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Random Hearts Kindle Edition
Vivien Simpson is a happy stay-at-home mom with a young son who adores her successful husband. Edward Davis is an ambitious aide to an important Congressman who loves his wife.
When a plane crash brings about the discovery that their supposedly loving and now deceased spouses were entangled in a deeply passionate love affair, they are devastated and baffled by the revelation.
Determined to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives, they embark on a hunt for the truth behind their spouses’ infidelity, guided only by the two mysterious identical keys they left behind.
Along the way what they discover about themselves and the mysterious nature of love will render readers breathless.
The enduring romance novel that inspired the Hollywood film starring Harrison Ford.
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateJanuary 22, 2017
- File size886 KB
Editorial Reviews
Review
From the Author
I had been in the midst of writing my Fiona Fitzgerald mystery series when an Air Florida plane crashed, plunging into the Potomac River, demolishing four cars on the Memorial Bridge and killing seventy-eight people. Since all deaths were within the designated area of the Nation's Capitol is the purview of the Metropolitan DC Police department, I asked my contact in the department to get me any details of the plane crash to use as background for another mystery book.
The Report
She managed to obtain a complete report of the crash and its aftermath. It suggested a far more important book than I had envisioned. The details of what happens to people whose journey is suddenly aborted amazed me. Many deeply personal secrets are revealed when individuals die and are subjected to investigative procedures. The report outlined many of them.
It also offered me a ready-made cornucopia of research that provided me with the background on which I could overlay my story. Indeed, it proved a huge stimulus to my imagination and I conceived a story line that was more mainstream than the confining format of the mystery genre. My story was built around two people traveling together under false names, eventually revealed. The discovery brought together the spouses of these two people and we come to learn that the deceased were involved in a secret love affair and were on their way to a tryst in Florida. Shocked by the revelations, since neither surviving spouse had any inkling of the affair, the two confused and bereft survivors bond together and attempt to come to grips with their betrayal.
Becoming a Movie
Immediately upon publication, the actor Dustin Hoffman was so taken with the story that he persuaded a major studio, Tristar, to option the material for a movie in which he would like to star. I was, of course, delighted. Dustin was a major star with enormous box office power. The deal was made and the process of conversion to a major movie began.
The project entered development hell. Scripts were written. In Hollywood, the novelist is kept out of the loop fearing that he would "defend the book," meaning he would resist any changes. In meetings with Dustin, the moviemakers requested my absence although they asked that I secretly memo them on how I thought the story might go.
After a year or so, I gave up on any idea that the picture would be made. The production didn't move forward, although they did pick up the option before it expired and I was paid for the rights, which offered some consolation. The years dragged on and I was dead certain that the project was a dead issue.
Then suddenly, like, as they say, a bolt from the blue, I learned from a story in Variety that Random Hearts would star Harrison Ford and be directed by Sidney Pollack and produced by Ray Stark, all heavy hitters in movie-land. I couldn't believe it.
From the Inside Flap
he now does for love.
He's a happily married man. She's a happily married woman with a little boy and a good life. Or so they both believe. There's absolutely no reason why they should ever meet.
Until a commercial airliner crashes into the Potomac River. Two of the victims are linked by a clue that at first stuns and baffles, then draws together their surviving spouses.
The explosive discovery leads them on a journey that forces them to confront the mysterious and random nature of love--and the transforming power it wields over men and women caught in its relentless maelstrom.
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
It began to snow at dawn. By noon, Washington looked like a toy village in a department store Christmas window, the people like tiny rosy-cheeked dolls bundled in their winter clothes. The world was shrouded in white, clean and silent. Only the roar of the low-flying planes groaning as they labored to lift themselves through the heavy layer of gray snow clouds brought Lily the message of a harsher reality.
She paid the taxi driver and moved quickly into the airport terminal, her carryall slung over her shoulder. She kept her head down, looking neither right nor left, heading directly toward the Southair gate. After the silence of the snow-covered streets, the terminal was alive with sound.
She could not deny the anxiety that gnawed at her. This journey was a new move, outside their accustomed pattern. She thought of Edward, and her stomach knotted. What she dreaded most was being recognized by someone they both knew. Not now. Not before she was ready. Their objective was to be in control of their lives. Hadn't they managed successfully for more than a year?
Through the crowds, near the numbered Southair gate, she saw Orson leaning against a wall, the collar of his trench coat up, his wavy brown hair moist with melting snow. Like her, he, too, seemed tense. Yet the sight of him calmed her, quickening her heartbeat with anticipation. It had always been that way. From the first moment, his effect on her had been powerful, life-changing.
