Product Description
The six-thousand-mile route of the world's longest, mostexotic railway, the legendary Trans-Siberian Express, is the settingfor this powerful and enthralling tale, which reveals a diverse castof unforgettable characters in the tense atmosphere of a speedingtrain traversing two huge and lonely continents.

Dr. Alex Cousins, a famous American cancer specialist is sentto Russia by the President of the United States to prolong the life ofthe Secretary General of the Politburo during the bad old days of theSoviet Union. During his treatment of this powerful patient, he learnsthat the Soviet's top secret plans to attack the People's Republic ofChina. Suspecting that he knows this secret, the Soviets send him homevia a long trip on the Trans-Siberian Express in the hope of keepinghim silent until it will be too late to stop the Soviet attack.

Trapped, incessantly watched by a cadre of KGB agents, he hasno one to turn to but his fellow passengers, whose reasons for ridingthe Trans-Siberian Express become tragically enmeshed with his owndesperate flight.

On the train he meets a beautiful KGB Agent, Anna, who shareshis cabin and has been coerced to keep him under surveillance untilthe trip is ended. The inevitable occurs as both Cousins and hisgorgeous cabin mate transcend the political implications and falldesperately in love. This powerful love story will keep the readertransfixed and absorbed as the Trans-Siberian Express speeds its wayover the vastness of Siberia. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An Intriguing Journey
"Trans-Siberian Express" is an early Warren Adler novel, but it is a fine novel.It tells the story of an American doctor, Dr. Alex Cousins, and his internal conflict, while on a train with a memorable cast of characters.On the train is a beautiful KGB agent that Dr. Cousins will fall for; a former Gulag inmate looking for revenge; an ambitious KGB agent who will resort to murder to get what he wants; a Jew trying to start over; and a general awaiting orders.This story reminds us that both sides fear nuclear attack, and that the Russians were not all alike.It is an impressive journey and a fine romance. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Good book - better movie
This is one of the extremely RARE times when the movie was better than the book.In the movie, things escalate logically, with a little humor to keep it from getting too dark. Even at the end, when both spouses have "lost it," there was an enraged logic to their actions. In the book, things got TOO over-the-top.Filling a bathtub with rancid food, turning the whole house into a booby-trap, it was just not believable.

At times, it digressed into a "women's lib" commentary on how a woman exists just to validate a man.A key plot point is that Jonathon doesn't understand why his wife wants a divorce.In the movie, we can side with Barbara at times, just as we side with Jonathon at other times.In the book, she just comes across as needing some cheese with that whine.

Get the movie, skip the book.

how can this book be out of print
Very very funny book.Stayed up late, read it in one sitting, laughing all the way. NO way this book should be out of print. Dan has talent in the same league as Sedaris.

On the wrong track...
I have seen several reviews of this book which were negative.I have also seen the movie.The conclusion that I have come to is that most people--including the script writers--have missed the main point of the book.
The impression that I have is that everyone thinks this book is about the moral destruction that divorce can cause.Admittedly, there is a lot of this in the book.Still, I feel that the main point is that the moral destruction isn't caused by the divorce so much as it is the passion for material objects.
The Roses define who they are by what they own, and giving away any part of what they own must therefore diminish who they are.As a result, the only outcome of a property division is obviously a fight to the death.Not even the children matter as much.And the finale, with the children following the parents' footsteps, is truly chilling.One does indeed sympathize with Anne.
In the end, remember that this book was written in 1981.Don't read it as a black comedy on the horrors of divorce.Read it as a black comedy on the horror of the onset of the Yuppie phenomenon.

Cartoonish, yet disturbing novel on divorce
Warren Adler's book "War of the Roses" is actually not well written, but does manage to be disturbing enough.But the cartoonish and irrational escallions of the divorced couple was definately not believable.You feel very badly for the children and for Anne, as both Mr. and Mrs. Rose steam full ahead on a path of destruction which will doom them both.Only merits 2 stars

Negative, Realisitic, and Gritty, but the best book ive read
I was obsessed over the movie for a long time and when I read this book it had the same theme and characters but it was vastly different than the movie. The ending was almost the same, but it was shocking how much they did to each other.Everyone seems to think it was about materialism only. I disagree.It was about investing twenty years of your life and wanting something to show for it, and I think their anger and revenge stemmed more from an attitude of 'How dare you waste my life' or 'How dare you ruin our family' that it was more the main theme than the house. The house just happened to be caught in the crossfire. It definetly makes you think, and is by far one of my favorite books. ... Read more

Product Description
There was no earthly reason why Vivien Simpson and Edward Davis should ever have met. But when two unidentified bodies are discovered amid the wreckage of a plane disaster, their separate lives collide and they find themselves thrown together by a passion far beyond their comprehension. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

Random Drivel.
This book was awful from the very beginning and, listening to it on tape, I don't know why I finished it after hearing the silly dialog at the beginning between the two doomed cheaters. They sounded like two hormonally driven 16 year-olds and, already knowing what would happen to them, my anxious wait for their time to end seemed gruellingly slow.

