Authored by Nelson DeMille (who also wrote "Up Country", which I read; that one is fantastic, a MUST read). The subject book, although written in '78, is certainly not dated in the least. In fact, it retains it's exhilarating tone and appeals to the modern age. It's about members of the United Nations boarding 2 Concorde jets from Tel Aviv, en route to New York on a peace mission. However, Palestinians have placed bombs in both tails of the jets. One of the jets must crash land in Iraq. Turns out they land in the ancient, obsolete city of Babylon, Mesopotania. They're held in "captivity in Babylon" by the Palestinians who seek to thwart the peace mission. It's a fight to the death between the Arabs & the Israelis. With what's going on in today's Middle East, this book is right on cue. Alas, nothing has changed, unfortunately, and the occurrences of 1970s mid east are equal to today. It's a thrilling read. Don't know if it was made into a film, but should have been. This author is great; as mentioned above, I read another of his books.