He did not move forward but stood waiting, gathering her into his arms when she came close enough. He was a head taller, and the heavy coat, smelling of damp as she nuzzled close against it, affirmed his great comforting presence.
"God, I'm scared," she said, her voice muffled as he patted her woolen hat, which was pulled to the eyebrow line over her dark deep-set eyes.
From the pocket of his trench coat he pulled out a single pink sweetheart rose. She took it and smiled.
"Feel better?"
She nodded, inhaling the scent.
"We're delayed. Damned snow. About half an hour at the gate. Another half an hour on the ground."
Picking up his suitcase, one of those compact leather ones guaranteed to fit under the airline seat, he led her to the counter where he produced his tickets for the clerk. They passed through the security check. In the boarding lounge they found seats alone near the window wall, which looked out on a mass of swirling snow. Outside, the Southair 737 was parked like a hoary ghost at the mouth of the passenger chute.
"A few hundred feet up and it's nothing but sun and blue skies," he said. She lay her head on his shoulder and felt the caress of his fingers against her cheek. Reaching up, she stroked the back of his head.
"Four days alone. Imagine," she whispered, her eyes moistening with emotion. "Days." For them, time was always a gift. They were used to measuring their time together carefully--they had only the morning hours at the apartment, their clandestine hideaway. Yet, Lily thought, wrapped in the safety of Orson's arms, even time itself seemed enriched.
"And Edward?"
"He thinks I'll be in L.A. A round of fashion shows. I told him I hadn't found a place to bunk. Besides, he's absorbed in work. They're all busy jockeying for power when the session opens. He'll barely have time to think, much less miss me." Edward was an Administrative Assistant to Congressman Robert Holmes of Iowa, a man with a thirsty ego and soaring ambitions. No. Edward would not be a problem. Poor Edward, she thought sadly. But how could he possibly understand?
"Will he call the store?" Orson asked.
In his mind, she knew, he was the principal creator of scenarios. "No. He rarely does."
"And will you call him?"
"I told him not to expect me to." She had been hesitant on that point but did not expect it to be a problem. Besides, she wanted to strike the worry from her mind. "Let's
not think of them. Not for four days." She sighed. "Can we try?"
"We can try. Unfortunately, it's inescapable."
"Where were you six years ago?" she asked.
"Married," he answered softly. "Safe."
"And now?"
"We'll have four days to talk it out," Orson said.
"I know."
Her stomach lurched as she projected the future. Poor Edward, she thought again, helpless, innocent, so perfectly secure in their marriage.
"Viv thinks I'm on the Concorde to Paris."
"Won't that be trouble?" She looked up at him to search his face but could find no trouble there.
"So we're in the clear," she said, relieved.
"For the moment." He sighed, surely thinking of what was impending, of what they still had to go through, perhaps hurting others and themselves. Then, inexplicably, he chuckled.
"What's funny?" she asked.
"On the flight we're Mr. and Mrs. Calvin Marlboro."
"Who?"
"At the ticket counter I saw these signs--Calvin Klein and Marlboro cigarettes. Not very original, but I can't think of anything. Anything but you."
"And I, you."
"Is it possible to love someone so completely?"
"Yes ..." She paused. "Unfortunately."
"Unfortunately?" he asked, showing a mock pout.
"An error in timing but not in intensity." Lifting her face, she kissed him on the tip of his nose.
"How do you feel?" he asked suddenly.
"Fine. It's too early yet."
Suddenly a voice blared over the speaker: "Fifteen minutes to boarding. Sorry for the delay, folks."
"Good," Orson said. "If things go well, we can be having a cocktail on the beach by five. You'll love the place. The unit looks out on the water."
"Were you there with her? With Viv?" She had wanted to ask him before but had hesitated, knowing he had been to Key West before with his wife.
"Of course not. This is ours. Once we went there for a party. I remembered the name: Fulton's Beachside."
"Just you and me, kid," Lily said. "Well, almost." Her fingers touched his eyes, which closed automatically. She loved to touch him there, to caress his long lashes.
"Oh, that." He smiled, opening his eyes and showing little nests of happy wrinkles. She started to draw his head down for a long kiss, but he held back, his eyes furtive.
"Coward," she said.
"Cautious."
Above all caution, she thought. It had underscored everything from the beginning. Honored in the breach, she thought wryly. Passion was more powerful than caution, they had learned.