I didn't feel bad for Edward and Vivian either, because an entire book of turning a rock over to examine every feeling and everything two spouses can experience emotionally is like being anchored to a feather in a stormy ocean.Their own affair made me want to vomit, and the ending was a joke.Tawdry cheap affairs all around, and not one sympathetic character among them except for the kid and the dog who are treated cruelly and irrationally by the betrayed wife.I never saw the movie and, after hearing it's worse than this book, don't want to.Time's one thing you can't get back, so don't waste yours or your money on this book full of bad dialog and insipid, unlikeable characters.

Starts out strong, but ends as average
Warren Adler's "Random Hearts" is a decent romance, as
the two surviving spouses of plane crash victims meet,
and try to untangle the mysteries of the heart.They
blame themselves and their dead spouses for the harm
that the adultery caused.The book moved real slowly,
and then when it hit around 200 or so, it speeds way
up, and the conclusion felt a bit rushed, and
contrived.Not the worst Adler book, and certainly
not the worst book I've read.

gordon's opinion of a sleeper
Warren Adler started with a simple plot of an unfaithful husband and an another man's unfaithful wife. Simple start that starts slowly but draws you in so deep that you're trying to guidethe remaining two characters- partly to make sure that they fall in love, and quickly. The two guilty parties have already been signed to the deep,so we're just pulling for the survivors as if they were destined to meet and fall in love and the basic plot and the other two characters had to be inserted and wraps around them for that effect. Read the book - forget the movie. Incidentially I've read the book 7 times - it's that good and different. Incidentially I'm a much older kid.

Bittersweet Romance
Orson and Lily meet by accident on an airplane ride and have one of those instant, unexpected physical reactions to each other.They seem to be the perfect match for each other and quickly arrange to meet again.When they next meet the attraction is still there and they quickly progress into a physical relationship.They think they are in love and want to move forward with their lives together, but there is one problem...they are both married...to other people.

Lily dreads telling Edward, her husband, and Orson doesn't know what Vivien, his wife, will do without him, but they cannot bear to stop seeing one another.They finally decide to go away to Florida for 4 days and make a final decision as to how they are going to tell Edward and Vivien and when.Unfortunately, their plane crashes right outside of the airport and they never tell their spouses.

Both Edward and Vivien are relieved that their spouses were not on the plane that went down, after all, Orson was on his way to Paris and Vivien was on her way to Los Angeles, so they felt pity for those who had friends and relatives on their way to Florida, but went on with their lives.But when they didn't hear from them for several days, they started to worry.When they are called to identify bodies at the morgue from the crash, they are stunned.The police officer tells them that their spouses were traveling together, but that couldn't be, could it?They were dedicated couples and loved and relied on each other - Orson and Lily wouldn't betray their love, their trust, would they?As both Vivien and Edward try to deal with the death of their spouses and their wrenching sense of betrayal, they are inexplicably drawn together and eventually have to decide if it is worth the potential pain to open up and trust and love someone again.

I enjoyed the book, but it wasn't anything spectacular.The characterization is a little blurry and it was hard to understand the motivation of Vivien and Edward at times, like why they wouldn't even tell their respective families that their spouses were cheating on them.The plot got a little slow towards the middle/end of the book and ended rather abruptly, but life doesn't always have starts and finishes so that was okay.All in all, the book was well written and entertaining enough, but then, I didn't buy the book, I borrowed it for free.Is it worth buying?I couldn't say, maybe the movie is better...?

