expect from something written in the 50's or 60's (though I'd argue that it's a bit brutish even for that period, going by other 40s-70s media I've consumed). Meanwhile Inferno, published just a few short years later, overturned my expectation of more of the same.

That's not to say the story is sanitised -- Inferno has a grisly death toll of its own amidst a wide range of character types and motivations. But on the whole, this book is just far less unpleasant. And once the main players are established, their individual journey through the disaster is easy to follow every time the story switches back to them.

Overall, well recommended.

And no, you're not imagining it -- The Towering Inferno, based on this book, inspired the writing of another book -- Nothing Lasts Forever, by Roderick Thorp.

Nothing Lasts Forever would eventually be turned into a movie of its own -- it's called Die Hard

[Dyana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a good book - a real page turner. It was well-plotted and well-written with tension building gradually and finally filled with plenty of action and suspense. That being said, the first 130 pages was dedicated to introducing the characters and their role in inhabiting the building and how diverse they all are - this portion moved at a slower pace but was not a boring read. The plot was basically character driven with the fire being the main character. It is called the "beast" and in detailed and vivid descriptions it is depicted in all aspects of its life cycle from birth to death and is depicted on pages written in italics sprinkled throughout the book. The fire starts in a small storage room deep within the building on the 17th floor.

The story is set in the 1970's in an unnamed city in the U.S. on a very wintry Thanksgiving Eve. It takes place in a state-of-the-art skyscraper called the National Curtainwall Building a.k.a. "The Glass House", a one-of-a-kind beautiful 66 story building with gold tinted glass panels on the outside and supposed to be completely safe. The building includes commercial shops, offices, a bank, residential apartments, an observation deck, a roof top expensive restaurant, penthouse, and a scenic elevator. Several things contribute to the fast spread of the fire: specifications that have been changed from the original plans, circumventing local safety codes, shoddy workmanship, cutting corners to save money 0n construction, questionable or "light" inspections, lack of communication between tenants and management, and many of the top floors are unfinished and stored with plenty of raw fuel for the fire. The fire is not immediately reported because the heat and smoke sensors are not working.

Major characters include:
- Craig Barton is the architect who designed the building. He was sent out of town on other projects after construction began on the skyscraper. He is an honest man with integrity. So, did his boss have an ulterior motive for sending him away and then calling him back at a crucial time? Unfortunately, he will become embroiled in a professional battle with his boss and contemplates quitting his job.
- Wyndom Leroux is Barton's boss and owner of the Glass House. He has a proposal which infuriates Barton. While having dinner in the Promenade Room at the top of the building, Leroux sends Baron down to the lobby, after the fire starts on the 17th floor, to assist with the firefighting operations and deal with all the complications and reporters. Leroux seems alarmed at facing everyone downstairs and owning up to the mistakes he has made.
- Dan Garfunkel is head of security and a lonely man.
-Jeffrey Quantrell of KYS-TV who is an aggressive investigative reporter doing a series on the hazards of high-rise fires. Was the glass house designed in violation of local building codes - were bribes paid to have the building codes rewritten? He's delighted to be reporting on the progress of the fire and proving his theories right.
- Michael Krost is maintenance supervisor and an alcoholic. Guess how the fire starts?
-Mario Infantino is First Assistant Fire Chief who specializes in high-rise fires and given command of this fire by Chief Karl Fuchs. Fuchs son is a firefighter. Barton and Infantino are friends and work together to figure out how to effectively put out the fire.
- Harry Jernigan is part of security, an ex-cop, and proves himself to be a hero.
- Lisolette Mueller is a retired schoolteacher whose strength, tenacity, and concern for others makes her an impressive heroine.
-Harlee Claiborne is a middle-aged con man who seeks out wealthy middle-aged women to con. He has his eyes set on Lisolette but will surprise the reader and himself with his change of heart.
-John Bigelow III is Vice President of Motivational Displays who has evening plans to break up with his mistress, Deirdre Elmon a washed-up would-be actress. Many of his displays are made of plastic, fiberglass, and foam. His death is not a pretty one.
- Lex Hughes is a God-fearing credit union manager who has some soul-searching to do when he is tempted with all the money in his care and the security cameras stop working.
-Jesus Obligado is a 15-year-old heroin addict whose mother is a cleaning lady. He's having withdrawal symptoms and looking for money to score. He will also surprise the reader.
- The Albrecht family - mom and dad are deaf mutes and the three young kids hide from the fire.
-Quinn Reynolds is the hostess in the Promenade Room restaurant and her calm poise proves instrumental as she takes care of and reassures her customers - another heroine.
- Griff Edwards is the basement boiler room senior engineer who is severely injured early on.
- Will Shevelson is the former construction supervisor who was fired by Leroux when he objected to shoddy workmanship, inferior materials, and fire code violations. He's the only one with blueprints that are reliable.
- Ian Douglas is an interior decorator who co-owns Today's Interiors on the 17th floor where the fire starts. His business and relationship with his lover Larry are failing, and he decides to burn down the store for the insurance. He chickens out and puts out his fire but is the one who discovers the fire unrelated to his. He will become a good leader and the main hero of the book.

