up to evade them, her vehicle loses control on black ice and crashes, and she burns to death in the wreckage, wrapping up the final loose end of the terrorist plot. With the crisis finally over, elements of the U.S. government call for revenge, but the President, seeing Libya and Israel are now locked into a nuclear standoff, instead simply sends Gaddafi a quote from the Quran: "Whoever ye shall be, death will overtake you, even though ye reside in lofty towers." Development The books were published by Michael Korda at Simon & Schuster in 1980. The authors, Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre, were journalists, Collins having written for Newsweek and Lapierre for Paris Match. According to Korda, Charles Bluhdorn, founder of Gulf + Western which at the time was the parent company over Simon & Schuster and Paramount, became obsessed with the possibilities of the realities in the book. Bluhdorn would hold up meetings with financial managers to warn them of the danger written about in the book. To that end, Bluhdorn made it his mission to create a movie out of the book and tried to enlist Barry Diller, then head of Paramount, to his side. Ultimately, Diller and Korda convinced Bluhdorn that making the film was a bad idea, and it was abandoned. The agent for the book was Irving Paul Lazar. French version The French version of The Fifth Horseman follows the same general plot as the English version, but has a different ending. In the French version, Gaddafi is not sent the telegram quoting the Quran after the bomb is discovered. The Israeli crisis is concluded with the President inviting both Gaddafi and Begin to Camp David in secret, to seek an effective solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The final scene of the French version shows Rocchia being quietly informed of this, and he remarks on the absurdity of risking the lives of millions of people for this to happen. Laila also does not die in a car crash, and is instead arrested by the police and sentenced to life in prison. References 1980 novels Novels set in New York City Cultural depictions of Muammar Gaddafi Cultural depictions of Menachem Begin Simon & Schuster books American thriller novels Novels set in Libya Techno-thriller novels Novels about nuclear war and weapons Novels set during the Israeli–Palestinian conflict