Thank goodness I didn't have to pay for this!
Great plot starting out.It really sounded like it had promise, which I am sure is why a friend bought it for me. Two people running away from their marriages die in a plane crash. How would the surviving spouses react to their affair? I like romance and all. But, I could barely finish it.What a waste!
How many ways can someone find to say "I love you" within 5 pages???This was so trite, with so little character developement I cannot even recall the characters' names.But then why would I even want to do so?There are very few books that I have read that I could not find something in them to like.This was one. ... Read more

Product Description
Warren Adler is the acclaimed author of 25 novels, published in 30 languages. Two of his books, "The War of the Roses" and "Random Hearts" were made into major motion pictures. He lives in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and New York City.A successful entrepreneur discovers that his young and impressionable wife has been lured by her fanatical sister into the Glory Cult, a ruthless and powerful group in Oregon run by a charismatic "guru." Determined to free her from the cult's grasp, he teams up with a pair of tough, cunning deprogrammers and plans to kidnap his wife from the cult. However, they soon find themselves in a deadly cat and mouse game with the David Koresh-like leader of the Glories. Their rescue attempt triggers a surprising and horrific climax.This is must reading for those who seek to understand the real meaning of September 11th. Readers will be on edge throughout this page-turner of a novel, and will learn how the power of sinister forces using mind control techniques can turn innocent people into weapons of destruction.Cult will evoke in you a fear, a dread¿ The psychological perspective, the intricacies of brainwashing are all set with an authentic tune, chillingly real¿ an absolutely terrific tale.· Nikesh Murali, Reviews Weekly ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Deserves NO STARS!
This is quite possibly the worst novel ever written.

Cliche after cliche has you cringing.
Shoddy, pop psyschology characterization.
Discursive plot.
Clumsy sentences, just awful.
And as the forward suggests, a transparently dumb attempt to
link a bad idea with a 9/11 marketing notion.

Too bad, because it's a subject that a good novelist might make
really interesting.

Awful, Simply Awful
If Adler is a decent writer, Cult certainly doesn't show it.This e-book suffers from slow pacing, bad characterization, and a boring plot.Adler's description of the action is often confusing and muddled. The cult--usually something ripe with conflict--is a static character.They're so dull that they are a worthless adversary.Adler gives us only the faintest glimpse of their motivations and beliefs, making it hard to believe that anyone would join or stay with the group.The characters are whiny and unbelievable.They move through a series of contrived action scenes that lend nothing to the plot.There have been better fiction books on the subject.

Nothing special
The book was well written and it did hold my interest, however I wouldn't consider it a thriller or a frightening story. Religious cults have been in the news and a great deal has been written about their procedures and so called brainwashing. The story brought nothing new to the issue. In fact, the story dealt lightly with a serious subject. I expected to read a story written after the author had done extensive research and maybe had something new to say. What I read was something akin to a cover story in a news magazine.

I wouldn't recommend the book. The characters are one dimensional and the story is a straight ahead narrative with no twists or turns that make a better story hold the reader's interest.

Scarey!
I could not give a 5 rating because nothing is perfect, but this is truely a scarey book! The comparisons made to 9/11 and Waco and Jonestown are right on! We need to be aware of how these things can happen right in our own backyards! A quick read. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (28)

Utter Trash
Crude, crass, shameful.I'm ebarrassed to say that I read the entire book (because I had to find out how the author was going to redeem the vulgar protagonist and her daughter by the end of the story - which he didn't achieve).A complete waste of time. Ick.

A new low in the art of the novel!
This book has brought me to tears on several occasions, the first of which was the day I bought it for my wife and discovered shortly thereafter that I'd wasted my money.The second, as you might guess, was when my wife _told_ me I'd wasted my money. I tried to read it myself, and convinced myself that we were both right.This book is a tragic waste of trees and time.Do yourself a favor.Leave this at the bookstore.Get a good night's sleep instead.

Sad and pathetic
This book is a waste of time.For a book that is supposed to "gives hope to despairing single females on the verge of 40." I found it insulting and empty.Our "heroine" loses her job and decides to do as other women have done, go catch a wealthy man.This is hope?Am I supposed to feel empowered that at the age of 40 the only way to better myself is to somehow attach myself to a lonesome widower by telling one lie after anther?In addition she is browbeat by her teenage daughter.Her solution to dealing with a child who is wildly out of control is to take sleeping pills and masturbate.Save yourself, leave it on the shelf.

Disappointing!
I picked up this book on sale and thought what a treat, since I enjoyed the cynicism and nastiness in Mr. Adler's the War of the Roses... Unfortunately, I have to agree with all the other reviewers who have given this novel a low mark. It was pure dribble all the way through!

don't get other folks ++ review
I got this book in audiobook, which should be really easy to take. It was not. The book is full of overly sentimental sentiments, old-fashioned ideas about male and females roles and relationship, and corny lines. It's plays on the couple's explicit sex life until I start to say "who cares." And, it goes on and on and on--ad nauseum about how guilty the lead character feels. Okay, okay, I get it. I could not even finish the story--and again, it was a book on tape. ... Read more

Product Description
July 2. September 6. November 22. Three tragic and historic dates: on each an American president was struck down. And now a fourth date in the making, in this mesmerizing story of interlocking passions and intrigues, set in the innermost circle of Washington's powerbrokers.