There is a plethora of other characters, but they are woven into the story in such a way that the reader will not be confused as to who they all are. There are lots of tension and drama among them and many are caught in desperate and life-threatening situations. Most are motivated by their own goals and troubled by their own problems, but some rise above and beyond to lead others out of danger. Some survive and some don't. AND let's not forget the fire departments and fire fighters and their rescue efforts, bravery, and heroic exploits to put out the fire. Barton and Shevelson come up with a plan to put out the fire and it works! High suspense. A highly recommended read.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Book - see my review of "The Tower" by Richard Martin Stern

[Rebecca Herrington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome

Anybody that loves architecture will enjoy this book. It’s well written and imaginative. It was way better than the movie!

[Jon Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book as a scanned copy borrowed on the Internet Archive. So this is one of the 2 books said to be the inspiration for the 1974 disaster film "The Towering Inferno." I have now read both books, the other being "The Tower" first published in 1973. This book dates from 1974, the same year the movie was released, so I'm not sure how it inspired the movie, given that production on a big film like "The Towering Inferno" takes more than a year. But I digress. Let me talk about the book itself. I've read another book Thomas Scortia wrote that involves a disaster - "The Prometheus Crisis" (1975) that features an accident at a nuclear power plant. Maybe this guy wrote more books about disasters. Wait, that's more digression. On to "The Glass Inferno." My main impression of this book is how very, very talky it is. Since the book is about a large fire in a large skyscraper that houses residences, businesses, restaurants, and whatnot, there is a very large cast of characters who become caught up in the drama. Each character has a backstory and an "intriguing" character trait or two, so there is a very large amount of setup and introduction, mainly in the beginning of the book, but it continues throughout. And the book jumps around between multiple developing plot lines, only a few of which are actually interesting. There is so much talk and character development that the fire and its effects kind of get lost through a lot of the book. If the book had been a more straightforward telling of the events around the fire and the efforts to contain and quell it, the book could have easily been half its 300+ page length. And in my opinion, it would have been a much better book. But I guess that's just the way they wrote 'em back in the day. To be honest, I did a lot of skipping through the book in order to concentrate on the sections about the fire and the efforts to extinguish it. I did like the final, climax section of the book where the fire is dealt with once and for all. There was some actual tension in this section, and some interesting approaches to dealing with the peril. Overall, even given the skipping around I did, the book was a slog. Now that I've read both books that inspired the movie, it's time to watch "The Towering Inferno" for the very first time, once I locate a way to watch it for free. Three out of five stars.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recently watched The Towering Inferno, for the first time. I was quite shocked to discover that this was based on not one, but two different books. This one and The Tower.

