This book is an engrossing account of the dramatic 102 minutes on the fight to survive inside the World Trade Centre Towers from the moment they were hit to their collapse. From 8.46 am to 10.28 am, this book follows the story of those trapped inside: their efforts to help, save and escape alive.
Exhaustively researched, it details innumerable stories on different floors, elevators, and offices bringing to life the harrowing tale of desperation to survive the crash.
The authors have thrown an amazing light to all that went wrong that day too. Lack of inter agency communication, idle high powered radios, design failures, etc. It seems so shocking that those trapped inside had no clue whatsoever of the imminent fall of the towers.
Just less than 2 hours. And so many lives lost. So many saved. So many stories of valour, so many of kindness. So many of desperation, so many of helplessness.
The Tragedy just overwhelmed ….people, systems, city, country and the world.
But what won in the end was humanity. How helping each other topped the desire to escape, how staying together sometimes triumphed over the immediacy to escape. So many gave up their lives to help out someone stranded.
102 Minutes is a compulsive page turner as one wants to know what happened with every story which the authors begin to write about.
Hats off to Jim Dwyer and Kevin Dyle for conducting this amazing, detailed research and recreating the entire series of events for the day. It must have required indefatigable perseverance to do this book.
Preeta Chag 