Fiona FitzGerald is the daughter of the late Senator FitzGerald (D-N.Y.). She is in her mid-thirties and currently a Sergeant in the Homicide Division of the Metropolitan Washington Police Department. She is confronted with three slayings with seemingly random victims. Gradually she senses a violently disturbing linkage. She pursues it through the current political and diplomatic jungle, then back in time to a trio of presidential murders, convincing her that a brilliant, if benighted, intelligence is moving to a make a trio into a quartet.Fiona's investigation ends in a pulse-tingling climax at the Kennedy Arts Center as the killer attempts to imitate the killing of President Abraham Lincoln.

Set among the rich and mighty of the nation's capital, American Quartet ingeniously links past and present in a novel of transcendent suspense and authenticity. Critically acclaimed for its inventive and intriguing plot, American Quartet, the first novel of the Fiona series, was selected by the New York Times as one of the ten best crime novels of the year. Five other successive Fiona Fitzgerald stories follow after American Quartet.Enjoy the other mysteries such as American Sextet, Senator Love, Immaculate Deception, The Witch of Watergate, and The Ties That Bind. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Mediocre novel about assassination...
"American Quartet" is the first of the Fiona Fitzgerald mysteries, and while Fiona is a great character, this is not a good novel.The Quartet in question are the 4 Presidents that were assassinated.Apparently, someone is copying their murders, and it is up to Fiona to stop him before he gets to the fourth, and biggest killing in the Quartet.Over-the-top, with villain who ejaculates with holding a gun.

The one that got me hooked.
This is the book that got me hooked on the stories of Fiona FitzGerald, Warren Adler's woman D.C. homicide detective. There is not much mystery here since the killer is made known early in the book. However, it's a great story that uses bits of Washingtonian history into its well-constructed plot. I highly recommend it. ... Read more

Product Description
Since the fame attending the publication and film of Warren Adler's The War of the Roses, Adler has been chronicling the American experience in novels and screenplays. Now, with Funny Boys, Adler takes on the New York of his childhood in a new novel with bestseller written all over it--a dark comedy of errors about success, the mob, and true love.

Mickey Fine is a young man with a promising future in comedy. Attracted to the applause of the crowd at a lavish hotel casino in the Catskills, he gets a job as a tumler--part entertainer, part host, all funny boy. But he is naïve to the more sinister side of his audience. They are mobsters and power players of New York's scandalous underbelly--men with whom Mickey had run-ins during his childhood.

When Mutzie Feder, a Jean Harlow-esque gangster girlfriend, gets into the act with dreams of escaping her brutal reality, sparks fly between her and Mickey. But as their circumstances start to catch up with them--and the body count starts mounting from the rough crowd they're running with--Mickey and Mutzie start angling for a way out. That, of course, isn't as easy as it sounds.

With film rights already optioned to a major producer, Funny Boys is a timeless love story and a sweeping American tale told as only Warren Adler could tell it. Smart, wry, and beautifully written, it's as unforgettable and authentic as anything Damon Runyon or Ring Lardner ever wrote, from a writer with a keen eye, an acute ear, and a very big heart. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

I love the book!
The book arrived much sooner than I expected.It was in perfect condition.The price was unbelievably low, and I could not put the book down once I started to read it.I received a wonderful value with great service.

Answers some very important questions...
Why are cannibals depressed?Why do so many Italians have mustaches? What should a rabbi NOT do first if he wants to convert a bear?I laughed a lot.Thanks, Warren, for this very entertaining novel.As I'm sure you are aware, it would make a great movie.

Not what it could have been
David Straight's review sums it up well. Having worked in the Catskills for many years myself, I expected to recognize the assorted characters and revel in the memories. But all of these characters are clichés and so broadly drawn that they overlap each other and make it hard to distinguish them.

A slap on the wrist to the editor for permitting this mess to be published.

Great Story
You don't have to be Italian or Jewish or from New York to like this tale. If you are and over the age of forty you'll probably know half the characters this story is based on. But the truth is it doesn't matter; this book will have you cracking up and crying all at the same time. By the author of The War of the Rose's, Adler's sense of humor and ear for human foibles and tragedies make this an exceptional book.

fast out of the gate, but pulls up lame
Funny Boys starts out with enormous promise--in the late 1930's a young tumler goes to work at a Catskill resort popular with gangsters--in particular with the Jewish mobsters of what would be called Murder, Inc, and their Mafia connections through Albert Anastasia.There's a wonderful Runyonesque flavor to it.You may also be reminded of the darker novel Billy Bathgate, set at the same time and also switching between New York and Catskill resorts.But, sad to say, it starts to falter, and falter increasingly.I simply could not buy the plot and the actions of the people.

