Review: Escaping the North Tower on 9/11
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 25, 2011
Leslie Haskin has written an excellent account of her escape from the north tower on September 11, 2001. As she says, there are probably twenty thousand other stories of that day to be told, but this is hers.  Leslie worked on the thirty-sixth floor of the north tower as an executive with a large insurance company.  She loved her job, the Twin Towers and her son. Each day was a complicated commute into New York since she lived outside the city, but it was worth it.Once settled in at her desk with her cup of hazelnut coffee in hand, she went to her assistant's desk to speak briefly with her, and as they spoke the building started to shake and then sway back and forth.  Almost immediately people started to cry, curse and panic.  However, Leslie Haskin was frozen in place where she stood.  Windows were breaking, she could see debris falling, and also people falling.  Co-workers were saying it was a bomb, others were crying from under desks, but Leslie Haskin couldn't move or speak until several minutes later a rush of adrenaline hit her and she finally got herself moving toward the exit.  People were running, screaming and panicking. Some of the women were worried about leaving their purses behind and when they would be able to get them back.The account of the perilous journey down flight after flight of stairs and keeping order is amazing.  Some people had tried to take elevators, but the cables had burned or melted and they fell to their deaths. It was a long way from the thirty-sixth floor to the outside of the building with doors slamming shut and jamming along with numerous other obstacles that slowed them all down.This is a harrowing story of Leslie Haskin's escape and also a lesson in courage, reaching out, and in faith.  Her faith in God was very strong, and the Scriptures that are in each chapter link what the author says back to the source that kept her going until the moment she returned safely home to her family.  This is not a long book, but it's well worth reading to hear first-hand what someone went through to get out of the first tower shortly before the second tower was hit.  There is much more to Leslie Haskin's story of survival and what she saw that day, and this book kept me interested and reading from the moment I started it until I finished it, without a break.  It's a day later and I'm still thinking about it, it's that hard to forget.