The Siege

Starred review from September 23, 2013
This impressive work of journalistic research and reconstruction offers a revelatory look inside the November 2008 terror attacks on Mumbai, during which 10 highly trained gunmen deployed by the organization Lashkar-e-Toiba brought the world’s fourth-largest city to its knees, with four of the terrorists taking over the iconic Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. The landmark’s physical size and symbolic stature account for the efforts by Lashkar, and it is likewise where Scott-Clark and Levy concentrate their narrative, contextualizing and recreating the events of three harrowing days in and around the damaged, fire-engulfed hotel. The authors offer multiple perspectives, including those of staff, guests, hostages, police, security, and political officials, as well as the gunmen’s Karachi-based handlers (who used online telephones and Google Earth to assist the killers). In addition to providing a riveting human drama, the book highlights the woeful lack of state security. The authors, meanwhile, explain the factional pressures and international political context driving Lashkar to expand its mission beyond Kashmir. As in their last book, The Meadow, longtime South Asia correspondents Scott-Clark and Levy deliver a meticulous, insightful, and dramatic account of an extraordinary episode in modern warfare, again emanating from the longstanding India-Pakistan contest over Kashmir. In so doing, they also persuasively illustrate the entangled personnel and politics characterizing the larger playing field of state and nonstate terrorism. Agent: David Godwin, David Godwin Associates (U.K.).

November 1, 2013
Well-researched account of the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai, with plenty of firsthand detail. Starting with a group of 10 young fidayeen fighters approaching Mumbai by water on the night of the attacks, journalists and documentarians Scott-Clark and Levy (The Meadow, 2012, etc.) document everything possible, from the blow-by-blow account of the many hours the hotel was under siege to the recruitment and rigorous training of the Pakistani men who volunteered for jihad, however doubtfully. They even recount the story of the man who scouted targets for Lashkar-e-Toiba and, they believe, was acting as a double agent for the United States at the time. This has the benefit of providing a full, rounded picture and gives helpful background and context, most of which pulls readers deeper into the intrigue. Still, the sheer amount of detail can be overwhelming. Though the main focus is what happened at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, nothing is left out. The authors also recount events at a nearby cafe, a Jewish center, a smaller hotel and elsewhere around town. All the information from those who survived the attacks is compelling and well-written. With more guests present than the other targets, there were many stories to tell, and the authors make palpable the fear and despair of the guests and employees. They also bring attention to the many mistakes made by police and hotel security in the months leading up to the offensive--there were many warnings that such an attack might be coming--and on the ground while it was happening. Important and enlightening, these parts of the book are perhaps more terrifying than the rest. Through it all, though, there are just enough moments to applaud. A great read that gives readers a better understanding of a terrorist attack from many points of view.

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Starred review from October 15, 2013

On November 26, 2008, the city of Mumbai was upended by a series of terrorist attacks that damaged and destroyed multiple targets, killing 166 people and injuring 293. Journalists Scott-Clark and Levy tell the story of the next three days, focusing on the Taj Hotel, a towering landmark and symbol of wealth and luxury in the city, which was the locus of the siege. Using recollections of the survivors along with official reports and other sources, they begin with the terrorists' water landing, then backtrack to cover the backstories of the hotel staff and guests, as well as the terrorists themselves and the American double agent who was intimately involved in the planning of the attack. The authors walk the reader through the first hideous 24 hours and the grim mop-up that revealed the true scope of the devastation. Cut off from official help, the hotel employees and guests worked bravely to escape the bullets and flames that surrounded them. Scott-Clark and Levy show how unheeded warnings and lax security enabled a preventable tragedy. VERDICT This thorough and compulsively readable account of the Mumbai attacks will be appreciated by readers of current events and the war on terror.--Deirdre Bray, Middletown P.L., OH

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2013
In November 2008, a ragtag band of extremely well-armed Pakistani gunmen from the Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist group fanned out across the city of Mumbai, stealthily and lethally making its way to the lavish Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. An international symbol of elitism and opulence, the Taj catered to celebrities and CEOs, and on the night of November 26, the old six-story hotel and its adjacent modern tower were teeming with more than 600 guests and 1,600 employees. In a barbaric reign of terror, multiple two-man teams of jihadists rampaged and ransacked the hotel, strafing anyone in sight with AK-47s, hurling grenades into banquet and guest rooms, and setting fire to the upper floors. At the end of 68 hours, 166 were dead and dozens more critically injured. 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.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)