I think that Adler would have done much better to keep things light, to stick to a Runyonesque flavor.Runyon's gangsters, to my recollection, were not vicious thugs--at least the stories were not replete with violence.They were gangsters, to be sure, not people you'd want to insult.In Funny Boys, the gangsters are Pittsburgh Phil Strauss, Kid Twist Reles, Albert Anastasia, and others:Murder, Inc's victims may have been as high as 1000.So Adler keeps trying to mix humor with an extraordinarily vicious bunch of mobsters.Breslin's The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight managed such a mix successfully, Funny Boys does not.

Mickey Fine, the tumler, keeps doing things that seem completely contrary to human nature.Early in the book he bumps into Reles and Strauss:on learning their names, he thinks maybe they're a comedy team.Yet about 10 years before, Reles and Strauss had, before Fine's eyes, given his father a brutal schlamming [a beating with a pipe wrapped in newspaper] for not paying the vig on a loan, and to encourage the man to pay, had repeatedly forced Mickey's head into a toilet:Mickey had to pay off the vig and the loan with his own savings. You'd forget such an occurrence?Later, in the Catskill resort, Mickey is told by Strauss to keep Strauss' girlfriend Mutzie happy.They start spending a lot of time together and people start talking and speculating.This I just cannot accept.Mickey knows that Strauss enjoys killing people, and he has been told of previous tumlers who came to grief who had been suspected of having affairs with the wrong women.I also cannot buy Strauss encouraging the two to get together.An affair with the girlfriend of a Strauss would be very bad indeed--fatal for Mickey and Mutzie.But what would be much worse--there are fatalities and there are really bad fatalities--would be for people to think that something is going on, whether it is or not, and Strauss not doing anything about it.Respect by the other mobsters, for Strauss, is crucial--if your pals think something is going on, and you do not take some serious action, you get disrespected--which could be fatal for Strauss himself.Caesar's wife must be above suspicion.You might also imagine yourself in the service of, say, Henry VIII.Having an affair with, or even paying too much attention to one of Henry's wives would likely result in your growing shorter by a head.Would you have an affair with John Gotti's wife?There are other plot elements, such as flushing a $100 bill down the toilet, that do not ring true.Finally, the owner of the resort would have fired Mickey at the very first sign of anything, or else he might have a fatal accident himself.

You'll also may have some trouble wading through the heavy Brooklynese accents.The book could have been quite different.Suppose we take out the love interest between Mickey and Mutzie:a portrayal of life at a Catskill resort frequented by mobsters has plenty of great scope.If we have to have a love story in the book, make it between the tumler and the daughter (or sister) of a mobster:the tumler would have to walk a very fine line (as perhaps in Romeo and Juliet).The plot line the book takes just does not seem rational or reasonable:as you read the book, sigh and think of what could have been done here. ... Read more

Product Description
Warren Adler is the acclaimed author of 25 novels, published in 30 languages. Two of his books, "The War of the Roses" and "Random Hearts" were made into major motion pictures. He lives in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and New York City.Fiona FitzGerald, senator's daughter turned Washington, D.C., homicide detective, is called in to investigate when a powerful female pro-life Senator is found dead. It appears to be suicide. But the case gets more baffling when one shocking clue contradicts the entire investigation.Immaculate Deception is the fourth book in Warren Adler's Fiona FitzGerald series. The first mystery, American Quartet, was on The New York Times list of top ten crime novels of the year. Try the other Fiona mysteries: American Quartet, American Sextet, Senator Love, The Witch of Watergate, and The Ties That Bind."A snappy, savvy Washington insider's political murder mystery."· Baltimore Daily Record"A compelling mystery."· Chicago Tribune"Fascinating."· Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Good Amount of Detail
Another great book by this author. If this is your first but them all because you will really be pleased. They are just what I am looking for.Interesting and inventive stories and really grab your attention and move at a great pace.I really believed the hatred and pain the lead character was carrying around with him as he went on the hunt. The action was well written, not immature like so many of this type of book give you.You are really cheering this guy on.

