Random Hearts

by Mortimer J. Adler and Warren Adler

Book Overview

What the author of The War of the Roses did for hate, 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...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0025002902
• ISBN13: 9780025002906
• Release Date: April 1984
• Publisher: MacMillan Publishing Company
• Length: 247 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.

Customer Reviews

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 guide the 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.

Awesome story, well sustained

I thought this was a very unique little book, and it kept my interest from the first to last page because its characters were not predictable. I liked the heroine more and more as the story progressed...she was such a strong person. And I liked the twist re. her attitude toward her little boy. Not stereotypically female at all! I don't want to spoil the plot (not at all like the movie - much, much better) but I would encourage people to read it. It's a lot of fun and thought-provoking.

Dealing with what life dishes out

That's what Viv and Edward are left to do. Warren Adler investigates the chilling calamity of being betrayed. As the two surviving spouses gradually realize their situation, they suffer through disbelief, grief, anger, frustration, loneliness, low self-esteem, bewilderment--all subtlely drawn--to the final crowning human achievement and catharsis--forgiveness and love. I always admire the way Adler frames a story. RANDOM HEARTS is thoroughly graphic and poignantly uplifting.

Lovely blend of fact and fiction

This new version of a 1980s book is prompted by the release of a current Harrison Ford movie based on the novel. In all ways the book is better than the motion picture. The book has style and believability. It was based on the true story of the Air Florida crash into the Potomac River. The movie has almost nothing to do with the original story. Roles are changed, names are changed, careers are changed, and the entire thrust of the book is altered almost beyond belief. Read the book. It is solid and professional. No loose ends are left and the story moves briskly to a satisfying end. First rate in every way. Enjoy the novel and do not confuse it with the movie.

Excellent Read

Yes, this book did have a misprint on the cover of the book, but that didn't prevent me from reading it. The most important messages from this book, I believe are 1. adultery is a sin- the couple that died got what they deserved, and 2. there is such a thing as the miracle of forgiveness- the couple that survived shall go on and overcome.