"I know we're ready. We've got to resolve it somehow," she said with exasperation.
"We'll have four days to mull it over."
"And over and over?"
"No. We'll have to decide."
"Until you called, I had resolved not to tell you. To take"--she paused--"well, measures. Then when you said it's time, I knew you had to know."
"When I called you at Trudie's cocktail party, I was certain. Exactly then."
"You took a chance. Edward was still working."
Even telephone calls between them were deliberately rare. She remembered that his voice had frightened her.
He moved his hand along her sleeve until their fingers entwined. Between them, there was never enough touching.
"I was standing there, looking through the fog of smoke, watching the people. I had had three martinis, but I was dead sober. Viv was off in a corner talking to some woman. In the background I heard this buzz of conversation. Someone was saying something to me, but I couldn't hear what he was saying. I just wanted to be with you. Just with you. Always. I ached for you. No point hiding it forever. It must be confronted. We have to think of ourselves, of our love. We'll go away. With clear minds, just the two of us, we'll plan what we must do and how. I remembered Fulton's Beachside, and I called you."
"Here I am."
"I told you I'd always know when the time had come."
"And I'd know."
"Well, it's time."
"You may get sick of me in four whole days. Ninety-six hours. We've never had such continuity."
"And you may get sick of me."
"Never. I'll never be sick of you. Never in ten lifetimes. Because I'll love you through ten lifetimes. No. Through ten eternities."
"There can't be ten eternities."
"Stop being a lawyer."
"That's another thing. I'm going to change that, too."
"What will you be, then?"
"Something I can do that means I'll be around you all day long. Day and night. Something. We'll figure it out at Fulton's Beachside."
"Maybe we can be paid to make love." She laughed. "To each other. Then we don't have to go anywhere, do anything."
They were silent for a moment. She nuzzled a kiss on his neck.
"I'm being overly demonstrative."
"The hell with it."
He bent down and kissed her on her lips. Opening one eye, she saw a woman smile and quickly turn away.
"You electrify me, you know that."
"Uh-huh."
From the very moment she had sat down beside him on the Eastern shuttle, he electrified her. A strange, powerful feeling had surged through her body, a feeling that he, too, admitted experiencing. Like two chemicals in separate containers reacting by osmosis. Was it random selection? Or did it have an inevitability about it, a design? Had it lain embedded, just beneath the level of conscious thought--some life-chang...
Product details
- ASIN : B01NBXV93J
- Publisher : Stonehouse Press (January 22, 2017)
- Publication date : January 22, 2017
- Language : English
- File size : 886 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 358 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,274,287 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,405 in Classic American Fiction
- #1,412 in Movie Tie-In Fiction
- #2,484 in Domestic Thrillers (Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Warren Adler is best known for "The War of the Roses", his masterpiece fictionalization of a macabre divorce turned into the Golden Globe and BAFTA nominated dark comedy hit starring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. In addition to the success of the stage adaptation of his iconic novel on the perils of divorce, Adler has optioned and sold film rights to more than a dozen of his novels and short stories to Hollywood and major television networks. "Random Hearts" (starring Harrison Ford and Kristen Scott Thomas), "The Sunset Gang" (starring Jerry Stiller, Uta Hagen, Harold Gould and Doris Roberts), "Private Lies", "Funny Boys", "Madeline’s Miracles", "Trans-Siberian Express" and his Fiona Fitzgerald mystery series are only a few titles that have forever left Adler’s mark on contemporary American authorship from page to stage to screen. Learn more about Warren Adler at www.warrenadler.com.
Customer reviews
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Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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Even as I read, I reveled, knowing, almost immediately, each single event that was going to happen, including the ending. However, that did not prepare me for the "experience" of coming to know each of the individuals I would be meeting in the novel.
Almost immediately, two of the characters are killed in an airplane crash. With the brief introduction, we know that they are very much in love and looking forward to a brief getaway. They leave two spouses behind, not telling anybody where they were going. And they flew under aliases. They were lovers, having an affair... They loved their spouses...but...
And then the mystery begins...
I enjoyed the police officer who was assigned to the task of working with the victims of the crash. When the first body, a female, was found and had to be called a Jane Doe, due to lack of identification, he was somewhat relieved to break the chain of body review and relative notification... Finally, all bodies were recovered. A man was identified by his credentials...who was not scheduled on the flight...