A good read!
The mysteries of Fiona FitzGerald have always approached provocative and daring topics-relations between races, political intrigues and sabotage, S&M. Now in this Fiona tale, she tackles the infamous pro-life battle.As always, very well written and is read in a fast frenzy of page turning. ... Read more

Product Description
Senator Donald James, his party's most promising candidate for the presidential nomination, possesses that rare combination of charisma and frankness necessary to topple the incumbent. In his private life, James is a womanizing married man.Enjoying a tryst in his Delaware beach home with a beautiful black woman who works for him, he discovers that his paramour has accidentally drowned. Aware of the scandal that could ensue and destroy his political career, the Senator mounts a campaign of cover-up and cynical lies designed to deflect the potential damage.

This suspenseful tale of adultery, media manipulation, and political chicanery has familiar overtones and exposes the dilemma faced by any public figure who chooses the path of dissimulation and lying to protect his or her career.

This story mirrors today's headlines and provides insights into the dark netherworld of political manipulation. Here is a primer for anyone in public life determined to hide his darker side from an overly curious and often predatory press. This is Adler's first published novel, originally titled Options. ... Read more

Product Description
Congressman John J. Sullivan is a boozy, old-schoolpolitician who has lost touch with his constituency. After a quartercentury of Washington entrenchment, he is unprepared for thesteamroller primary challenge by the idealistic young reformer AramYomarian and his well-financed professional campaign managers.

Sullivan's world has largely disappeared. His friends amongthe Poles and Irish and Italians who first elected him have almost allmoved away, and the language and style of the Blacks and Puerto Ricanswho have replaced them are unfamiliar. The old neighborhoods which heloved have become decaying ghettos.

Yomarian is a fresh breeze in the old district. He knows thelanguage and has visions of renewal, and the energy and determinationto fight for the rights of these new constituents.

But "Sully" is a fighter. For him, victory means survival in acareer he has spent a lifetime building. For Yomarian, this victorywill be the beginning of a career he hopes will lead to the WhiteHouse.

The drama played out with such stark authenticity in thesepages leads not only to the startling confrontations between twostrong men of conflicting political motivation and to theconfrontation of each man with his own soul, but also to chillingrevelations, for the reader, of the basic realities of democraticgovernment itself. ... Read more

Product Description

Washington D.C-s struggling underclass and the U.S. Capitol-s socially prominent and politically aggressive upper strata collide in a horrifying crime.  Homicide Detective Fiona FitzGerald once again battles prejudice and  privilege to uncover the truth, confronting her own demons - and the violet-eyed wife of a powerful politician determined to erase the sinful secrets of the past.

Customer Reviews (2)

EXCELLENT
This a fine book.You won't be sorry you bought it -- or sent it to a friend, as I did.

great to have fiona back
I really enjoyed this Fiona mystery.Adler's fearless Irish girl detective may not be PC -- let's face it, she's a borderline alcoholic who lets her job get in her way of her love life -- but she's pretty real. The whodunit is a good one, with a lot of action that tosses the suspicions back and forth. Another good thing: this book has a cast of other strong female characters.You can pretty well guess who the "violet-eyed moviestar wife of Virginia politician" is modeled after; this is the author's signature light touch of humor that leavens a pretty horrible murder that has racist repercussions later on. ... Read more

Product Description
Detective Fiona Fitzgerald, the star of Immaculate Deception, teams up with a brilliant black partner to determine if a Supreme Court Associate Justice is the killer of the daughter of a powerful Washington lawyer. 20,000 first printing. ... Read more

Product Description
With time running short, these intrepid residents ofSunset Village prove that sex, love, intrigue and vitality continue tosalt the so-called golden years. These acclaimed and timeless shortstories have become a primer for the twilight years and a message ofhope for a rich extended life in today's world.

The retired residents of Sunset Village in Florida continue tothirst for life and love, teaching anyone a lot about living-a subjecton which they are, after all, experts.

The Sunset Gang is as lively, fun, and courageous a group asyou'll find anywhere this side of the Last Reward. The fact thatyou'll find them at Sunset Village, a condominium retirement communityin Florida-where an ambulance siren is the theme song and cycling at astately pace is strenuous exercise-does not mean that they are readyto pack it all in. Not by a long shot.

Indeed, sex and romantic love keep Sunset Village bubblingwith activity. If you were to walk down one of its well-tended paths,you might spot Jenny and Bill sitting on a bench, acting like younglovers, and never suspect that they are married (but to otherpeople). And at the pool Max Bernstein, with an expertise that comesfrom five decades of skirt chasing, is singling out attractive widows.

