Synopses & Reviews
In the page-turning tradition of
Black Hawk Down, the definitive account of the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
Mumbai, 2008. On the night of November 26, Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists attacked targets throughout the city, including the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, one of the worlds most exclusive luxury hotels. For sixty-eight hours, hundreds were held hostage as shots rang out and an enormous fire raged. When the smoke cleared, thirty-one people were dead and many more had been injured. Only the courageous actions of staff and guests including Mallika Jagad, Bob Nichols, and Taj general manager Binny Kang prevented a much higher death toll.
With a deep understanding of the region and its politics and a narrative flair reminiscent of Midnight in Peking, journalists Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy vividly unfold the tragic events in a real-life thriller filled with suspense, tragedy, history, and heroism.
Review
“An investigative masterpiece.” Tina Brown, NPR
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“A propulsive and exceedingly well-reported book that offers an intense ticktock account, the fullest we have had, of the attack on the Taj…It's a tragedy and a thriller with concussive human and political resonance. I read it in what felt like three blinks.” Dwight Garner, The New York Times
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“Mr. Levy and Ms. Scott-Clark recreate in vivid detail the genesis of Operation Bombay....The Siege reads like a thriller.” The Wall Street Journal
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“[A] spectacular narrative…reads like an expertly-constructed thriller that's all the more heart-stopping because it actually happened.” The Daily Beast
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“Compelling, pacey, unsettling” The Economist
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“Absolutely spine-chilling…as action-packed as any thriller and so hard to put down that it must surely end up as a movie.” The Times of London
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“Veteran Southeast Asia journalists Scott-Clark and Levy recreate this cataclysmic disaster with all the pulse-pumping intensity of a cinematic action thriller, recounting astonishing episodes of personal heroism while issuing a sobering indictment of the ineptitude of the government and security agencies that failed to prevent the attack and protect civilians.” Booklist
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“Thorough and compulsively readable” Library Journal
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“Important and enlightening…a great read that gives readers a better understanding of a terrorist attack from many points of view.” Kirkus Reviews
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“This minute-by-minute account of the siege comes at you like a battering ram and takes your breath away. With a masterly control of its wide canvas, it marshals a cross-section of guests, security services and heroic Taj staff, each of them, at some point, in fear for their lives” The Daily Mail
About the Author
Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy are the authors of four nonfiction books, most recently The Meadow: Kashmir 1995 - Where the Terror Began. They were finalists in the 2008 IISS Duke of Wellington Medal for military history. For 16 years they worked as foreign correspondents and investigative reporters for The Sunday Times and then The Guardian. In 2009, the One World Trust named them British Journalists of the Year; they were also named Foreign Correspondents of the Year in 2007. They have co-produced documentaries for British and American television, their most recent on Kashmir, and the upcoming Children of the Pakistan Taliban. They live in London.