Keith Neudecker

Keith is the thirty-nine-year-old protagonist of the novel. He is married to Lianne Glenn, with whom he has the seven-year-old son, Justin. Keith and Lianne have been separated for a while, and as the novel begins, Keith lives alone in an apartment. He has worked as a lawyer in the north tower of the World Trade Center for many years. His outer appearance is described through Lianne’s eyes:

He was tall, with cropped hair, and she thought he looked like army, like career military, still in shape and beginning to look seasoned, not in combat but in the pale rigors of this life, in separation perhaps, in living alone, being a father from a distance. (ll. 1-4, p. 18, ch. 3)[1]

An eyewitness

On the day of the terrorist attacks on the towers, Keith is inside the north tower and experiences things falling down around him as he makes his way out of the building. He has to leave behind his friend and colleague Rumsey w...