The real sine qua non at Sunset Village, however, is the loveof family and friends. Widowed Molly Berkowitz learns that althoughher son and daughter may be failures in the eyes of the world, theyare well worth bragging about; and Isaac Kramer begins to feel trulyat home when the gray-haired boys at the laundromat start calling him"Itch," his boyhood nickname. Other stories, too, will warm the heartand make you laugh until you hurt.

A three hour mini-series on PBS's American Playhouse, starringUta Hagen, Harold Gould, Doris Roberts, Anne Meara, and Jerry Stiller. ... Read more

Product Description
Warren Adler is the acclaimed author of 25 novels, published in 30 languages. Two of his books, "The War of the Roses" and "Random Hearts" were made into major motion pictures. He lives in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and New York City.Fiona FitzGerald, senator's daughter turned Washington, D.C., homicide detective, is called in to investigate when the daughter of a prominent lawyer is found murdered. All clues begin to point to a revered Supreme Court Justice with a sadomasochistic fetish.The Ties That Bind is the sixth book in Warren Adler's Fiona FitzGerald series. The first mystery, American Quartet, was on The New York Times list of top ten crime novels of the year. Try the other Fiona mysteries: American Quartet, American Sextet, Senator Love, Immaculate Deception, and The Witch of Watergate."Adler sets well-connected Washington homicide dick Fiona FitzGerald another high profile puzzle¿ most satisfying."· Kirkus Reviews"The Welcome return of an intense, likeable heroine."· St. Louis Post-Dispatch ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Boring
This is the first Fiona Fitzgerald book that I read.She is a good lead character and I would probably read another one in this series.This book was boring and predictable.I suppose it would be more interesting if you participated in that type of sexual pleasure.There was no mystery.

No holds barred.
This is another Fiona FitzGerald mystery that closely resembles the Levy/Condit story. (See my review under Warren Adler's Senator Love.) This time, it's a young intern to a Supreme Court Justice who is found brutally murdered. In my opinion, this is the best Fiona mystery to date. Intelligent, engrossing, and with no holds barred. ... Read more

Product Description
Ken and Sheila Kramer appear to have a comfortable life and loving marriage. But when Ken is introduced to Carol, the wife of his wife's major client, we discover that she is Ken's old flame, the love of his life and the object of his sexual obsession as ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Totally mediocre novel about infidelity
"Private Lies" is one of those forgetable novels that rip-off a "bodice ripper" and try to probe serious questions.Well, it doesn't work, but it merits more than one star.Basically, there are two married couples, and everybody is doing everybody else.The adman loves the former ballerina and the computer whiz wants the do-gooder jet setter.A lot of sex ensues and a trip to Africa happens where adman realizes he'll never be Hemingway, and the path to lust and love maybe is cleared when one is the four is killed in an accident.

Forget it!
I have enjoyed very much the two previous Adler books I read, so when I found this one in the library, I was all primed for a good weekend read. I am at page 184 and just closed it with a slam. I was somewhat interested in Carol and Ken's reuniting and planning a way to be together. But then when Carol's husband and Ken's wife are involved in the exact same scenario ... telling each other,"have any two humans had such out of this world sex?" I stuck with it twenty or more pages and then, mid-sentence, couldn't stand another word of such tripe.

Love and Betrayal
Ken and Carol meet again, years after the passionate and sultry love affair of their youth.Each married to others, they plot together to endCarol's marriage.They must find a way to keep her wealth from fallingprey to her prenuptual agreement, which could leave her virtuallypenniless, which Ken knows all to well, not being a financial successhimself.This book is so far off the mark - it's really all over theplace, including a Safari complete with raging elephants, a drunken guidewho speaks swahili and sex drives that are just too much to be of anyinterest to the listener (or reader).This is adult material, with far toomuch of the sappy description of private body parts and their functions,usually reserved for the romance novel set.Reader, David Dukes notparticularly proficient at the voice characterizations on this one.Myadvice - don't waste your time on this audio cassette. ... Read more

Product Description
The author tells the truth about the impact of "new" people on a mountain resort. In this collection of fictional short stories, the reader will find insights and truths engendered by the modern invasion of "new folks" to glorious mountain enclaves now dubbed "resorts." These acclaimed stories capture the truth, warts and all, of how modern life can both corrupt and enhance a traditional environment. Based on the author's experience as a long-time resident of this pristine valley in Wyoming nestled in the heart of the Grand Tetons, America's most beautiful mountain range. Warren Adler is the Founder of the Jackson Hole Writer's Conference and the former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Jackson Public Library. ... Read more

