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The Children of the Roses: The Sequel to The War of the Roses: The Perils of Divorce On the Next Generation
Overview
The sequel to "The War of the Roses following what happened to the children of fiction's nastiest divorce.
Author Information
Editorial Reviews
Adler recreates the epic marital bickering that made the original War of the Roses (1989) such juicy movie material, but this tepid sequel pales despite the potential offered by the troubled marriage of Josh Rose, the son of the spouses who were killed by a falling chandelier after squabbling their way through the first book. Josh has all the trappings of success a satisfying job as creative director of a Manhattan ad agency, two beautiful children and a gorgeous albeit icy wife, Victoria, a former lawyer who was also damaged by her parent's bitter divorce. His stability is threatened, however, when he succumbs to the temptations of his chief designer, a married woman named Angela Bocci whose passion for risqu semi-public sex leads to a hot affair. Josh manages to hide his infidelity from Victoria as the couple struggle to keep their 11-year-old son, Michael, from being thrown out of an elite private school for a petty thievery incident. But all is lost when Angela's spouse, Dominic, tries to use the affair to blackmail Josh before revealing Josh's infidelity to Victoria, who is blackmailed into a separate series of erotic shenanigans by Michael's diabolical headmaster. Adler scores points with sly irony in the early infidelity chapters, but the story flattens when Angela demands a divorce and the couple's joint custody experiment begins. The generic bickering leads to an outrageous climax in which a near-tragic house fire causes the couple to rethink their separation; the sappy, over-the-top ending comes off as a half-baked attempt to outdo the savage humor of the original. There are some funny moments as Adler sets up his marital chess pieces, but this follow-up succumbs to sequelitis. (Apr.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information. -- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.
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Product Details
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Published by
Stonehouse Press
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Publish Date
January 03, 2004
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Print ISBN
1402201974
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eBook ISBN
1590062094
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Imprint
Stonehouse Press
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Filesize
314.31 KB
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Number of Print Pages*
256
* Number of eBook pages may differ. Click here for more information.
Excerpt from The Children of the Roses by Warren Adler
The darkly hilarious sequel to The War of the Roses.
Victoria was on the checkout line at Safeway for the mid-week groceries when the cell had vibrated in the pocket of her slacks. It was there mostly for useful family communications and emergency situations.
On the line was Mr. Tatum, headmaster of Michael's school, which had her cell number on file. Her heart jumped to her throat. He was quick to reassure her.
"Michael is fine. Don't be alarmed," he said.
Then why this call, she wanted to ask, but held off.
"It's the business about the candy," Mr. Tatum explained. She sucked in a deep breath and expelled it with a sense of relief. Then disgust set in.
"That again," Victoria sighed. "So it's reached the emergency level, has it?" she said with a touch of sarcasm. As she spoke, she watched the heavyset uniformed female clerk punch in the numbers. "They're three for two twenty," she barked. "Check your ad."
"Damn," the clerk blushed, embarrassed, rereading the list of promotional prices.
"Not you, Mr. Tatum," she said into the phone. "I'm at the Safeway."
"I don't want to complicate your life, Mrs. Rose," Mr. Tatum said unctuously. "But we need you here as soon as possible."
"You can't be serious. Why?"
"We would like Mr. Rose here as well."
"That's impossible. You know he works in Manhattan. You know that, Mr. Tatum. Why the urgency?"
"It's happened again," Mr. Tatum explained.
For a brief moment, a wave of panic washed over her. Was something terrible being hidden? Surely this could not be about candy bars.
"Madeline's parents are not satisfied with Michael's previous denials, Mrs. Rose."
"Are you saying that the girl is making yet another accusation?"
"I'm afraid so."
"And the Crespos are buying it?"
"Completely, Mrs. Rose. We're sort of at an impasse."
"It's no impasse as far as my husband and I are concerned," Victoria said, feeling the heat rise in her body. Frustrated, she watched the clerk scowl at the register as if it were to blame for the error. "I've already explained this. We do not lie in our family."
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Rose," Mr. Tatum told her officiously. She sensed that Michael's accusers were witnessing his call. "We need to get to the bottom of this."
"Can't it wait until tomorrow, Mr. Tatum?"
"I wish it could."
"The Crespos," Victoria hissed, weighing her comment with sarcasm. "They're there, aren't they, Mr. Tatum?"
"Yes, they are here," Mr. Tatum said on the phone.
"And Michael?" Victoria asked. "Under no circumstances do I want him disrupted."
"At this point we hope we can resolve this without any additional trauma to the children, Mrs. Rose," Mr. Tatum said.
"Good. I do not want him present as if he were a defendant in a courtroom drama, Mr. Tatum."