Edward Davis knew his wife was to be out of town for 4 days. Vivien was a homemaker and mother and she and her son said goodbye to her husband as he was leaving for 4 days... As we read about their departure, readers begin to see questions about their relationship; i.e., the relationship between spouses. A good word as we read could be called...content...
So when their spouses were expected home, both Edward and Vivien began to worry. They had heard about the plane crash, but it had been headed for a destination that neither of their spouses was headed... They thought...
We watch as news finally reaches them; they are devastated. Sergeant McCarthy made a decision, which I supported, and brought those two people into a private room to tell them that their spouses were not named earlier because they were traveling under another name and that they had been together...
But answers were needed! And if nobody had known where their spouses were, then they bonded together to find out! How would you feel in this situation? All of the emotional restraints that had been held, sometimes on small things, but now, faced with betrayal, started being considered and pulled out by both Edward and Vivien. Each piece of information was shared...as each raged and vented their own emotions... Nobody else could understand...
Adler's sensitivity, his awareness, his ability to realistically create the overwhelming emotions involved--from each character--is exceptional. There is little doubt that readers will grasp the emotional impact of what is happening to the two remaining spouses. And the key to that readers response is Adler's unbelievable, created understanding of what happened, what the individuals were thinking, what the individuals wanted--revenge, and provided that turmoil for us to feel, to empathize, perhaps, but to also sympathize, with all of those individuals who shared this story...a secret story that the world would never know about, yet see the results...
I loved the ending and the moral to the story... I also loved that both Edward and Vivien were included in the emotionally wrought story so that both sexes were emphasized in this, a situation that exists in the human condition of interpersonal relationships... I think this just might be my last "Personal favorite for 2018!" Loved it!
GABixlerReviews
Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2018
Even as I read, I reveled, knowing, almost immediately, each single event that was going to happen, including the ending. However, that did not prepare me for the "experience" of coming to know each of the individuals I would be meeting in the novel.
Almost immediately, two of the characters are killed in an airplane crash. With the brief introduction, we know that they are very much in love and looking forward to a brief getaway. They leave two spouses behind, not telling anybody where they were going. And they flew under aliases. They were lovers, having an affair... They loved their spouses...but...
And then the mystery begins...
I enjoyed the police officer who was assigned to the task of working with the victims of the crash. When the first body, a female, was found and had to be called a Jane Doe, due to lack of identification, he was somewhat relieved to break the chain of body review and relative notification... Finally, all bodies were recovered. A man was identified by his credentials...who was not scheduled on the flight...
Edward Davis knew his wife was to be out of town for 4 days. Vivien was a homemaker and mother and she and her son said goodbye to her husband as he was leaving for 4 days... As we read about their departure, readers begin to see questions about their relationship; i.e., the relationship between spouses. A good word as we read could be called...content...
So when their spouses were expected home, both Edward and Vivien began to worry. They had heard about the plane crash, but it had been headed for a destination that neither of their spouses was headed... They thought...
We watch as news finally reaches them; they are devastated. Sergeant McCarthy made a decision, which I supported, and brought those two people into a private room to tell them that their spouses were not named earlier because they were traveling under another name and that they had been together...
But answers were needed! And if nobody had known where their spouses were, then they bonded together to find out! How would you feel in this situation? All of the emotional restraints that had been held, sometimes on small things, but now, faced with betrayal, started being considered and pulled out by both Edward and Vivien. Each piece of information was shared...as each raged and vented their own emotions... Nobody else could understand...
Adler's sensitivity, his awareness, his ability to realistically create the overwhelming emotions involved--from each character--is exceptional. There is little doubt that readers will grasp the emotional impact of what is happening to the two remaining spouses. And the key to that readers response is Adler's unbelievable, created understanding of what happened, what the individuals were thinking, what the individuals wanted--revenge, and provided that turmoil for us to feel, to empathize, perhaps, but to also sympathize, with all of those individuals who shared this story...a secret story that the world would never know about, yet see the results...
I loved the ending and the moral to the story... I also loved that both Edward and Vivien were included in the emotionally wrought story so that both sexes were emphasized in this, a situation that exists in the human condition of interpersonal relationships... I think this just might be my last "Personal favorite for 2018!" Loved it!
GABixlerReviews
Top reviews from other countries
It is not immediate that this is a romance as the theme is about betrayal and the shattered and raw emotions that come from the realization that one's life has been based on deceit. The characters are quiet well developed and although the intensity dies down towards the end I was glad I read it. It is a good commuter's read.
and especially American novels.