Product Description
More stories from The Sunset Gang. A collection that combines additional stories written after The Sunset Gang was published dealing with the same intrepid crew who inhabit Sunset Village. Anyone who is aging, meaning all of us, will revel in these stories of joy, love, sex, and energy that give a deeper meaning to the aging process, especially in what the young might call "the twilight years." In these stories, there is no sense of oncoming doom and life goes on in a perpetual sunset. Anyone who has an "older" friend or parent will marvel at this wonderful, inspiring collection and enjoy reading and re-reading these stories for years to come. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

funny, well written stories
I really liked this book, but could only give it three stars.The problem was most of the stories condoned extra-marital affairs, and I believe in monogomy so the subject matter was a bit touchy. All the stories take placein a retirement community where a bunch of people live.The women are realyentas (busybodies) and you will especially enjoy the book if you are awareof jewish culture. The best story was the one about a new widower and allthe old ladies who were trying to get their hooks into him.He was totallyunaware of the reasons behind their actions.I also enjoyed the storyabout the old couple whose sons hate each other, and how much the motherwants them to be friends.I can relate, I hate my siblings and they hateme, and there is my poor old jewish mother in the middle!

The book is aneasy, fun read and if not for the extramarital affairs, I would have givenit a 5 ... Read more

Product Description
Warren Adler is the acclaimed author of 25 novels, published in 30 languages. Two of his books, "The War of the Roses" and "Random Hearts" were made into major motion pictures. He lives in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and New York City.Jenny, a "nice" girl from the Midwest, is swept off her feet by a handsome advertising executive and whisked from her small town into the super-charged world of New York City. A control freak, her new husband warns her to beware of strangers and avoid making friends. But Jenny cannot repress her small town upbringing and instinctive innocence, eventually forming relationships with many of the quirky tenants in their brownstone building and entering into their complicated and sometimes tragic lives. Jenny's journey of self-discovery from naiveté through disenchantment to eventual wisdom is wonderfully wrought and builds to an astonishing climax."Heart-stopping plot twists, surprising insights¿ the book is sure to enter the public consciousness and generate controversy."· Oklahoma Daily Journal ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Who said being a housewife was boring?
This book starts out a tad slow but don't let that turn you away - Adler is setting up a little background on each of the characters that inhabit the apartment building and it's well worth it as the story progresses.
Rarely do I find an author able to write from so many different characters' perspectives (5? 6?) and still keep my interest. Jenny, the main character (and housewife of the title) is delightful: at times you want to cuff her (gently) upside the head and other times you feel like jumping up and down to root her on. (Which is, of course, the mark of an engaging character!) Adler does an especially good job of Jenny's gradual transformation and "coming into her own." (You gotta wonder how a MAN can put himself in the head of a housewife...) Larry is a piece of work - I enjoyed an intense dislike for him! And I won't spoil the ending, but I will say it was quite satisfying!

City mouse/country mouse comedy
Jenny, traditional small-town Hoosier girl, meets Larry, Manhattan go-getter adman. He wants a loving helpmate, she wants a man to nurture. It's a match made in old-fashioned heaven.

As wickedly funny, if not as wicked, as his earlier "The War of the Roses," Adler's "The Housewife Blues"is a classically choreographed comedy of manners. The story, seen primarily through Jenny's eyes, takes place in the small New York apartment building where she spends her days.

Larry, a shark of the new school, warns Jenny against her neighborly inclinations. But Jenny can't help but take an interest in the attractive couple upstairs, inviting them to a down-home dinner which makes Larry writhe in embarrassment and does not elicit a return invitation. And she can't turn a blind eye to the glum couple whose teenage son secretly visits the gay couple in the basement.

Being home all day it's only natural she would accept a package for the brittle career-woman with the clandestine weekend lover or look after the gay couple's errant cat, or offer tea and cookies to the teenager when he loses his keys.

Quickly enmeshed in their lives, Jenny keeps more of her activities from Larry while worrying over his big career move. Appalled and touched to discover that hard-nosed New Yorkers, given half a drop of encouragement, are a lot less reticent about their private affairs than the staid folks back home, she lends a squeamish ear and a generous heart.

Then, at a painfully funny dinner party, Jenny learns more than she wants to know about her Larry. Her coming-of-age is fraught with struggles to keep her comfortable illusions while rationalizing her own secret life.

Adler's style is straightforward and understated, his humor and observation no less sharp for being laconically delivered. Jenny is a delightful character whose plunge into life is wholeheartedly based on optimistic homilies like "People are people everywhere." And if Larry is little more than a cut-out, he seems the sort of handsome mistake a young, naively ambitious girl could make.

Portsmouth Herald ... Read more