The Serpent's Bite

-In an attempt to reconnect with his two alienated adult children, George Temple replicates the memorable horse trek through the forbidding Yellowstone wilderness they had enjoyed twenty years earlier. But his callous children, Courtney and Scott, accompany him only to persuade him to restore the financial support he has withdrawn. As they are led by a drunken guide and a venal horse wrangler over potentially lethal terrain, their bonding experience quickly disintegrates.

Nostalgia is corrupted into a nightmare of lust, betrayal, and entrapment as the children's disturbing motives are revealed and dark family secrets are exposed. Courtney's appetite for selfish and violent pursuits establishes her as one of the most evil women in fiction, alongside the likes of Lady Macbeth. Through her, Warren Adler explores how an obsession for celebrity and blind ambition can distort familial love and turn a beloved child into a grotesque monster. As he did in the iconic The War of the Roses, Adler paints a frightening picture of the American family, only more sinister.

**ABOUT THE AUTHOR**

Acclaimed author, playwright, poet, and essayist Warren Adler is best known for *The War of the Roses*, his masterpiece fictionalization of a macabre divorce adapted into the BAFTA- and Golden Globe–nominated hit film starring Danny DeVito, Michael Douglas, and Kathleen Turner.

Adler has also optioned and sold film rights for a number of his works, including *Random Hearts* (starring Harrison Ford and Kristin Scott Thomas) and *The Sunset Gang* (produced by Linda Lavin for PBS’s American Playhouse series starring Jerry Stiller, Uta Hagen, Harold Gould, and Doris Roberts), which garnered Doris Roberts an Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries. His recent stage/film/TV developments include the Broadway adaptation of *The War of the Roses*, to be produced by Jay and Cindy Gutterman, *The War of the Roses: The Children* (Grey Eagle Films and Permut Presentations), a feature film adaptation of the sequel to Adler’s iconic divorce story, and *Capitol Crimes* (Grey Eagle Films and Sennet Entertainment), a television series based on his Fiona Fitzgerald mystery series. For an entire list of developments, news and updates visit [www.Greyeaglefilms.com](http://www.Greyeaglefilms.com).

Adler’s works have been translated into more than 25 languages, including his staged version of *The War of the Roses*, which has opened to spectacular reviews worldwide. Adler has taught creative writing seminars at New York University, and has lectured on creative writing, film and television adaptation, and electronic publishing.