On the front cover of this particular edition, it states "The bestselling novel on which the film epic The Towering Inferno was largely based". And after reading this, I would agree. The majority of the film is lifted from the book, making it a significantly better read than The Tower. This is much more character driven as well, which was an issue I had with The Tower, as I frequently got the characters muddled up.

I also really like the way this story was told. Once again, it's a slow build up, much like The Tower, but with the focus being heavily on the characters, you get more involved in the story. There are also chapters sprinkled throughout the book, purely told from the fire's point of view (there's a sentence I never thought I'd say). I also like the way that it begins, alternating between different characters, with the next chapter's character focus being introduced in the previous chapter. You will also recognise quite a few characters from the film itself.

This book does have its issues - with a lot of the book being character driven, it is a fair chunk longer than The Tower, but there are times when the author gets stuck on meandering plots, which do very little to drive the story forward. But the majority of chapters are quite short, sometimes as short as two pages, which do help progress the story if you are finding a particular plot slow going.

I would highly recommend reading this book, over The Tower, as it's much better, and yes, it will take you a wee while to read, but it won't seem as much of a chore as it did with The Tower.

[Jimmy Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked up the movie tie-in copy of this book, and I'm so glad I did after looking at all the reviews of the Kindle version. My paperback book was impeccably edited - no surprise there (and offered that apparently lost art of numbered pages).

With the media out of the way, "The Glass Inferno" is one of the two books on which the movie "The Towering Inferno" is based. Many of the characters in the movie, or their easily identifiable roles, can be found in this story. But the fire is clearly the star in this book, as we track it from the very beginning of the book to its sputtering conclusion.

Although the fire is the main character, it wouldn't be a disaster story without plenty of others - the alcoholic staff manager, the model who has seen better days, the junkie desperate for money to buy his fix, the bank employee alone and tempted by the open vault, to name a few. More importantly, there's the building architect who has a streak of integrity a mile wide, and the cantankerous building owner who sent the architect to another project while the building was under construction...could there be something to hide? Well, there might be, because there's a reporter who has been doing features on high rise building safety since this one was completed.

In 1974, this book was the stuff of best sellers and, in combination with The Posiden Adventure, paved the way for bigger and better movies with bigger and better special effects. Today, it's a bit of a potboiler, but unpredictable and entertaining nonetheless.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entertaining disaster novel which provided half the basis for the the blockbuster 1974 movie The Towering Inferno (the other novel the movie was based upon was The Tower by Richard Martin Stern - the titles melded together quite well, didn't they). There are some genuinely harrowing sequences in this, plus more-than-decent decent characterizations - and it gets extra points for having a major character be a heroic 40 year-old gay guy (quite progressive for a piece of mainstream popular fiction from that era). This summer I am all about reading strictly-for-pleasure books (the Michael Ondaatjes and Victor LaValles of the world can wait until fall) and this did the trick. Makes me also want to watch The Towering Inferno again, which was always my favorite disaster movie from the hallowed disaster movie craze of the 70's. Three to three-and-a-half outta five.

[andy anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exciting and a good read marred by poor editing

After watching 'The Towering Inferno", I wanted read the book the film used. I was glad I got the opportunity to do so. As usual, the book was better then the film and had more meat than the film. As much as I enjoyed the film, I enjoyed the novel so much more. I would encourage any fan of 'The Towering Inferno' to read the novel.
However, the Kindle version is completely riddled with gross errors of punctuation, incorrect word use and misspellings. It is a travesty that such a good book would be insulted with so many proof reading errors. Amazon should be ashamed that this was released in such a state. These errors are a serious distraction and could cause a perspective reader to quit reading and leave a bad taste in their assessment of the book.

[Mary Lou · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

It took me awhile to get into "The Glass Inferno" and even longer to keep all the characters straight (eventually I made a roster, which helped more than I care to admit). Despite it being years - maybe decades - since seeing it, I assumed I'd be comparing the novel to its movie adaptation, "The Towering Inferno". Instead, it felt more like a 9/11 retrospective in which people shared their experiences in the Twin Towers. This made the story all the more realistic but, if I'm honest, less enjoyable than it must have been for its original readers. Still, it was a gripping drama. The author's anthropomorphizing of the fire was particularly effective, but I think he missed an opportunity when he didn't end the novel as he started it - from the conflagration's point of view.

[Valerio Pastore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Potete anche non avere visto il film da cui è tratto (insieme ad elementi da un altro, simile romanzo), ma non importa minimamente: davvero, siamo di fronte ad una storia invecchiata benissimo (a parte lo stile linguistico) nonostante i suoi 50 anni. Ritmo altamente cinematico, descrittivo al punto da immergere il lettore e fargli sentire la puzza del fumo e il calore del fuoco!
Puro intrattenimento catastrofico con un cast finemente cesellato dove tutti hanno la loro parte nel bene e nel male, avvincente fino all'ultima pagina! Recuperatelo, riscopritelo, godetevelo dal momento in cui il fuoco, mirabilmente descritto come una creatura viva, nasce come umile scintilla, fino all'ultima battaglia in un edificio che sembra senza speranza...

[Aaron G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of the two books that inspired the film The Towering Inferno, this is the better one. Great detail, good storyline, fairly believable characters, and a nice dose of 70s kitsch. Not perfect -- some of the scenes are a little hard to envision, and some of the technical details get glossed over, particularly at the story's climax, but still very enjoyable. The descriptions of the fire as a living thing that punctuate the book are by themselves worth the time spent on this novel. Good fun, if one can say that about a book that describes tragedy, death and disaster.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of the two books used as the basis for the movie "The Towering Inferno," this one made up the bulk. In my opinion it is the more interesting book as it details how the fire spread and the efforts to fight it. The main characters are much more active; in the other book they are mostly all in set locations, and spend a lot of time philosophizing. The focus of this novel is clearly the disaster while the other book is more about human nature and how humans respond to tragedy.

Overall, I would say both are decent books and worth a read, especially if you love the movie as I do.

[Chuck Mull · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poor editing

I read this book when it first came out and enjoyed it very much. I couldn’t wait for the movie and was thrilled with it. The 3 stars is for the kindle editing of the book. This was the very worst I’ve seen in a kindle book; random commas and dashes, words split or numbers inserted, misspelled words almost made it unreadable but I struggled through it. Hopefully no other kindle book is this atrocious.

[Lyn Jensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this book and "The Tower" faired fairly well being mashed up into a single plotline in the hit movie "The Towering Inferno," the stories are different enough--and remain relevant enough--that I hope Hollywood at some point gives both books another chance. With today's green-screen technology, the special effects wouldn't be nearly so challenging or expensive as they were in the 1970's, and I can see some A-list director (and producer) taking ONE of the books and re-making it. Then at some point, someone will re-make a movie from the other book.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this book as a kid back in the 70's. I never got around to finishing it. Fast forward 40+ years later and I found my original copy. Absolutely enjoyed it. The description of "The Beast" is riveting. Highly recommended even if someone feels the story is outdated.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Far better than I remember, but perhaps it's because I was a lot younger when 'The Towering Inferno' was made. Numerous backstories about interesting characters, some of which are more likeable than others. A well-written novel.

[Alistair Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the classic disaster novel.

[Nancy Bandusky · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable "disaster" novel that starts out a bit slow, allowing the reader to engage with the multitude of characters. When the fire breaks out, the pacing moves a bit more rapidly - yet steady.

[Robert Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

I watched towering inferno so many times I stopped counting, but never read the book. The plot was the same but the characters are all different. Still a good read.

[Andrea Lightfoot · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good book, shame there was so many errors

[Justin Fraxi]

The Kindle edition of this is so riddled with errors I gave up after the first chapter. Don't buy the Kindle version, at least until they make a better one.

[Scott Oliver · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can definitely see the influences in towering inferno in this book. Names and scenes are all there

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw the movie years ago. The book is better but not by much.